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New Kit Turns A Raspberry Pi Into A Robot Arm (raspberrypi.org)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the building-with-boards dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A new kit turns your Raspberry Pi into a robotic arm. It's controlled by an on-board joystick, or even a web browser, and "because it's connected to the Pi you can program it through any of the various programming languages that already run on the Pi," according to its creators. "There's also free software available which lets you program it through a web interface using drag and drop programming environments like Scratch and Blockly or with Python and Javascript for the more experienced."

They explain in a video on Kickstarter that "Our mission is to get children excited about technology through building and programming their own robots," and they've already raised three times their original $12,411 fundraising goal. The Raspberry Pi blog describes it as "a great kit for anyone wanting to step into the world of digital making."
Long-time Slashdot reader bjpirt adds that "It's completely open source and hackable."

36 comments

  1. The kit is the robot arm. by pushing-robot · · Score: 2

    It's like saying the Raspberry Pi comes with a kit that turns a Raspberry Pi into a cardboard box.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you turn it into earbuds? What is it good for?

    2. Re:The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Next up: "New kit turns your manhood into an interesting hospital visit"

    3. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A robot hand: it's all you need!

      Well, some porn, too!

    4. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by TWX · · Score: 1

      With apologies to the Wolowitz family...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You mean this?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    6. Re:The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly what I logged in to post (posting anon because I had a mod point for you).

      I bought a devicet that turns groceries into a car. They sell it at the car dealership. The groceries sit in the trunk.

    7. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely nothing!

    8. Re:The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its more like saying your car can turn you into a four wheeled vehicle.

      Its technically correct, just not sensible. They are two separate things that can combine and are not co-dependant.

      My first thought when reading this was "Why would they go to the trouble of artificially restricting it to RPI?!"

    9. Re: The kit is the robot arm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like Lol!

  2. 1980 by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

    Anyone eve have a Heathkit?

    1. Re:1980 by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      I think a friend of mine used to have one of those, driven by a Z80 running CP/M and 8" drives. He also had a daisy wheel printer that he wrote the driver for.

  3. Kickstarter... Paying more for cheapness... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    It would be more educational to build your own than use something that looks like a cheap toy.

    1. Re:Kickstarter... Paying more for cheapness... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could make your own, too, there are many other variants with parts you can 3d print. This and several other similar robot arms are spinoffs of the uArm open source robot arm kit that was itself a kickstarter a couple of years ago. Even the "it's completely open source and hackable" statement goes back to that. The uArm in turn was designed off of an ABB industrial robot concept, scaled way down for a hobby project using originally acrylic plastic and now metal. The tech base for control varies, from PCs to arduino to Raspberry Pi, but the mechanics are all very similar. The original uArm crew has been making some slight advances in their metal versions, but really none of them have scaled up all that much, so they can't, for example, slice up a large pizza or reach across a tournament sized chess board.

    2. Re:Kickstarter... Paying more for cheapness... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      You could make your own, too, there are many other variants with parts you can 3d print.

      That was my point. I'll add a making 3D printer to my to do list. Thanks!

  4. I wonder how the real Skynet will look by snikulin · · Score: 1

    ... if the real Terminator's arm looks so Hasbro.

  5. Ooh Kickstarter! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ooh! Another opportunity to give people money and have them fail to deliver on their promises. How could I possibly resist.

    Get The Fuck Out!

    1. Re:Ooh Kickstarter! by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      They need to 3D print it and connect it to the internet so that it's part of the iot!

  6. Mandatory Big Bang Theory by jtara · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    1. Re: Mandatory Big Bang Theory by eugenebax · · Score: 1

      Lucky he didn't get the Vulcan death grip to his junk. Lol!

  7. My 1989 high skool electronics class called by future+assassin · · Score: 2

    they want their Radio Shack Armatron hooked up to a computer idea back.

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    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
    1. Re:My 1989 high skool electronics class called by itomato · · Score: 1

      This thing makes the The Armatron look like *incredible* by comparison.

    2. Re:My 1989 high skool electronics class called by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the Armatron had mechanical controls, the only electronics was an on/off switch for the motor.

  8. But wll it pay taxes by TeknoHog · · Score: 2

    for all the jobs it replaces?

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  9. adafruit does it better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    A better, cheaper non-vaporware version: https://www.adafruit.com/product/548

    1. Re:adafruit does it better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuze also has a version of that same robot arm for Raspberry Pi: https://www.fuze.co.uk/store/p20/FUZE_Project_-_We_are_the_robots%21_-_price_inc_UK_VAT_%C2%A344.99.html.

    2. Re:adafruit does it better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That looks slow and is loud as hell

    3. Re:adafruit does it better by benbobgray · · Score: 1

      Erm they also stocked the last version of the Kickstarter product... https://www.adafruit.com/produ...

  10. It's not a kit - Yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a Kickstarter project, meaning you're investing in a project in return to receive an item. You're not buying anything.

  11. Can it do anything? by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 1

    Call me when the robotic arm can assemble a robotic arm.

    1. Re:Can it do anything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://qz.com/874689/the-10500-robot-arm-that-can-build-its-coworkers/

    2. Re:Can it do anything? by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

      Totally doable with any decent industrial robot. Also completely irrelevant, labor spent on assembly is not a major component of a robot arm cost. Assembling a copy of itself is a party trick at best.

    3. Re: Can it do anything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And thatâ(TM)s not a scary thought at all."

      Amazing. We're almost living in the future.

  12. Been there, done that... by WolfgangVL · · Score: 1

    MeeArm. Arduino based. Picked up a kit for the boy. He was not impressed. I thought it was great. I bet in an evening I can bring control to the pi.

    --
    You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
  13. Finally! by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    A cheap way to build a 'self-massage' gizmo.

  14. Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I pretty much never post on here, but i couldn't help myself this time.

    How is this even a news worthy... how is this worthy of being on kickstarter....let alone on slashdot?