hiya!
i am thinking of using an arduino nano and bluetooth to control a small car/robot. there will be a type of rake/filter on an arm at the end to sort litter. I want to be able to lift this arm (using servos?) and "shake" it to move the litter into a different compartment.

How should I go about doing this? I already have a working bluetooth arduino car, just wondering if I was able to do such movements with servos.
(i am designing all this in circuit wizard)

Cheers!

 

The Arduino has a sample sketch provided. Look for the servo sketches is the IDE. Also, look up Servo() on the Arduino reference site (linked to from the main site). Everything you need to know is explained in the reference site and the servo sample sketch.

 

hiya!
i am thinking of using an arduino nano and bluetooth to control a small car/robot. there will be a type of rake/filter on an arm at the end to sort litter. I want to be able to lift this arm (using servos?) and "shake" it to move the litter into a different compartment.

How should I go about doing this? I already have a working bluetooth arduino car, just wondering if I was able to do such movements with servos.
(i am designing all this in circuit wizard)

Cheers!

maybe a solenoid (push or pull) could be configured. It is typical to have 2cm or less movement from a solenoid but, if a fulcrum is placed 20 cm from the end of a 2-meter long rake handle and the solenoid is placed 20 cm from the fulcrum, the 2cm solenoid movement will lift the end of the rake 9x to 18cm.

Solenoid of 250w can Shake a light-weight rake Pretty well. Get a good power supply. Also, if you can pop the voltage for a short time, you can exceed the rated solenoid voltage by a significant amount to get a faster pop - check the datasheet.

 

hiya!
i am thinking of using an arduino nano and bluetooth to control a small car/robot. there will be a type of rake/filter on an arm at the end to sort litter. I want to be able to lift this arm (using servos?) and "shake" it to move the litter into a different compartment.

How should I go about doing this? I already have a working bluetooth arduino car, just wondering if I was able to do such movements with servos.
(i am designing all this in circuit wizard)

Cheers!

so you want to make a cat litter box and make it automatic! am i correct? they have them allready in the usa! you would need photo circuits so you do not hit the cat after it does its thing! then a servo with no end limit to drive a chain or belt to drag a rake to pull the crusty litter out of box. yep a arduino will work. i am kinda doing simular things with a arduino! get a raspberry pie and a camera and do it by wifi.

 

so you want to make a cat litter box and make it automatic! am i correct?

I assumed he was sorting recycling materials - I hate cats. Ignore my answer if this is for a cat.

 

Recycling cats? lol

How about a arm that pets a cat?

 

... A pin positioned on the outer perimeter of a rotating drive wheel, along with a connecting rod attached to a rake, could provide the kinematic forward and reverse translational motion necessary to move the rake back and forth. This is a standard technique to convert rotational motion to translational motion. It would be necessary to lift the rake, presumably on the return stroke. A lever and fulcrum should be able to achieve this task. The 'pull-in' stroke of a solenoid, acting on one end of a lever, can be activated at the appropriate time to accomplish this.
... A concern is the distance required for the forward and reverse stroke. If the total raking distance cannot be covered by one diameter length of the rotating, rake-drive wheel, then maybe a carriage could be fashioned for the raking mechanism. ... This would be the 'car' section of the design. One litter box section at a time would undergo 'raking', and then the rake would be lifted and the carriage moved to the next section.
... An additional motor would be necessary to move the carriage. It may be that a stepper motor could be positioned to precisely move the carriage, as opposed to trying to drive it independently. A sequence of steps could be programmed to drive the car from one end to the other, section by section, and then return it to the initial starting position.
... There are one or two additional details to be considered. Getting the various actions to start and stop at appropriate times may require some programming effort. As mentioned previously, the entire mechanism should be resistant to disturbances, and not be subject to the less than sterile operating environment.