[Coco] Robotic Arm from the MegaHoby store...

[Andrew]

That's a very interesting series, John - thanks for posting that.

I wanted to note that the link you provided doesn't allow you to view 
much; it's one of those documents that you have to have an account, and 
"check out" the magazine like you would a book from a library.

Instead, here are the magazine scans (clearscan version) from the CoCo 
archive:

Part 1 - 
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Clearscan)/Hot%20Coco%20Vol.%202%20No.%202%20-%20July%201984.pdf

Part 2 - 
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Clearscan)/Hot%20Coco%20Vol.%202%20No.%203%20-%20August%201984.pdf

Part 3 - 
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Clearscan)/Hot%20Coco%20Vol.%202%20No.%205%20-%20October%201984.pdf

Apparently, the author broke his wrist, and the other parts of the 
project were delayed as a result. It picks up again in January 1985, 
where he shows how to interface the original "fixed base" Armatron toy 
robot arm to the CoCo via the interface:

Part 4 - 
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Clearscan)/Hot%20Coco%20Vol.%202%20No.%208%20-%20January%201985.pdf

Part 5 - 
https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Clearscan)/Hot%20Coco%20Vol.%202%20No.%209%20-%20February%201985.pdf

The above is yet another version of "Armatron Robot Arm" interfacing 
I'll need to add to my archive. Curiously, for the author of the series, 
James Barbarello, it's like his fourth article that I've found or heard 
of regarding interfacing an Armatron to a computer - though I believe 
this is the only one for the "fixed base" Armatron (his other articles 
are for the newer "mobile armatron" that used individual motors, instead 
of the single motor and complex gear train of the "fixed base" version).

I should also mention that over on the FB forum last month in September, 
Catherine Trudel posted about the conversion of an Armatron she did, 
with some pictures she had taken after finding the old project in her 
pile-o-stuff. Apparently, it was a project she had done as a young girl. 
She mentions the Hot CoCo series, but didn't recall the date - and I 
never looked it up. But from the two pictures she posted, you could 
definitely tell it was the same or a similar interface.

I have a project on my back burner to take all the stuff I have on 
interfacing the Armatron to a computer, and archive it for others to 
download and use. There is quite a bit out there, and as I've noted 
serveral other times, it seems like every time I turn around, up pops 
another article, book, or something else about doing it.

Anyhow - thanks again for the update; it was really helpful.

Andrew L. Ayers
Glendale, Arizona
phoenixgarage.org
github.com/andrew-ayers

On 10/27/21 10:19 PM, coco-request at maltedmedia.com wrote:
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:46:29 +0000
> From: John Guin<johnguin at hotmail.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts<coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Robotic Arm from the MegaHoby store...
> Message-ID:
> 	<MWHPR14MB13574F9034678868DC4153C0D9859 at MWHPR14MB1357.namprd14.prod.outlook.com>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Aha - the interface I was thinking of was from James Barbarello starting in the July 84 Hot Coco:
> https://archive.org/details/sim_hot-coco_1984-07_2_2/mode/2up?view=theater
> 
> Hope this helps!