

How to make a voice-controlled robot arm for $55 - adeelarshad82
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/98623-how-to-make-a-voice-controlled-robotic-arm-for-55?f=2

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shabble
Important Warning For Small Inquisitive Children: Do _not_ begin with an
Armatron[1]. You're ready to fiddle with all the wires and figure out a way to
remotely operate the way-too-many-degrees-of-freedom controls, only to find
that it's all mechanical, there's only a single motor running the whole
thing![2], and your parents are probably going to be home before you can pick
all the bits of gearbox out of the cat's dinner bowl and try to reassemble
them. Claims that those grinding, crunching noises "were always there" are
unlikely to pass muster.

[1] <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Armatron>

[2] <http://www.starborneworks.com/?p=22>

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jff
As I discovered with a similar system, a cheap arm's motions are also not
easily repeatable. I wanted to pick up CDs and move them around via robotic
arm, with something similar to the Armatron. We discovered that there's enough
slop in the system as to make anything remotely precise impossible.

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Shenglong
This is the most annoying mobile scrolling I've ever seen. What could possess
anyone to make this? Sorry to be off point, but the scrolling makes it half
impossible to read.

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NapoleonB
Steps include buying pre-made remote-controlled robot-arm from Maplin/OWI
(<http://www.owirobot.com/products/Robotic-Arm-Edge.html>) for $55.99 and
connecting it to a computer running Linux (which in this article seems to be
free!) REEAAAALL awe-inspiring indeed. (read: linkbait) [EDIT: Just saw that
you can also buy a 'USB interface' for it. Ha!]

