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I really really really want to play with robotics at home, but I've discovered it's super expensive to get things like robotic arms at home. Are there robotics

I really really really want to play with robotics at home, but I've discovered it's super expensive to get things like robotic arms at home. Are there robotics platforms that are DIY ready? I really just want to teach a robotic arm to make my coffee in the morning. And I'll apply my life's effort to achieving this only if the cost of the robotics platform is stupid low. Yes. I know that's absurd. :)

tomp 3y ago
It’s just normally expensive, not really really expensive. You can get a robot arm for as cheap as 4k (comparable to 2 MacBooks or 1 GPU)
- juliangoldsmith 3y ago
  "...as cheap as..." doesn't really fit with an item that costs almost the 2020 median salary in the US.
  - tomp 3y ago
    What about median programmer salary?
    - flangola7 3y ago
      Who said anything about programmers?
      - tomp 3y ago
        How are you gonna use a robot hand if you don’t know how to program?
        earthbee 3y ago
        Most people who can program aren't programmers
nomel 3y ago
The cheapest is to strap things onto a 3 axis 3d printer. They can be had for < $200, which is much less than you could ever build one for. Beyond that, it's DIY, with a set of strong servos and a few budget microcontrollers/motor controllers, from Alibaba, and...a 3d printer to manufacture the rest, for something like an arm.
jjk166 3y ago
Elephant robotics has arms starting around ~$500. I've had good success with their myCobot280-pi. The reach and payload are a bit limited but it's fine for playing around.
eep_social 3y ago
If you’re serious, this youtuber built a robotic arm himself: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkRrAu1UP3I https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkR... Don’t think it’s cheap nor a “platform” but maybe it’s enough to get you started ;) He just recently put out a video on making a carbon fiber arm piece for it.
sashank_1509 3y ago
My exact thought as you. I actually have done robotics research in Academia and I find it ridiculous that an arm costs as much as a car when it's just servos in series. I guess economies of scale. Now that I'm leaving Academia I was trying to figure out how to get a robot arm so that I can continue doing stuff at home. I think an approach like the one here would be good: https://www.trossenrobotics.com/aloha.aspx https://www.trossenrobotics.com/aloha.aspx. A single robot would cost 5k. You could also just buy Dynamixel servos and build it on your own, shouldn't be too hard with 3D printing ~ closer to 3.5 or 4k with that. You could try to go cheaper by building a dynamixel servo on your own. I would not recommend this, the main difficulty is the controller which requires a lot of tuning, which is what you're paying for when you buy Dynamixel. But the raw parts of a servo are only around 50-100$ I'd guess. Lastly any arm you build this way is going to be position control which is very different from the human arm that is torque controlled. Trying to get torque control on your arm is all the rage on Youtube these days, perhaps because the motion seems so lifelike. To do that you need to build a Quasi Direct Drive Actuator which is a BLDC servo with a low gear ratio and then try to centralize all the motors to reduce inertia. There is no accepted solution to do this, but the best results come from cable driven mechanisms like AmbiDex. Basically building a human like robot arm is a huge research problem on its own, and if you want to focus on intelligence best avoid this.
- socratic1 3y ago
  you should use Viam Robotics, they have a robot you can program and control remotely
- mlsu 3y ago
  I am eagerly awaiting a cheap clone of Dynamixel quality servos. Is it really just tuning? That seems like something that would pay off for an aliexpress copycat. A servo is pretty simple/cheap to build, right? I guess there are only a handful of us who really want high-accuracy, high-torque component servos...
  - sashank_1509 3y ago
    There is FEETECH on ali-express. About 0.5-0.25 times Dynamixel price. I've never tried it though. You're right very few of us want High Torque and High Accuracy which is the problem

tomp 3y ago

It’s just normally expensive, not really really expensive. You can get a robot arm for as cheap as 4k (comparable to 2 MacBooks or 1 GPU)

juliangoldsmith 3y ago
"...as cheap as..." doesn't really fit with an item that costs almost the 2020 median salary in the US.
- tomp 3y ago
  What about median programmer salary?
  - flangola7 3y ago
    Who said anything about programmers?
    - tomp 3y ago
      How are you gonna use a robot hand if you don’t know how to program?
      - earthbee 3y ago
        Most people who can program aren't programmers

nomel 3y ago

The cheapest is to strap things onto a 3 axis 3d printer. They can be had for < $200, which is much less than you could ever build one for. Beyond that, it's DIY, with a set of strong servos and a few budget microcontrollers/motor controllers, from Alibaba, and...a 3d printer to manufacture the rest, for something like an arm.

jjk166 3y ago

Elephant robotics has arms starting around ~$500. I've had good success with their myCobot280-pi. The reach and payload are a bit limited but it's fine for playing around.

eep_social 3y ago

If you’re serious, this youtuber built a robotic arm himself: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkRrAu1UP3I https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkR... Don’t think it’s cheap nor a “platform” but maybe it’s enough to get you started ;) He just recently put out a video on making a carbon fiber arm piece for it.

sashank_1509 3y ago

My exact thought as you. I actually have done robotics research in Academia and I find it ridiculous that an arm costs as much as a car when it's just servos in series. I guess economies of scale. Now that I'm leaving Academia I was trying to figure out how to get a robot arm so that I can continue doing stuff at home. I think an approach like the one here would be good: https://www.trossenrobotics.com/aloha.aspx https://www.trossenrobotics.com/aloha.aspx. A single robot would cost 5k. You could also just buy Dynamixel servos and build it on your own, shouldn't be too hard with 3D printing ~ closer to 3.5 or 4k with that. You could try to go cheaper by building a dynamixel servo on your own. I would not recommend this, the main difficulty is the controller which requires a lot of tuning, which is what you're paying for when you buy Dynamixel. But the raw parts of a servo are only around 50-100$ I'd guess. Lastly any arm you build this way is going to be position control which is very different from the human arm that is torque controlled. Trying to get torque control on your arm is all the rage on Youtube these days, perhaps because the motion seems so lifelike. To do that you need to build a Quasi Direct Drive Actuator which is a BLDC servo with a low gear ratio and then try to centralize all the motors to reduce inertia. There is no accepted solution to do this, but the best results come from cable driven mechanisms like AmbiDex. Basically building a human like robot arm is a huge research problem on its own, and if you want to focus on intelligence best avoid this.

socratic1 3y ago
you should use Viam Robotics, they have a robot you can program and control remotely
mlsu 3y ago
I am eagerly awaiting a cheap clone of Dynamixel quality servos. Is it really just tuning? That seems like something that would pay off for an aliexpress copycat. A servo is pretty simple/cheap to build, right? I guess there are only a handful of us who really want high-accuracy, high-torque component servos...
- sashank_1509 3y ago
  There is FEETECH on ali-express. About 0.5-0.25 times Dynamixel price. I've never tried it though. You're right very few of us want High Torque and High Accuracy which is the problem