An Open Source Flat Pack Robot Arm That's As Easy To Build As Ikea Furniture

An anonymous reader writes The MeArm is a flat-pack robot arm. It has been developed in a very short time frame as the creators have been able to tap into crowd development by open sourcing all of the designs. Because of this it's exploded around the world with builders on every continent (bar Antarctica) and there are even people manufacturing them to sell in Peru, Taiwan and South Africa. MeArm manufacture them in the UK and export to distributors around the world, including Open Source pioneers like Adafruit and Hackaday in the USA. They're currently running a Kickstarter for a controller to take it out of the 'Hackersphere' and into the living room. They doubled their target in the first week and are still going strong so it's looking like they will be the first consumer flat pack robot kit in the world! Controller or not, you can download the arm from Thingiverse, and follow the project at Hackaday.

Comments

IKEA?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hex Key Not Included!

good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

these are 5$ eBay servos with a few plastic sticks.

I'm getting old, I seriously don't understand what people are getting out of this anymore. I'm just jaded I guess, I'm like a Pak Protector now. I can look at something and I know exactly step by step what it is and how to make one. So I just don't care anymore.

Re: good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you are getting old and losing your imagination.

Re: good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

What does "imagination" have to do with anything? Seriously, I'm baffled by this response. If it's all about "imagination", why are you buying a physical object?

And like I said, I already know just by looking exactly what it is and what it will do. Seems to me that I have too MUCH imagination.

So, what are you getting out of this? You can imagine anything, right?

Re: good grief

[ArcadeMan]

Young people need to learn about things. News at 11.

Re:good grief

[MichaelSmith]

Any more of this shit and you will stop eating entirely.

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually bought one of these for a class project. Built the controller hardware myself and programmed it. I can tell you that the acrylic used on these parts is rather brittle, and the servos are really low quality (nylon gears, and one burned whilst testing). The weight of the arm falls into the servo axis as well. Luckily, the controller I made is "universal" and can operate any other servo-based robotic arms with minor tweaks.

captcha: thirdly

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah but I can keep drinking, right?

Re: good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah so it's not about "imagination" anymore?

Re: good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

No, YOU are losing your imagination because you evidently cannot conceive of the idea that young people need to be introduced to old ideas without having it explained to you.

Seriously, this "I know so it's not allowed to be new to anyone else!" mentality needs to die. It's so retarded.

Re:good grief

[ChoosyBeggar]

Oh, yeah, me too. I'm ever so smart & just entirely above this pedestrian fuckery. Whoever would want something like this is clearly inferior to me. You're not only old; you're lame too!

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

We are still waiting for a Ringworld to be built, Mr. Anonymous Pak.

Robot arm

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

Re:Robot arm

[6Yankee]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Slashdotters rushing to post that this is lame and/or they did it 20 years ago.

Had that in lego

[YoungManKlaus]

years ago

uArm

[andydread]

Seems like this is a striking copy of the original uArm project.

Re:uArm

[bruce_the_loon]

Only in the sense that it is also a striking copy of every robotic arm in existence. The mechanical design is significantly different to the uArm. Compare MeArm versus uArm and look at the design of the support and actuator arms.

Re:uArm

[tlambert]

Except, you know, being made out of flimsy printed plastic without even a T-bar for additional strength, and having one less degree of freedom than the uARM, and being smaller than the uARM, yeah, it's just like it...

It fall apart three weeks later under normal use?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, that'd be just like Ikea furniture. Particle board, plastic, flimsy, and cheap.

low standards for kickstarter

[jehan60188]

seems just about anyone with a decent camera, a half-baked (usually derivative) idea, and 5th grade writing skills can get a kickstarter now.
maybe I should start a kickstarter for my brilliant idea of a pet stone

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you are getting old and losing your imagination.

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[itzly]

Maybe you should market a "jump to conclusions" play mat. It would have different conclusions printed on it, and you would jump to them.

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like you're at least a third of the way there, if I assume you have a camera now all you need is the idea!

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[bigtrike]

If only it were that difficult...

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[ArcadeMan]

Maybe I should start a kickstarter for my brilliant idea of a pet stone.

Simpsons did it.

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[ArcadeMan]

My idea for a printer-error-messages-to-plain-english translator is better.

Re:low standards for kickstarter

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm...Pet Stone just doesn't seem to be a good idea...
But I have come up with a brilliant idea of a Pet Pebbl...hmm..Pet Grave....Egads!! Pet Rock!!!
I see world domination ahead!!!

Re:It fall apart three weeks later under normal us

[50000BTU_barbecue]

Yeah but the upside is you'll find them curbside on garbage day. Free stuff!

Would you...

[Translation Error]

download an arm?

Fine for children

[BenderTheRobot]

Looks like mini or micro servos. Small, low capacity. Great for low cost. But it's a toy really, no?

How about

[xfizik]

How about a robot [arm] that can build Ikea furniture?

Re: How about

[jd2112]

The robot arm to build the furniture is the easy part. Writing an AI capable of deciphering the instructions is the real challenge.

Re: How about

[Anonymous Coward]

Its easy - it's just

int main()
{
    MessageBox("WTF???");
    return -1;
}

Ikea Furniture?

[Anonymous Coward]

So the instructions are half missing and what is there is in Korean?

Re: It fall apart three weeks later under normal u

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't just complain about design, components used, list continues... Pitch in; refine the design, recommend better materials and components and otherwise improve on the durability.

This is what open source is about.

Oxymoron

[Anonymous Coward]

"As *Easy* To Build As Ikea Furniture"
Now that's one hell of an Oxymoron if I every heard one.