The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book - Projects_Book_v4

(^90) The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book raspberrypi.org/magpi
hand reaches out to a shiny
gold box emblazoned with
the NASA logo. At the
press of a button, the connected
robotic arm springs into life,
lowering a blue Sharpie pen onto
a paper pad to draw the circular
outline of the famous logo,
then an inner ‘spacecraft orbit’
ellipse, before switching to a red
pen to sketch the red chevron
(magpi.cc/2zHatI7).
This is the Advanced Robotic
Manipulator System Tools and
Resources – or ‘ARM’ for short

• built and programmed by Dan
  Gribok, a robotics intern at NASA’s
  Goddard Space Flight Center within
  the Satellite Servicing Projects
  Division. Designed to be used at
  outreach events to educate the
  public in what NASA is doing with
  robots, the Pi-powered ARM is a
  versatile device that can also be
  controlled manually using an Xbox
  gamepad to pick up objects using a
  hook or grabber.

Art for events

Dan tells us that the drawing

ability came about from a need

to have a constantly running

demonstration at events, such as

Awesome Con in Washington DC.

“So we wanted a demo where you

could just push a button, step back,

Projects SHOWCASE

With the ability to draw any shape, this robot arm is out of this world

> t can draw any I

shape using x-y

coordinates

> Dan took

around a year

to refine the

software

> The arm

can also be

controlled

manually

> It’s powered by

an original Pi 1

Model B

> A PCA9685

board drives

the arm’s

servos

Quick

Facts

Each pen is held loosely in a

tube, so the drawing pressure

is provided by gravity

NASA ARM

Components inside the

control box include an

original Pi 1 Model B

A The six-axis robotic arm is an upgrade from the previous

versions’ four-axis manipulator

DAN GRIBOK

A robotics intern at NASA’s Goddard

Space Flight Center, Dan is currently

pursuing a graduate degree in

Aerospace Engineering at UMD

focusing on Telerobotics and

Exoskeleton technology.

sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov

Left The manipulator arm tip can also

be equipped with a hook to pick up

blocks with loops attached