Robotic Arm – Can I still purchase one ?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have a keen interest in robotic arms and I recently discovered your website/forums. I see that in the past you have had a robotic arm for sale, however, it now seems to be “sold out”.

Has this product/project been abandoned or is it still available for purchase?

If so, what is availability ?

I also notice that on the page there seems to be quite a few broken and/or missing images, etc… which is a bit of a worry.

In any event I look forward to learning more !

Kind Regards,

Joe

[Dan]

Hi Joe,

Thank you!! I want to hear from more people like you that are interested in an arm.

I’m waaay tooo exciiited about building robot arms! I released that model before it was truly ready and learned my lesson very quickly. Learn something new every day, right?

I’m really interested in building a better model and shipping it fully assembled. One challenge I have is proving that there are enough people like you that are looking for an arm. If I can prove it, I can get investors to help me finish the next model, or run a kickstarter.

A related challenge is that when I’m designing an arm I’m guessing at what you want the arm to do… which is stupid. I can just interview interested people and get a picture from their answers. I wouldn’t want to miss something obvious that would turn you off.

So

I have five questions to everyone interested in an arm. Please, answer as many as you want:

1. For what purpose do you want to use an arm?
2. What’s the minimum lifting power would you need?
3. What’s the minimum reach would you need?
4. What other features are you looking for?
5. What’s price would you expect for an arm that could do all that?

[Anonymous]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the explanation, I totally understand.

Please find my answers to your questions below:

Q: For what purpose do you want to use an arm?

A: I run a 3d scanning company and I’d like to be able to mount a scanner to a robotic arm so that I can automate the capture process. So at least in my case, I’d like to be able to mount a 3d scanning head, DSLR or Video camera.

Alternatively, it would also be interesting to use a robotic arm to hold parts in front of a scanner… I can think of many different ways that such a tool could/would be useful.

Q: How much reach & lifting power would you need?

A: I know that there are practical limitations, however, I would like to be able to lift a kilo if possible. In my case, the more that could be lifted the better 🙂

Q: What other features are you looking for?

A: Ideally, I would like to see the hardware integrated with software and a 3d GUI. I’d like to be able to manipulate the arm by rotation or translation of an arm object in the GUI, rather than simply inputting coordinates, gcode, etc.

Also, smooth repeatable operation is a must… would also like to have ease in / ease out in respect to motion curves.

What’s price would you expect for an arm that could do all that?
I’m thinking that the US$3K range.

I hope this information will be of some help.

Cheers,

Joe

[Author]

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