Mar. 20, 2015 | By Simon
When it comes to some of the wildest (but functional) concepts for creating 3D content, it’s hard to ignore the projects that have come out of the Instructables open source DIY platform.
For Instructables user Aldric Negrier, this came in the form of a voice-controlled/autonomous 3D scanning rig that allows for a 3D scan capture to work as smooth as possible with the minimum amount of effort needed.
To begin with, Aldric set out with three main goals for the project. These included creating a portable 3d scanning turntable (with the necessary size for 1 person to be rotated), an autonomous system for the scanning process and a setup for voice control. To keep things simple, Aldric chose to keep the design as minimal as possible - consisting of a simple sheet of cut plywood as a base gear, a Lazy Susan bearing, a geared DC motor and an Arduino microcontroller.
The materials necessary for the project include 1 sheet of marine grade plywood (500x400x12mm), 100ml of wood glue, one 12” Lazy Susan bearing, 48 20mm screws, one 12V DC geared motor, one H-Bridge DC motor driver, an Arduino Nano and a Bluetooth module. Additionally, access to a 3D printer, a CNC machine, a table saw and a hand drill are necessary to complete the project.
Starting with the sheet of plywood, the large gear is created by cutting the sheet into two pieces and gluing them together. This is followed by a layer of varnish (if desired).
Next, the Lazy Susan bearing can be measured to be attached to the base, followed by the large gear that can be cut using the CNC machine. To ensure that both the larger and smaller gear (which is attached to the motor) fit together, a template can be downloaded directly from the project page.
Once the larger gear is attached to the base (note that it should be centered), the smaller gear and accompanying motor can be attached. The smaller gear and it’s accompanying mount can both be made on the 3D printer - these files are also included on the project page.
After the motor has been attached to the base, all that is needed is to set up the appropriate electronics and programming in order to ensure that the systems operates as intended. This includes simple wiring of the electronics and accessorizing the Arduino Nano with the necessary add-on components including the Bluetooth module and the ultrasonic range finder. This is followed by the appropriate programming in Arduino for both the Nano and the speech recognition software.
Finally, once all of the above steps have been completed, hooking up a scanner such as the Microsoft Kinect is all that is needed. If all went okay, you should now have a turntable that is capable of rotating a human body with a simple voice command!
For the full instructions of the project and all necessary project files, head over to the Autonomous/Voice-Controlled 3D Scanning Rig project page.
Posted in 3D Scanning
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