Keyestudio Sensor Shield/Expansion Board V5 for Arduino

One of the issues I found when powering the servos for the robot arm was that I found I couldn’t power them from the Arduino board, I needed an external power supply. This fact made wiring the servos up challenging as the control signal still had to come from the Arduino but the power elsewhere. Thus, lots of messy wires.

All that has been solved with the addition of a Keyestudio Sensor Shield/Expansion board as seen above.

Basically, the shield simply plugs into the pins in the Arduino controller (extending them) while providing:

– An alternate power supply

– Easy connections for all the servos

A nice compact solution to a few challenges with the robot arm. All I needed to do was connect up the shield onto the Arduino and then connect the servo motors directly to their ports and change nothing else. No code or other wiring was done except to also connect an external power supply to the shield board as seen in the lower right above.

I have to say, that if you need to control devices that require more power than the standard Arduino board can provide then this type of shield is exactly what you want!

Thumbs up to Keyestudio for both the controller:

KEYESTUDIO UNO R3 Development Board For Arduino Official Upgrated Version With Pin Header Interface

and the shield

Keyestudio Sensor Shield/Expansion Board V5 for Arduino

A diagram of the project looks like:

Nanoblock Tokyo Skyline Building Kit

Nanoblock Tokyo Skyline Building Kit, White – https://www.amazon.com.au/Nanoblock-Tokyo-Skyline-Building-White/dp/B07CDQQXWG/

1310 pieces

A kit with a lot of different components and colours. Takes longer to assemble than you think simply because you need to find a lot of unique pieces. However, enjoyed the longer assembly process and overall details of the end result. If you don’t mind so many unique pieces then this is great longer term build of intermediate difficulty.

Garage sensor–Version 1 summary

Video link = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBYtc1O-l94

I’ve rounded off version 1 of the Garage sensor and am about to start work on version 2. There is a short video summary of what he sensor does in the video above.

I’m not happy with the daughter board that runs the 5 LEDs. It is cumbersome, challenging and time consuming to build. I plan to replace this with something pre-built. I’ll also opt for a cheaper Arduino board. The process will also require me to rework the 3D printed board all the components are mounted on.

Stay tuned for Version 2 coming soon!

Robot arm in action–Linear motion

Video link = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdtojnnbCBg

Now that I have my robot arm actually working, I can share the video of its operation above. It basically operates one servo at time to pick up and object and then place that object to the left. It will simply continue to do that over and over.

The code for this is here:

https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Arduino%20Uno%20R3/Robot%20Arm/routine1.cpp

Which I’ll explain in an upcoming post soon.

After that I want to modify the operation so that it more more naturally and operates multiple servos together to arrive at its destination.

Getting the robot arm to actually work

After taking a good while to get the robot arm assembled, the next challenge was hooking it up and doing some initial testing.

To control the arm I had invested in a

KEYESTUDIO UNO R3 Development Board For Arduino Official Upgrated Version With Pin Header Interface

This is the same board that is used on the Sun follower kit I recently built. I like this board because it has all the connections for each port already mounted on the board. It also has the GND and VCC for each port as well making it easy to plug standard connectors into it. Less soldering, in my case , means less problems or stuff ups by me!

The first issue I discovered was that many of the leads to the servos were too short when the servo moves the arm through its full motion. In one case I threw the controller board off the table. Thus I needed to invest in:

Servo extension cable 600mm

and

Servo Extension Cable (1m)

to allow full movement of the arm.

The next challenge I found was when I moved on from testing each servo individually to testing the arm as single unit, some of the servos didn’t seem to work! Another oversight by me upon further investigation. The controller board has enough power to run a single servo but not a bank of servos all together from the VCC rails on the controller board.

I therefore connected the VCC of the all the servos directly to my bench top power supply to give it the juice needed. Interestingly, during testing I have seen the arm draw well over 1 amp in total from the power supply as various servos operate. Clearly, no way the controller board could provide that by itself.

With all the servo motors now working, I started to try and get the arm to move to a location and pick up an item. After a while, servo 0 (gripper) stopped working?? I checked all the connections and it still wasn’t working. It wasn’t until I actually touched the servo and found that it was super hot that I realised I must have burnt it out. Damm.

I replaced the burnt out servo with another I had. I also attempted to fix the burnt out servo by opening it up to see if I could free things up inside, but that didn’t go well and I ended up with the internals of the servo motor all over the floor.

I also learnt that when power is removed from the servos, for example when re-flashing the controller board, the servos don’t hold the arm in place. This means that when power is removed from the servos the arm collapses under its own weight. This can cause some unexpected impacts with the environment when power is restored. I’ll need to think about how to solve this down the track but for now I simply support the arm when I flash the controller with updated code.

Finally, with a replacement servo for the gripper and motor extension cables I had the arm operational to a point where I could start getting it to do something interesting.

I’ll cover off the code development in an upcoming article and hopefully also provide some videos of the arm in operation.

Building a 6DOF Programmable Robot Arm: A Step-by-Step Guide for Educators and Enthusiasts

There’s something incredibly satisfying about assembling your own robot arm. As someone who recently built the 6DOF Programmable Robot Arm Kit from IDY Production, I wanted to share my experience and provide a comprehensive guide for fellow educators, students, and robotics enthusiasts.

What’s in the Box

When my Amazon package arrived, I was impressed with how neatly everything was organized. The kit includes:

2mm thick aluminium plate components (pre-cut and precision machined)
6 high-torque servo motors for each degree of freedom
All necessary hardware (screws, nuts, spacers)

What was noticeably missing, however, was a comprehensive instruction manual. Despite the kit’s professional appearance, I had to hunt down assembly instructions online—an unexpected challenge that’s worth mentioning for anyone considering this purchase.

The quality of the materials immediately stood out – the 2mm aluminium plates are robust and precisely manufactured, providing a solid foundation for educational applications.

Finding Assembly Instructions

After discovering no instructions were included in the package, I immediately went searching online. Fortunately, I found several helpful resources:

PDF Assembly Guide: Downloadable Assembly Instructions PDF – This detailed document provides clear illustrations and step-by-step instructions for assembling the robot arm.
YouTube Tutorial: 6 dof robotic arm build tutorial part1 – This comprehensive video walks through the assembly of a similar 6DOF robot arm and was invaluable for understanding the correct positioning of components and servo motors.

I recommend downloading and printing the PDF instructions before beginning assembly, and having the video tutorial available for reference during the more complex assembly steps.

Assembly Process

1. Preparing Your Workspace

Before diving in, I recommend setting up a clean, well-lit workspace with all your tools organized. You’ll need:

Phillips screwdriver set
Needle-nose pliers
Small adjustable wrench
A container to hold small parts

2. Base Assembly

I started with the base, attaching the first servo motor to the bottom plate. The pre-drilled holes aligned perfectly, though I found it helpful to loosely thread all screws before tightening any of them fully. This allowed for minor adjustments as I completed each section.

3. Building the Arm Segments

Each joint required careful attention to the orientation of the servo motors. The PDF guide provides excellent diagrams showing the exact positioning of each component, while the video tutorial shows the assembly process in action. This combination of resources made even the trickier joint assemblies manageable.

The aluminium plates connect seamlessly, creating a professional-looking result that’s both sturdy and aesthetically pleasing.

4. Wiring the System

Cable management proved to be one of the more challenging aspects. The kit includes cable ties, but I supplemented these with spiral wire wrap to keep everything tidy. Take your time routing the wires to ensure they won’t impede movement once the arm is operational.

The video tutorial shows a good approach to cable management around the 12:40 mark, which I found helpful for keeping wires organized without restricting movement.

Programming Your Robot Arm

Once assembled, the real fun begins. The arm can be programmed using:

Arduino IDE (for customized control)
ROS (Robot Operating System) for advanced applications
Various GitHub repositories with open-source robot arm control code examples

I am planning on creating pick-and-place applications and programming choreographed movements across all six degrees of freedom.

Final Thoughts

The 6DOF Programmable Robot Arm Kit from IDY Production strikes an excellent balance between educational value and build quality. The 2mm aluminium construction ensures longevity even in classroom environments where equipment typically endures heavy use.

While the absence of included instructions was initially frustrating, finding the PDF guide and YouTube tutorial ultimately provided more comprehensive guidance than a basic manual might have offered. The assembly process itself is educational and deeply rewarding, though newcomers should expect to spend time studying both resources before and during assembly.

For college instructors looking to provide students with practical robotics experience, this kit offers tremendous value—just be prepared to supplement the package with the online resources I’ve mentioned.

Have you built a similar robotics kit? I’d love to hear about your experience and any creative applications you’ve developed in the comments below!

This blog post is based on my personal experience with the IDY Production 6DOF Programmable Robot Arm Kit, purchased through Amazon. The opinions expressed are my own, and I received no compensation for this review.

Garage Sensor–Power saving

I installed the CIAOPS Labs Garage Sensor just before I took my car out for a drive. About 2 hours later I returned to basically find that the 9 volt battery I was using to power the unit was flat!

So, I put the unit back on the bench and found that during operation the unit was drawing around 0.15 amps. Feeding that into AI I laern:

Battery Life (hours) = Capacity (mAh) ÷ Current Draw (mA)

Example 1: Alkaline (500 mAh)

Battery Life = 500 mAh ÷ 150 mA = 3.33 hours

Example 2: Lithium (1200 mAh)

Battery Life = 1200 mAh ÷ 150 mA = 8 hours

Example 3: NiMH (200 mAh)

Battery Life = 200 mAh ÷ 150 mA = 1.33 hours

Given that I was using an alkaline battery (of unknown life prior) the 3.33 hours above does correlate with what I saw.

To try and reduce the power usage over time I modified the code (here)

https://github.com/directorcia/Azure/blob/master/Iot/Arduino%20Uno%20R3/Garage%20distance/main.cpp

and added some logic to turn off the display and LEDs when no car has been detected for a period of time. This logic proved challenging because of the variation in the distance sensor. My idea was simply to monitor for a static distance beyond the range of the car but the challenge proved that the distance sensor constantly returns different values. Thus, I need to create an inactivity timer and then tie that to an acceptable variance returned from the distance sensor, before I shut down the displays.

After uploading the code and waiting for the timeout period I found the current had dropped to 0.05A. Unfortunately, that still only provides about 10 hours of use on a single 9 volt battery.

Thus, I am now using an AC power adapter to power the unit for now. However, I will have to look into ways that I can reduce the power consumed by the Arduino Uno I think.