BOM Complete

The BOM has been completed, I am now ready to submit for funding

BOM Part List Configuration

I did the long and tedious Task of going through every single part in the project and give each one a custom name, description and product details. I did this because of onshapes built in BOM tool, so now it gives me a full list of needed parts and quantities.

I edited the properties of over 300 parts to do this.

FULL ROBOT

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Electronics!

Today I made an electronics box and modelled the spacing of the main electronic components.

Electronics specifications:

SBC:

• Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB)

Motion controller:

• BTT Octopus Pro V1.1 (H723)

Closed-loop drivers:

• StepperOnline CL57T V4.1

48V PSU:

• Meanwell SE-200-48 or similar

Enclosure:

• Joinfworld Outdoor Electrical Box, 16x11x6 ABS Plastic

The box is held up in the superstructure by four 3D prints and cable ties.

FULL ROBOT

Main Gantry + Electronics

If you want to be more engaged in this projects trajectory or have any suggestions or questions, join the slack channel #grow-bot.

Traversal X₁ Axis Motor

Today I made the mount for the stepper motor that runs the belt for the x-axis

What is the motor’s purpose?

It will allow the robot to move up to 120 inches down the garden bed. It engages with a belt that pulls the robot down aluminum tubes to traverse the full length

Technical details

It uses a 1x1 aluminum tube with 1/8 inch walls to mount to the main turret plate and them it houses the motor, pully and idlers for the belt

I also shifted the entire belt over to the left for a better motor fit.

CAD:

FULL ROBOT

Turret Only

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Large Design Updates!

MOST OF THE CONTENT FOR THIS DEVLOG IS CONTAINED IN THE ATTATCHED EXPLANATION VIDEO

TLDR:

• I lightened the main gantry structure and gussets in an FRC style in order to keep weight and inertia down.
• I built a custom configuration panel that allows the viewer to select through different configurations including the greenhouse, garden bed, ground, or crops
• I built a coordinate variable system in order to help me control all 7 axis of movement in the system individually.
• I added vegetation in the garden bed in order to better convey the purpose of the system.

SEE FOR YOURSELF!

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Belt Tensioner!

Today I designed the belt tensioner for where the belts terminate on the gantry, it uses ratchets to tension pullies with the belt wrapped around them.

I also designed the mounting piece for the wrist mechanism.

CAD Links

Turreted Gantry Main Assembly

Core-XY Gantry

GROW-BOT FULL

If you want to stay involved in the making this project a reality, I recommend joining the slack channel #grow-bot to help out or ask questions.

Core-XY Gantry System Complete!

What is Core-XY?

Core-XY is a popular belt-driven motion system commonly used in 3D printers and CNC machines. Instead of having one motor move the X-axis and another move the Y-axis independently, Core-XY uses two stationary motors that work together using a single, continuous loop of belt to move the toolhead diagonally, horizontally, or vertically.

Details

The Gantry hub is 3D printed out of PA6-CF Nylon for maximum strength, and it has many through bolts that support the bearings and pullies that double as rigitidy in the structure.

• There are bearings that ride on the large 2x2 aluminum tube that allow for side to side motion
• Other bearings ride on the smaller 1x1 aluminum tube that allows for up and down motion.

The gantry was designed to be as light-weight as possible due to it riding to the far end of the cantilevered aluminum superstructure.

How does the belt work?

The best way to describe the shape of the belt is a plus symbol, since it goes from the left to the center to the top to the center then to the right ect. The belt is terminated and tensioned at the bottom of the 1x1 aluminum tube, this is what allows for all of the motion since the tube is effectively riding the belt.
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I don’t know if that makes any sense lol, but pretty much if the motors spin together it translates left and right, and if they spin in opposite directions, it will go up and down.

CAD LINKS

Main Gantry Assembly

Core-XY Gantry TLA

FULL ROBOT

If you want to stay involved in the making this project a reality, I recommend joining the slack channel #grow-bot to help out or ask questions.

Core-XY Gearbox

Today I built the gearbox component of the core-xy gantry system, I will send an update later today on the rest of the gantry.

The top motor drives the far end of the gantry through a dead-axel gear and pully riding on a through hex axel. The bottom motor directly powers the through axel for the near side pully.

CAD LINKS:

Superstructure TLA (Includes gearbox)

Full Robot

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I’m Back!

(For real )

I have had to deal with some personal issues and illness over the course of the past few weeks, and was unable to work on the robot. However, I am officially back to making progress.
Here is a list of miscellaneous improvements I have made since the last devlog
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But I am seriously sorry for not updating folks on the status for the past few weeks. 🤦

Turret Structure

Since I designed the main gantry assembly, I added the actually turret to the frame that uses 10 bearing stacks on shoulder screws to rotate and a cnc machined aluminum azimuth gear to rotate.

Superstructure Mounting

I am going to mount the main superstructure to the turret using a 3/16” walled 2x2 aluminum box tube with quarter inch bolts spanning both the turret plates for extra stability, I am using two large gussets to mount the 2x2 box tubing for the superstructure to the turret box tube.

Superstructure

The superstructure is comprised of 2x2 box tubes and aluminum gussets, I only have the main frame designed, and am currently working on the core-xy linear gantry for the toolhead.

Belt Tensioning

I also designed a belt tensioning system for the main belt that allows the gantry to pull itself along the garden bed rails.

RELEVANT CAD LINKS

FULL CAD - GROW Bot (Greenhouse + Garden bed)

Superstructure TLA

Full Gantry Assembly (TURRET INCLUDED)

I sincerely apologize for not keeping anyone following the progress of this project up to date with its happenings, but I promise to be better in the future
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To join the conversation around this project join the slack channel #grow-bot

Main Gantry Complete

What does it do?

The gantry is a frame that rolls on the aluminum tubing, it uses bogies to provide omnidirectional support (2 wheeled structures).

How does it work?

There are custom Urethane wheels on aluminum hubs that roll on the aluminum tubing, they are rotated 140 degrees from each other. The bogies attach to aluminum 6061 tube stock above it that forms the main superstructure for the turret to mount to.

Interesting Technical Numbers

• 32 Bolts, 32 Lock nuts, 20 washers, 32 rivets
• 60 inches of 6061 2x1 aluminum box tubing
• 32 inches of 6061 1x1 aluminum box tubing
• 12 custom 1 inch OD urethane rollers with internal bearings
• 8 box tube crush blocks for rigidity
• PA6-CF 3D printed Bogies
• ~9.8 lbs of box tubing
• ~15 lbs of total weight

Onshape Links:

• WIP GROW-Bot Assembly
• Gantry Assembly

Thank you so much for reading this, if you are interested in this project join #grow-bot in slack to participate!

Watch the animation below that better illustrates the design:

Updates!

The Name

Fist off, to address the obvious… the new name!
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Thought process:

“GROW + Robot = GROW-Bot!”

Please leave me your thoughts down below!

Misc

I spent most of today doing miscellaneous things, like adding a dirt texture to the garden bed and designing a greenhouse concept framework. I also decided to ditch the lightening on some of the aluminum since the weight simply doesn’t matter in this scenario
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GROW-Bot WIP CAD

Greenhouse CAD

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Tomorrow I am going to design the turreted gantry system and possibly start work on the superstructure.

The channel name has also now changed to #grow-bot so join to keep up with development and to help out!

Garden Bed Rails

What do they do?

Today I designed the rails that garden robot I am designing will traverse on.

How do they work?

They are mounted to 2x4s that are directly embedded in the ground and to the main structure of the garden bed.

What to do next?

Tomorrow is the big day when I start work on the actual main gantry part of the robot. I hope to have the 3d printed bogie (3 wheel structure that wraps around rails) and the turret assembly designed by the end of the day tomorrow.

This robot is coming together! Join #grow-bot in slack to keep up with updates and/or ask questions!

Onshape Link

Differential Wrist Mechanism

This is the V1 CAD for the differential gear mechanism that will allow for the toolhead to rotate and pitch forward on my automated gardening robot called GROW.

Technical Description:

A half inch hex axel is mounted to the larger bevel gear and the gantry frame. The main cartriage is largely floating and only supported by the chain and gear since both motor walls and bevel gears are on bearings and floating freely on the main axel.

When both motors spin together, The mechanism pitches up and down. When they spin opposite, it rotates

Please watch the attached animation that illustrates the mechanism (the chain is not animated), and comment below with any questions or suggestions.
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Also, join the slack channel #grow-bot to participate or observe the development of the robot, I am also searching for programming help once the fabrication phase is over.

DIFFERENTIAL CAD LINK

• Garden Bed V1 CAD
• Crayon Block CAD
• Master Sketch (top/bottom)

Thank you all so much! Please give me feedback on how to improve my devlogs, and consider following if you want to see where this is going!

Garden Bed CAD V1 - ONSHAPE LINK

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I finished Cadding the garden bed including screw positions and soil depth.
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I am taking a break from the wrist mechanism as I discovered a major flaw with the mechanism that needs some adjustment which I will hopefully complete tomorrow.
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Join #grow-bot to keep up with the progress!

Differential Toolhead V0 - CLICK HERE FOR ONSHAPE LINK

I just finished Modeling the differential gearbox in the toolhead, It is powered by 2 stepper motors, and chain.
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I am hoping to print out these parts and make a prototype later today
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Join #grow-bot to keep up with development

Master Sketches

This is the project moving from Crayon Block CAD to Master sketching all of the dimensions and plate layouts in side and top view.
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I dimensioned the CORE-XY upper gantry system, and all of the rollers and turret layers on the base.
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Also, I have decided to instead of making the bed two rows of garden beds, it will loop around the top to form a U-shaped structure in order to provide increased working area. The total dimensions are 16ft x 10 ft
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Master Sketch Onshape Document
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MS To-do:

• Differential wrist mechanism
• Tool head
• Top View
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  Join #grow-bot to keep up with development

Crayon CAD - Differential Gearbox

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I designed the differential gear box mechanism in CAD today, I didn’t have tons of time to work on it, but I got the general dimensions figured out.
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It will operate as a differential gearbox for the rotation and the pitch of the main tool-head. I used gearlabs to generate the bevel gears.
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I also worked on some designs for the tool head system, and am considering weather or not a tool changer is necessary
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Join #grow-bot for more updates

Crayon CAD #2 - Main Gantry Structure

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This is what I like to call “Crayon CAD” or when the project exists as undetailed blobs.
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I have just finished working out some of the basic layout of the gantry structure. It is going to be cantilevered over One side of the rotating base, and the extendable carriage will ride along the 72 inch long 2x2 aluminum tube using bearings and belts.
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The main beam is supported by two 2x2 aluminum tubes that form a triangle of support, this design allows for maximum travel length and minimal interaction with plants.
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FYI I am currently designing the robot to be compatble with any plant up to 36 inches tall, this includes some smaller types of tomato, pepper, and bean plants.
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I also sketched out the roller gantry design before CADing it.
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Join #grow-bot to keep up with development!

Crayon CAD - The Garden bed

This is what I like to call “Crayon CAD” or when the project exists as undetailed blobs.
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Crayon CAD for the garden bed base is complete! This will be a good frame to start making rough CAD for the gantry system and elevators, along with spacing out the general dimensions before getting into mastersketches.
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The current Idea is that the gantry will ride along these 1.5” aluminum tubes, and will be externally belted for linear motion
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Join #grow-bot to keep up with development and help out!

Crayon CAD - The Garden bed

This is what I like to call “Crayon CAD” or when the project exists as undetailed blobs.
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Crayon CAD for the garden bed base is complete! This will be a good frame to start making rough CAD for the gantry system and elevators, along with spacing out the general dimensions before getting into mastersketches.
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The current Idea is that the gantry will ride along these 1.5” aluminum tubes, and will be externally belted for linear motion
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Join #grow-bot to keep up with development and help out!