Wiring and Attaching an Arm to Your TurtleBot

User-Contributed Project

User-Contributed Project

This project guide is not managed by MAKE staff.

This tutorial takes you step by step through wiring and attaching an arm for your TurtleBot.

  • Author: Melonee Wise
  • Time required: 20-30 minutes
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Add Note x

The TurtleBot mobile robot is designed for both academic and hobbyist researchers. The open-source hardware design provides excellent documentation for adding modifications and extending the capabilities of the robot in hardware or software. The robot is available for purchase as a kit or, if your research budget is limited, this guide will help you extend your TurtleBot by adding an arm.

Sections
Tools
Relevant parts
Relevant parts (continued)
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Add Note Edit Step 1 — Attaching the ArbotiX Board  ¶ 

  • Attach the project box for the ArbotiX board to the top of the TurtleBot. Anywhere on the top plate will do.

  • Then place the Arbotix board inside with the FTDI breakout board and power cable attached.

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Add Note Edit Step 2 — Wiring the TurtleBot Arm  ¶ 

  • Use Bioloid 180mm 3-pin connectors to daisy-chain the servos together.

  • Start with the gripper joint, and connect each successive joint to the previous one.

  • Finally, attach an extra connector to the base joint. This will attach to the Arbotix board.

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Add Note Edit Step 3 — Attach the TurtleBot Arm to Your TurtleBot  ¶ 

  • Attach the arm base standoffs to the 4 holes highlighted in the picture using 4 6-32 x 3/4" screws on the bottom of the standoffs.

  • Make sure that the rounded protruding edge of the base is facing forward: that is, so that the arm gets the most reach over the edge of the robot.

  • Finally, attach the loose Dynamixel cable to the Arbotix.

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Add Note Edit Step 4 — Power the Arbotix Board.  ¶ 

  • Disassemble the decks of the TurtleBot to have access to the iRobot Create and TurtleBot Power Board.

  • Attach the power cable made in the TurtleBot Power Board cable tutorial to the TurtleBot Power Board in the base.

  • Attach the other side of the power cable to the screw terminals on the Arbotix.

    • Green is ground, and white is power in the images. We suggest you use a better coloring scheme in your build.

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Add Note Edit Step 5 — Play with Your New Arm!  ¶ 

Now that you have wired and attached an arm to your TurtleBot visit the turtlebot_arm stack for setup instructions. http://www.ros.org/wiki/turtlebot_arm/Tu...

For more information, check out the TurtleBot category page.

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Step 4 Add Note

Hi! Where does that "TurtlePower+" board come from? I am just starting to put my TurtleBot together. I picked up my sensor board from IHeartEngineering, and it only has the one power connector. I see that the PCB has a number 68-05037 on it, but couldn't find it in BatchPCB. Even if I could buy the bare PCB, unfortunately I don't have an easy way to mount the components. Thanks!

D Sievers, · Reply