In the Maker Shed: Robotic Arm Kit

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By Maker Shed
Posted 2011/04/20 @ 8:15 am
Category Electronics, General, Robotics

Need a robotic arm to do your evil bidding? Then look no further than the Robotic arm kit available in the Maker Shed.

You command the gripper to open and close, and control wrist motion of 120 degrees, an extensive elbow range of 300°, base rotation of 270°, base motion of 180°, vertical reach of 15″, horizontal reach of 12.6″, and lifting capacity of 100g. Added features include a search light design on the gripper and a safety gear audible indicator on all 5 gearboxes to prevent any potential injury or gear breakage during operation. Award-winning kit assembles with simple hand tools. Ages 10 and up.

Features

5 motors and 5 joints

LED-lighted gripper

Safety audible indicators on all 5 gearboxes

Requires 4 D batteries

Simple hand tools required for assembly: screwdriver, long-nose pliers, diagonal cutter

BY Maker Shed

The Maker Shed is brought to you by Maker Media, the makers of MAKE Magazine, the Maker Faire, and much more.

Launched originally as a source for back issues of MAKE Magazine, the Maker Shed expanded rapidly to meet the demand for 'projects in a box,' otherwise known as kits. Now we have a little bit of everything for makers, crafters, and budding scientists, from Arduinos to sock monkeys to chemistry sets .

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In the Maker Shed

7 Responses to In the Maker Shed: Robotic Arm Kit

Travis Smith on April 20th, 2011 at 3:34 pm said:

Here’s what I did with mine: http://www.tnhsmith.net/Other/Orbduino/index.htm

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Andrew Chandler on April 20th, 2011 at 4:19 pm said:

I bought this but my biggest problem is that the claw lacks sufficient grip strength to do much and the screws strip extremely easily when assembling

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Dave Brunker on April 20th, 2011 at 4:53 pm said:

It’ll always be way beyond my ability but I keep thinking about how cool it would be if this arm was controllable through a USB port.

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- Christopher on April 20th, 2011 at 5:12 pm said:
  
  The robotic arm DOES have a USB interface. I bought two.
  
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Anonymous on April 20th, 2011 at 9:34 pm said:

For People in the U.K, this is also currently on offer at Maplin electronics: http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257 (listed as ‘exclusive to maplin’, which I assume applies to the UK).

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- Stephen McGreal on April 21st, 2011 at 11:31 am said:
  
  I have the Maplin version, and it’s not exactly the same. Instead of that nice-looking controller, the Maplin arm has to be connected via USB to a computer running some really terrible software. I’m currently trying to figure out how to cut the software out of the equation by either reverse-engineering the USB signals and writing my own software, or controlling the motors directly with an Arduino.
  
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jonathan on April 21st, 2011 at 11:18 am said:

Whenever I see this arm, I’m always reminded of my old Armatron, and how it had more degrees of freedom. Spinable wrist, that’s what I look for.

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