March 25th - Delta Bot in fewest components

So here's one - create a Delta Bot mechanism using as few components as possible.

Basically recreate what you see in this video:

A delta bot has 3 arms - each arm has 2 segments. The first segment (the shorter one) rotates in one direction about a fixed point. This rotation is generally limited to 0-180 degrees. The longer segment can rotate freely at the "elbow" (like a socket joint). All 3 arms converge at a single point (where an end effector would be). To generate this point I referenced a curve from rhino and I move the point along the curve in grasshopper.

I did it in 9 components (including the method of creating the point on the curve and piping the lines at the end).

The length/sizes of your arms can be whatever you would like. Just for reference my short segments are 1.5 inches and long segments are 3 inches.

Rules are that it must be GH native with no scripting. Deadline is monday the 26th at midnight (pacific time).

let me know if you have any questions!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 26, 2012 at 10:48am

Nice use of arc. It eliminated a component out of my answer.

Permalink Reply by Brian Harms on March 26, 2012 at 10:54am

Yes the arc is key as it cuts down the component count and eliminates the possibility of multiple solutions (I guess it is still possible to have multiple intersections on the arc, but practically speaking I dont think one would ever run into that). Since hobby servos are typically limited to 180 degrees of rotation a 180 degree arc works like a charm.

@Andy - It would be cool to include a delta bot component in firefly! I've been wanting to take the delta bot definition I made (the full version) and make a flexible User Object which would interface with firefly... just havent had the time.

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/video/delta-bot-print-head-test

(A lot more components in this one :) )

Permalink Reply by Mateusz Zwierzycki on March 26, 2012 at 11:08am

does your deltabot operates with gcode ? If so, making gcode straight out of gh is not so hard.

Permalink Reply by Brian Harms on March 26, 2012 at 11:11am

It's just 3 hobby servos that I drive using firefly, so it takes 3 angle values between 0 and 180 degrees. The delta bot component wouldn't be hard to implement it would just be cool to have it all packaged in one component (angle calculations included).

And scripted would be nice :)

Permalink Reply by Mateusz Zwierzycki on March 26, 2012 at 11:34am

Not scripted, and you certainly know how to do it, but what a fun to look how it works :)

Attachments:

deltabot.gh, 15 KB

Permalink Reply by Brian Harms on March 26, 2012 at 11:13am

I think your's is the shortest. There is a way to set up the 3 initial planes in 2 components though (as opposed to 4)

Permalink Reply by Brian Harms on March 26, 2012 at 10:22am

Nice job everyone. All of the solutions use the same idea as I did, I just shaved off a few components in the setup. Admittedly mine is less flexible than some of the ones posted (which you'll see when I post it) but it does only have 9 components total!

Permalink Reply by Brian Harms on March 26, 2012 at 1:13pm

Alright well since Everyone's got it down I figure I'll just post my definition now - and we can move on to the next challenge!

The secret is just creating the arc first and then rotating it.

I like Danny's Polyline solution (as opposed to two line components). And at this point it is the shortest, with Mateusz as a pretty close second.

Let me know if anyone can do it in fewer than 9!

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