I Need Help With An Arm

[Alex1072]

Some things to think about off the top of my head:

center of mass - Make sure to make your forklift as light as possible relative to you drivetrain; otherwise your robot will be very top heavy and trip.


Pnumatic vs. Motor: Pnumatics cannot give you precise control of the position of the arm. With pnumatics you are either extended or retracted (and maybe a middle position). Also, with a large cylinder you may run out of air if you use it too often. On the other hand pnumatic implementations tend to be lighter then motors because you can use on compressor to drive a lot of actuators. Also, you do not have to deal with a converting rotational motion to linear. If you use chain and sprocket, make sure the chain is big enough and tensioned enough so that it will not slip. If you use cables make sure they do not jam/rip on edges.


Balanced loads: Make sure that you do not drive your forklift from only one side (assuming it has sides). If you do that, it may have a tendency to get jammed becuause it will tilt.


good luck