WinchBot 2.0

The video about WinchBot 2.0

RS Components video "for the inspired"

Building the pyramid in fast forward

Figure 1:
WinchBot 2.0 is the version of my cable bot that was displayed an the stand of RS Components on the SPS/IPC Drives in Nuremberg 2017.

Parts list

My WinchBot originates from a cooperation with RS-Components which is why links in the table point to their online shop.

Part	Pieces	RS Components	Remark
SIMATIC IOT2020	1	124-4037
Stepper motor 1.68A at 2.8V	3	892-8732	Stepper motor winches
Geckodrive G250X	3	896-8553
Mount plate and heat sink for G250X	3	896-8557
Stepper motor 400mA at 12V	2	191-8299	Stepper motors gripper plattform
L293D	2	714-0622	Driver ICs Stepper motors gripper plattform
Standard Servos	3	781-3058	Servos gripper
5V power supply	1	124-2200	5V for Servos and Raspberry Pi
12V power supply	1	776-7738	12V for stepper motors
Gearwheel 80 teeth	3	521-7691	Gearwheel cable winches
Gearwheel 12 teeth	3	521-7512	Gearwheel stepper motors.
Ball bearings 6mm inner diameter	12	618-9913	Linear bearing of center square tube and bearings of cable drums.
Ball bearings 3mm inner diameter	3	492-1939	Strain relif cables
Schielded cables	1	529-582	Cablings
Hexagon nuts M6	1	525-919
Threaded rod M6	1	530-321
Plastics sheets 5mm	3	769-8749
Aluminum square tubes 20x20x100mm	5		Frame
Aluminum square tube 25x25x100mm	1		Center tube of WinchBot

Mechanics

Figure 2:
The mechanics is identical to that of WinchBot 1.5, I only did som experimentation with the transmission of the winches:
I am now using gears having 24 teeth on the motor shafts to speed up the WinchBot. An attempt with even larger gears having 36 teeth failed - caused by the lower torque on the winches, the robot started skipping steps. The maximum phase current of the stepper motors I am using is 1.68A, while the Gekko drivers can deliver up to 3.5A, so you can try to use more powerful motors If you'd like to speed up this bot.

Electronics

Figure 3:
5 stepper motors with driver chips, 3 servos and a SIMATIC IOT2020 are needed to drive WinchBot 1.5.
The stepper motors at the winches draw a current of 1.68A at 2.8V and they are driven by Geckodrive G250X in 10 microsteps per full step.
The stepper motors at the gripper platform draw a current of 400mA at 12V, so they are weaker but not as heavy as the winch motors. They are drivem through L293D chips in full steps.
The servos are used to rotate and open or close the gripper.

Figure 4:
I am using a SITOP PSU 100S with an output voltage of 12V at up to 14A to feed the SIMATIC and the stepper motors with electricity. The servos are connected to a second power supply with an output voltage of 5V at up to 3A.

Figure 5:
During the exhibition I used two inductive sensors to recalibrate the WinchBot from time to time while it was running. All GPIOs of the IOT2020 were in use, which is why I connected the sensors to a Brainbox to observe their current state. The Brainbox type ED008 has 8 digital input/output pins that can be controlled by sending ASCII codes over the network. With that, only short cables are needed to connect the sensors with the Brainbox while you can observe the state of the GPIOs through any distance using a computer network.

Figure 6:

Software

Figure 7:
Same as with its precedessors, I am using a web interface to control WinchBot 2.0. The webserver "Monkey" is running on the IOT2020, so that you can control the WinchBot using any computer running a browser.
You can get the software including scematics at the column download.

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