Useful and educational project

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Xtreme Rescue
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Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 3:09 pm
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Useful and educational project

Post by Xtreme Rescue »

I want to press a button twice. Sounds trivial, but I am VERY new to the electronics and robotics arena and know very little. Hoping some of you guys can help me with this project. I have a design in my head, and a few have told me that it will work, but they start talking about servos, and microcontrollers, and I get lost quick. Here's my idea...

I want to use a photoelectric sensor to trigger a circuit that will function a servo. I need the servo to travel 180 degrees in one direction and then back to it's home position when it senses even the briefest of light flashes. A pushrod will be attached to the servo to act as the "finger". SO when the servo does this, it will actually push the intended button twice. Make sense? I need somebody to take me by the hand and help me "LEARN" how to make this happen. Thanks in advance for any and ALL help.
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imurillo723
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Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:20 pm
Location: Mokena, IL
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Re: Useful and educational project

Post by imurillo723 »

Sounds like the beginnings of a robot hand design.....interesting. I think you will need a microcontroller to run your project. My experience is with the PIC series. There are many others out there. It depends on how much control you want to build into the project.

Question is: Will the servo have enough torque to "push" the switch you need to have pushed. Some push buttons are harder to push than others. Before I try to design something computer controlled, I usually try to make the same thing happen by my control. You will need a servo driver board to run the servo. Then see if powering and moving the servo in that direction will actually have the torque to push the button. From there we will work on interfacing the photocell with the microcontroller.


Have a great day.....

Sid
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