BeebControl>>Robot arms>>Micro Grasp |
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Small, simple and yours for under £200
Back in 1982, that is. Micro Grasp was designed to fill the vacuum at the lower end of the Powertran Cybernetics price range by appealing to cash-strapped schools and robot enthusiasts alike. It offered 3-axis, closed-loop, servo-motor control, with a built-in power supply and a 'universal' interface that could be tailored to suit most 8-bit micros of the day.
It made its debut in two construction articles in the December 1982 and January 1983 issues of Practical Electronics. The articles were written primarily with owners of the Sinclair ZX81 in mind. It was nevertheless available with a memory-mapped BBC micro interface for those who required one.
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A mini Mentor in the making?
Micro Grasp was designed by Richard Becker, of Genesis robot arm fame (see the Genesis/Feedback pages). The later and larger 5-axis Mentor arm by the same designer bears a striking resemblance to Micro Grasp - hinting perhaps where its ancestry lay.
When Richard Becker left in 1984 to start his own company - Cybernetic Applications - the Genesis arm range was transferred to Feedback Instruments, but Micro Grasp remained behind to become Powertran's sole robotic offering.
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