| This is a common question. I have wanted a "good robot arm I can buy" for a long, long time. I would like something with about 16 inches of reach and 6 degrees of freedom. The motion must be smooth with a position resolution of around 0.01 inch. Alas, in my opinion, such an arm does not exist for the hobbyist. Why? Mainly, I think, leverage sucks (in this case). At 16 inches there is quite a lot of torque required at the base to move the arm (with the mass of the arm plus what it is grasping). And liability may be (probably is with most would-be suppliers) an issue. I have built a few arms myself with various hobby servos. High torque motors where needed and smaller, light weight ones towards the wrist. * Some * of the motions are smooth and neat. Others are simply jerky. Then there is the problem of backlash. There is a company (Trossen Robotics, I think) whose arms are ..., well, I don't know what to say. Certainly, it seems, they offer cool motors that are seemingly designed for what we want. But the videos are always disappointing. Maybe its just me. I assume you want something for a couple of $K. In my opinion, it does not exist. The demand/application is not there to bring the cost down. And, again, there is the liability issue. Maybe some day, soon. (I hope someone responds with something that will work for ya. I would like to see that.) |