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OWI USB Interface for Robotic Arm

Regular price: €135,00
Sale price: €135,00
Regular price: ~~€222,00~~
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Description

Using your computer and the included USB cable and interface software command the Robotic Arm Edge with multiple movements and functions
Excellent introduction to robotics programming
Add as part of your home-school curriculum
Robotic Arm not included
OWI is the premier line of educational robotics kits

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Customer Reviews

Complete review for anyone looking to use this with current (2016) systems.I've used this software extensively at home and in the classroom. Overall, it is a great way to introduce kids to the concepts of STEAM and Robotics. A key word there would be introduce. Here are some of my main points for anyone thinking about buying or working with the kit.1. I find the price to be outrageous. At the time I write this you can find the robotic arm online for just under $40. This kit contains the CD, USB cable, and board to swap out to use USB rather than the standard controller and is the same price as the arm; $40. You can find the software free online from the manufacturer and other sites. So really, you're paying 40 for a proprietary USB cable and the control module. Way overpriced. I would say $15-$20 would be reasonable.2. The interface is very outdated. This kit could be so valuable to schools for science and technology. The combination of the arm and this interface could open up a ton of activities and lessons in the curriculum. However, the interface is very old fashioned and the installation and compatibility (see #3 below) is a pain. Because of this, I use it on the small scale, but would not attempt to request that my district buy this on a larger scale.3. Installation and compatibility. This is only windows compatible. However, if you have a Mac with Bootcamp loaded you can use it on your Mac. You can also use it on a tablet as long as it runs windows and has a USB port i.e. a Microsoft Surface. It says it's compatible with Windows up to 7. What this really means is that it will install and work fairly flawlessly with devices up to W7. You can still install it on anything running 8-10. However, you have to disable driver signing or you will get an error when it tries to install the driver. This step would be unnecessary, plus it could easily run natively on OS X if the company would do a few simple updates to their program. It's still being sold and used often in 2016. Why can't this be supported? In any case, if using Windows 8-10, simply hold down the shift key and click restart. Then go through the menus to disable driver signing and you'll be able to install the software with no problem. Google "disable driver signing in Windows 10" if you need better instructions.4. Using the software. It has two modes; manual and programmable. I saw in the question people asking about controlling it in real time and there were some odd responses about using an Arduino. While I'm sure that's interesting, the manual mode does control it in real time already with either key presses or mouse clicks and works very well. The programming mode is fun and as I mentioned before, is a great INTRODUCTION to programming and robotics. It has an interface where you can add movements that overlap or sequentially. The flaw is that instead of the movements being based on 3D geometry, they are based on time. Meaning that it times how long you want each movement to happen. I can see that the company did this for simplicity. To have it based on XYZ coordinates would be extremely advanced for a general audience and younger kids or at the least need a big learning curve. So you can program your movements based on the amount of time you want each to run, but that's where the trouble starts. First, many people don't realize that after you program it, you need to rewind those movements back to your starting point. That's key to getting it even close to working the way you'd expect. After that, it still isn't perfect as the rewind doesn't always bring the motors back to their exact starting points, the power fluctuates, gears slip slightly, and if you actually do grab or pick up anything it changes the timing too. So with all of that said it means you will rarely ever have the program work out to do what you really want it to do. For example, I create a task like pick up a little plastic figure and drop it in a cup; a very simple task. If you are familiar with the programming and do it meticulously 10 times, maybe you'll get it to happen on the 11th if you're lucky. Luck actually has way more to do with it than you'd expect.To sum up. This is cool. It's fun. If you can find it on sale for a good price definitely pick it up. But beware it's more for novelty and a little fun experience rather than actually being useful in any real way. 3Board works, Software and Drivers don't.As a lot of people before me have mentioned, I wasn't able to get it working as intended. The drivers don't work with some combination of newer versions of Windows (?) and 64 bit (??) and the software is running in Flashplayer (!!).However, the hardware itself works just fine, no problems so far. I'm a programmer and bought this with the intention of writing my own nonsense to control it. Short rundown: Replace the driver with a LibUSB one. Grab the LibUSB library for your language of choice. There's a nice little piece of sample code floating around that has all the values you'll need to detect the arm as well as successfully send commands to it. 2Fun but not clearly described when I bought it.It's okay but we are becoming a society of 64bit OS users and this comes in 32bit. Then you go the website and download the 64bit zipped version and it never worked for me. I am an IT analyst for over 20 years. I "should" be able to make this work, but instead I used an old PC and reloaded it with a 32bit Win7 OS and it worked fine. If you've already built the arm, you know that this is not a stepper motor unit and movements are not precise so this is for "fun" only, nothing serious here. 3"Like-real" robotic arm modelThe robotic arm kit comes with a control box for controlling the robotic arm manually. I find the use rather stereo-type. That influenced me to get a set of the optional USB interface kit consisting of the interface hardware and the operational software. I ordered the kit from Amazon on 15 March 2013 and was informed that it would arrived at my place in Singapore around 11 April 2013. What surprised me was that it arrived very much sooner than expected -- on 27 March 2013 afternoon.The interface kit contains a CD ROM (holding the driver, operation program and manual which you have to print out for reference), an USB interface PCB, an USB cable, a yellow plastic cover for the PCB and a small booklet containing instructions on how to install the interface PCB and the correct positioning of the robotic arm before connecting it to the computer. Details for the loading of the driver and the operation program are in the soft copy of the manual in the CD ROM.Installation of the driver and the operation program is not difficult although I have wished that they come in the 64-bit version as well. So far I have tried only the BASIC mode which made the robotic arm functioned as though it is connected to a control box. The PROGRAM mode should be a more interesting one to play with but I have yet to try.29 Mar 2013 -- Tried out the PROGRAM mode this evening. The robotic arm responded as intended. After several repeats of the same short program, I noticed the position of the arm seemed to have misaligned. Maybe it is due to the fact that the 5 small motors used are just ordinary ones. If they have been stepper motors, will the movements be more precised? Perhaps friends online can advise me. I am a retiree but I still find it fascinating to play with. The program is rather basic but nevertheless user-friendly. So, there's no programming jargons to learn. For a beginner to robotics like myself I am of the opinion that it serves its purposes. This robotic arm and the accompanying optional USB interface can be the stepping stones for one who intends to learn robotics. Anything more sophisticated you will have to take up studies on micro-controllers like the PIC as well as mechatronics. I hope friends online will deem this as a fair review. Thanks. 4Changes the Arm from Manual / toggle control, to PC keyboard controlI purchased the OWI Robotic Arm kit and this USB Interface to provide a teaching tool for my workshops on Equipment and Equipment Software Validation for my U.S. FDA CGMP Verification and Validation two day workshops. As such it has proved to be an excellent teaching tool to help attendees get beyond the theoretical Power Point presentations and group discussions to a more "hands on" learning experience. It was simple to assemble, install, and load the software. I had an initial hardware problem and contacted the OWI company, and they provided great support, which proved unnecessary, since their troubleshooting guide helped me to solve the problem before they got back to me. 5Robotic arm (accessory)OWI Robotic Arm EdgeThe robotic arm is fun to build, and quite instructive for teens.The USB kit makes it controllable from a PC using a flash-based program. Some libraries also exist (open source) for various Unix and Mac distros so the robot can be programmed in various languages. The USB commands are super simple and reverse-engineered online. More or less send a motor number and a rotation direction (or no rotation).Now of course, the robotic arm has no position sensor, so the programs cannot know the position of the various motors. This is in many ways not as sophisticated as a simple servo-motor used for Remote Control cars/planes/helicopters...The USB module is easy to install if you built the robotic arm, and "just works". The default program worked without problems on Windows 7 x64, but I likely downloaded the right drivers from the OWI forums or a place like that. 4This interface works wonderful with my laptopPurchased with OWI INCORPORATED Robotic Arm Edge. Using both products to help instruct ROBOTIC Merit Badge for boy scout troops. This interface works wonderful with my laptop. Thank you. 5Nice toy, it could've been more sophisticatedAlong with the robotic arm this is a nice toy.Everything works but it's impossible to make anything useful with this arm.You can only teach your kid basics about robotics. For a toy is kind of expensive.I couldn't make a complete cycle using the super basic programing module..the reason being the fact that the computer sends on/off signals to the motors but it doesn't "remember" the initial position, plus there are imperfections in the gears (like loose gears) and when you repeat a move it accentuates the error.You can program it, alright, but since the function is time based not initial/final position you can't get the same move second or third time.I kind of repeated my self. I hope you get what I'm saying.However, you can connect different devices through this interface if you are creative. 3Pretty darn cool interface. Works great on Windows 10.Clear, easy instructions. USB is connection is very easily noticed and interface works with Windows 10. Disregard any reviews telling you this does not work with Windows 10, I had no problems. Would have given it 5 stars, but the software does not contain a "Pause" command. Programming is straight forward to create a sequence. I created 4 sequences of over 80 single and combined steps. Also, contacted OWI about missing "Pause" command, they immediately responded. 4Perfect gift!This was a wonderful addition to the robotic arm kit. My little nerd is still geeking out about it. 5

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OWI USB Interface for Robotic Arm

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OWI USB Interface for Robotic Arm

Categories

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OWI USB Interface for Robotic Arm

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Customer Reviews

OWI USB Interface for Robotic Arm

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