Saw it some weeks ago, at 'The NXT STEP' blog, and thought it would be worthy to mention it here at as well.
It is a LEGO version from the industrial 'ABB Flexpicker' robot, built with MINDSTORMS NXT.
A commercially available Pick and Place industrial robot, which features an high degree of maneuverability. It is also considered the fastest robot of its type (the original one from ABB, of course...).
Almost as fast as Lucky Luke, it performs 150 Pick and Place movements per minute.

I found these so amazing, that didn't resist to link here some videos from the real thing, in action.
Super fast, isn't it?...

7 comments:
Holy cow, I never imagined that kind of arm could move so lightningly fast! :o
And equally amazing is the declaration at the end of the NXT video: the motors moved at 35% speed... I wonder what could have been done with faster firmware (for better precision) and a more solid supporting structure!
Oh, and his name is Luke, not Luck. ;)
My bad! :(
Was to check and should have forgot meanwhile...
I've already corrected it!
Hey guys. I built the Lego Flexpicker.
You noticed that it is running only at 35%. That is because of the structure and the looseness of the joints. When it moves fast, it really shakes hard when it stops. I have videoed the thing at 100% speed, and when I get it published, you will see why I ran it at 35%
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris, good to see you here!
Very nice construction this Flexpicker from yours.
You also mentioned a problem with precision if the robot ran at 100%; what language did you use to program it? I read that RobotC runs faster than NXT-G and NXC, but I'm not sure if the better sensor reaction time afforded by the faster program can compensate the looseness of the joints.
Of course, if you're already using RobotC or some other language that substitutes the NXT's firmware, indeed I see no option to make it more precise using only LEGO parts.
Yes, RobotC is very fast. In fact, I have recently had to do some troubleshooting and I found out that the problem was that the program was running much faster than I thought, if that makes any sense.
The joint looseness actually has one benefit. All of the links are supported from overhead, so when the arms stops, gravity pulls the lower links into position, and I find that it is actually pretty precise and repeatable when it stops.
Thanks for the comments.
Chris
BTW, ABB has asked me to bring it to their headquarters to display it during a show. How cool is that!
Really cool indeed.
Congratulations!
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