> Next Bolting the thing down
< Previous Smoothing the joints

1.1.2.4 Untangling the spaghetti

The LynxMotion construction guide says, and shows, scant little about organizing the wiring about the robot. Suffice to say that a first effort will probably leave the things loose and sprouting from their connection points; an attempt to tidy them will see them guided through gaps in the motor mountings; further efforts will start to tie them down, and bundle them together, always fighting against the requirement to leave sufficient slack that they don’t get overly flexed during their lifetime, and, of course, have enough room so that the robot can actually enjoy the full range of its potential motion.

This latter point turns out to be somewhat sore, illuminating limitations in both the supplied documentation and in the hardware itself. The documentation correctly says to identify the extremal extension of the arm, and adjust the wiring bindings such that the robot can access this position. However, this maximally extended position is not, in fact, the position with the greatest demand either on the length of wiring needed in total, or on the amount of slack that has to be left in the system.

Ultimately the constructor will want to get rid of the silly little extension cables supplied (which are too short and a bit awkward to route), and hard-wire the robot with cable that is right for the job.

> Next Bolting the thing down
< Previous Smoothing the joints
Copyright © 2010, 2012 DM Bespoke Computer Solutions Ltd
All rights reserved