I'm building a robot that scratches
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard mushrooshi's Avatar
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    Default I'm building a robot that scratches

    Hi guys~



    I've been DJing for about 3 years, which is cool I guess , but I've been interested in robotics since I was 3, and I uh have decided to combine the two? I feel bad that I might be helping to make these kinds of scenarios a reality. oh well, I like robots XD

    my crossfader-gating and vinyl-manipulating thing prototypes are working as of an hour ago. They're crappy cardboard XD,



    however, I'm designing the parts in Solidworks. I've had the crossfader thing designed for a couple weeks now, but I'll be designing the vinyl thing (based off my silly cardboard prototype)



    My materials science professor at my uni (Texas A&M) and his grad student are opening an "Open 3D Printing Studio", and I took a midterm early and we started talking about 3D printing, and they thought my idea was dope so they're helping me out with that. The first parts I've already designed were printed over the weekend; I accounted for plastic expansion after printing so I hope they fit and it works



    It is powered by an Arduino Mega and it uses the MIDI Clock and a few Traktor midi outs based on things like beatphase and such for the timing to sync up accurately. I chose a Mega so I could fit maybe 64 instant-grat scratching patterns on it, it has a lot of memory!

    I think tomorrow, I'll work on building more scratches. when I get more building blocks put together, a beat or two's worth of a scratch takes only one line which notes the timings and angles of a scratch. I might even make a GUI to build routines later.

    I need to upgrade the servo motors, they are pretty cheap and I already broke one.

    I bought the scratch record (45 is kind of awkward small and fast though, I have a 33 DJ Rectangle record on the way soon) and my first turntable when I started this. to be honest... its easier for me to build and program this robot to scratch than it is for me to learn it myself XD but I still plan to learn how to manually scratch anyway.

    I'd like to be able to control this with a Launchpad or a MIDI-Fighter, but it seems the Arduino only wants to talk to one MIDI signal at a time (which would be Traktor right now). I'm not sure if I want to try to mix the MIDI-In into the Arduino, or if I would rather get some arcade buttons to directly interface (which would be a lot easier and more reliable, though less flexible)~



    a bit more code XD

    Last edited by mushrooshi; 07-13-2015 at 05:47 AM.

  2. #2
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    Default

    There is already a robot that scratches.

    It's cuts are so precise, the human eye and ear cannot identify ANY deviation from the prescribed BPM.

    It's called a "Q-Bert".
    DJ'ing: 2x1200MK2, DJM 850, Dicers, F1, Zomo MC-1000, Sony MDR-v700, i7 Win 10 HP Envy
    Production: Ableton Live 8 and a mouse, Sennheiser HD400, Sony VAIO

    Click HERE to D/L Free Tracks from Soundcloud!!!
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  3. #3
    DJTT Mapping Ninja Moderator Stewe's Avatar
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    Robots are cool - I used to hide them in my mappings

  4. #4
    Tech Wizard
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    Default

    Haha, awesome!

  5. #5
    Tech Wizard mushrooshi's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stewe View Post
    Robots are cool - I used to hide them in my mappings
    I could've written a pure software solution sending MIDI signals buuuuut something about getting it to work physically feels magical XD

    so I recieved my 3D printed parts. I hope they fit, I accounted for tolerances


  6. #6
    Tech Guru calgarc's Avatar
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    Dis gon be fun!

  7. #7

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    haha i want to see more of this thing!
    Traktor/Ableton /Komplete /MBP OSX el capitan

    http://www.soundcloud.com/deejaesnafu

  8. #8
    Tech Wizard mushrooshi's Avatar
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    Okay, so I put together the new 3D-Printed crossfader mechanism, and it is far more solid than the cardboard prototype (which... should be obvious :P). I did a gate test (It's not scratching for the test, its just playing pink noise on loop); it's upper limit on gating 4 times a beat seems to be about 135 BPM (you can hear it skip a few mutes in the last test)



    As far as the fit of the 3D printed parts went, the bearings fit inside snugly, but the shafts that go inside the bearings were a bit too small, so they are wrapped with a bit of tape.. The servo horn also did not fit in at all, so I had to shave one of mine down to fit inside. Both changes have been made in the CAD models and I'll get it re-printed again.

    Old mechanism:


    New mechanism

  9. #9
    Tech Guru Kwal's Avatar
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    Those are very nice brony stickers.

  10. #10
    Tech Wizard mushrooshi's Avatar
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    I got some more progress done, mostly in coding the routines and getting it a bit smoother, as well as optimizing the fader mechanism a bit more.

    https://vine.co/v/evLZ3YtUjpH


    Quote Originally Posted by Kwal View Post
    Those are very nice brony stickers.
    I'm not really into MLP so much, but I can't bring myself to remove the sticker, its too cute :P

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