Project-SLEARH

Articulated robotic hand designed for sign language education

Preriquisites:

Hardware:

• Arduino Mega 2560;
• 1 usb to printer type cable;
• 1 drive for the motors ( (PCA-96 85) link: https://www.sunfounder.com/pca9685-16-channel-12-bit-pwm-servo-driver.html);
• 12 electrical step motors ((TowerPro SG90 Mini-engrenage Micro Servo 9g) link: https://lamassue.fr/product/towerpro-sg90-mini-engrenage-micro-servo-9g/);
• RaspberryPi 3B+;
• Micro-SD card (for RPi image);

Software;

• Python 3.7(installed for this gitProject, but not necessarily needed);
• Python Library:
  • pySerial;
  • tkinter;
• Arduino IDE for the compiler;
• Arduino Library:
  • Adafruit_PWMServoDriver.h;
  • ArduinoJson.h;
  • Wire.h; (But they all should be downloaded with the plateformio.ini)

Steps to start your project:

• Read the Mechanics/README.md for informations on how to build the hand;

• Read the Electrics/README.md for informations on how to plug the motors and the drive on the arduino;

• Install your favorite python IDE;

• Open this git repo in a new project and create a python RunTool for UI_Main_Script.py script (that's where the application starts);

• Install pySerial on your computer (it will appears in your python /Lib/*); (Now, your python side of the project should be up to run)

• Install VsCode on your computer;

• Install plateformio and ArduinoIDE in your vscode;

• Set your Arduino_debug.exe path in your VsCode setups;

• Build the project one first time (and it should load all the needed libraries); (Now, your Arduino side of the project should be up to run)

• Plug the Arduino to your computer and start the UI_Main_Script.py to start the application and the Arduino thread!

Steps to be able to run to application on the Raspberry Pi 3b+

• Flash your Micro-SD card with an up to date RPi image running a linux operating system (you can flash your Micro-SD card with this tool: https://www.balena.io/etcher/);

• Connect your Micro-SD card in your RPi and open it with an internet cable or via VMWare for example;

• On the first RPi's run, set your preferences;

• Now, open a terminal and instal python 3.6 (or niewer, this could take some time) (this link could be usefull: https://github.com/instabot-py/instabot.py/wiki/Installing-Python-3.7-on-Raspberry-Pi);

• Install the PySerial library with: $ sudo apt-get install pyserial

• If you're connected to your RPi via VMWare or ssh, run this command:

  • $ export DISPLAY=:0

• Create your project directory where you want it on your RPi:

  • $ cd "DIRECTORY PATH"
  • $ mkdir "PROJECT NAME"
  • $ cd "PROJECT NAME"
  • $ git clone "THE PROJECT'S LINK"
  • $ git pull

• The project should now be copied locally onto your RPi;

• Now go to the project's Ui_Main_script.py path on your RPi and run the program through a terminal:

  • $ python Ui_Main_Script.py

Now Have Fun !