The area of study you're looking for is called Kinematics and if you do want to go down the building an arm route, you'll need a more than passing familiarity w

The area of study you're looking for is called Kinematics and if you do want to go down the building an arm route, you'll need a more than passing familiarity with Electronics and microcontrollers, since you like python, a Raspberry Pi is probably the best choice.