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Low Cost Robot Arm

github.com

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Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#71

Post by regularfry »

7373737373 wrote: post #69

I'm surprised (or perhaps very unaware) that there doesn't seem to exist a company yet that mass produces cheap, high quality, reasonably standardized robot arms. So many things like 3D printers or CNC machines have entered the consumer/amateur level price realm, but this seems to be something still largely unexplored. Seems to have Arduino/Raspberry Pi scale potential, but I haven't heard of a name/ecosystem that po…

There have been a few around, but the limiting factor (as you can see from the BOM in the link) is the cost of the actuators. They get expensive fast.

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#72

Post by iLoveOncall »

7373737373 wrote: post #69

I'm surprised (or perhaps very unaware) that there doesn't seem to exist a company yet that mass produces cheap, high quality, reasonably standardized robot arms. So many things like 3D printers or CNC machines have entered the consumer/amateur level price realm, but this seems to be something still largely unexplored. Seems to have Arduino/Raspberry Pi scale potential, but I haven't heard of a name/ecosystem that po…

Skimming through this threads and the various answers to the multiple "has anyone found a use for a robotic arm?" questions will explain why there's no such company. There simply is no consumer-grade market.

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#73

Post by cocoflunchy »

mattlondon wrote: post #66
isquaredr wrote: post #12

The geek in me is drooling, but are there any practical home uses others have found for robotic arms? Hacking is always more fun with a good project

Holding a water pistol to shoot at foxes in my garden might be useful. They other humane deterrents (ultrasonics etc) don't work.

You don't really need a robot arm for this though... Also on my list of projects for cats :)

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#74

Post by adaml_623 »

7373737373 wrote: post #69

I'm surprised (or perhaps very unaware) that there doesn't seem to exist a company yet that mass produces cheap, high quality, reasonably standardized robot arms. So many things like 3D printers or CNC machines have entered the consumer/amateur level price realm, but this seems to be something still largely unexplored. Seems to have Arduino/Raspberry Pi scale potential, but I haven't heard of a name/ecosystem that po…

I don't think we've figured out how to make good cheap mechanical actuators. I think that engineers make do with inaccurate actuators by changing the mechanism around it. Robot arms need a level of reliability that isn't cheap yet.

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#75

Post by 7373737373 »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #72
7373737373 wrote: post #69

I'm surprised (or perhaps very unaware) that there doesn't seem to exist a company yet that mass produces cheap, high quality, reasonably standardized robot arms. So many things like 3D printers or CNC machines have entered the consumer/amateur level price realm, but this seems to be something still largely unexplored. Seems to have Arduino/Raspberry Pi scale potential, but I haven't heard of a name/ecosystem that po…

Skimming through this threads and the various answers to the multiple "has anyone found a use for a robotic arm?" questions will explain why there's no such company. There simply is no consumer-grade market.

A lack of applications hasn't prevented the sale of a large number of Arduinos lol

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#76

Post by regularfry »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #35
jerzmacow wrote: post #2

Wow, I was building a Thor 3D printed arm, and this project looks way better! I think I'm going to Pivot. Side bar: these servos are a game changer.

Are the servos better than SG90?

Dramatically. They cost (give or take) ten times more and weigh twice as much, for which you get (give or take) four times the stall torque, serial positional control, and a 360 degree range of motion.

Still got plastic gears though.

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#77

Post by Ekaros »

7373737373 wrote: post #69

I'm surprised (or perhaps very unaware) that there doesn't seem to exist a company yet that mass produces cheap, high quality, reasonably standardized robot arms. So many things like 3D printers or CNC machines have entered the consumer/amateur level price realm, but this seems to be something still largely unexplored. Seems to have Arduino/Raspberry Pi scale potential, but I haven't heard of a name/ecosystem that po…

Also I have understood that robot arms are in real life rather complicated to program to operate correctly. So any process would take substantial effort. Magnitude harder than controlling some relays or reading some sensor data.

Re: Low Cost Robot Arm

#78

Post by Ekaros »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #21
pulse7 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been here for several millennia... it even has two legs to walk around and two rotating cameras connected to a very powerful LLM...

Nah, that model is expensive and buggy, not to mention closed source.

Depends where you live... In some places those models are entirely affordable. But likely will also there get less and less affordable.
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