Node JS library for controlling the Maplin Robot Arm with your keyboard via the terminal. Requires Node.js.
Tested on Node v8.1.1+. If you're running an earlier version you may need to upgrade to get this to work.
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/ArranJacques/maplin-robot-arm-controller.git
From the package's root directory run npm install.
Plug the arm into a usb port and make sure it's turned on. Once plugged in, from the package's home, directory run:
node index.js
The arm should connect and you should get the following response:
$ node index.js
connecting to robot arm...
connected!
use your keyboard to control the arm
see README.md for key mappings
Once connected you can use your keyboard to control the Arm.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Up arrow key | Move the shoulder (base) up |
| Down arrow key | Move the shoulder (base) down |
| Left arrow key | Move the shoulder (base) counterclockwise |
| Right arrow key | Move the shoulder (base) clockwise |
| q | Move the wrist down |
| w | Move the wrist up |
| a | Move the elbow down |
| s | Move the elbow up |
| o | Open the grip |
| p | Close the grip |
| space bar | Toggle the light on/off |
| ctrl+c | End the session |
Each press of a key will move the corresponding joint for a given number of milliseconds before stopping. For the joints (shoulder, elbow and wrist) the default is 200ms, and for the grip the default is 70ms. You can override these defaults by passing values for the joint movement granularity and grip movement granularity arguments when running node index.js.
node index.js --jmg=1000
node index.js --gmg=1000
The default vendor id used to connect to the robot arm via usb is 4711. This should work for most installs, however if you need to provide a different vendor id you can do so by passing it using the --idVendor argument when running node index.js.
node index.js --idVendor=1234