ModRob: An Inexpensive and Modular Robotic Arm for Hobbyists

Abstract

Today's robotics industry is applications-centric, where companies provide custom solutions for each customer. This business model results in a high cost for an industrial robot arm that cannot easily adapt to different tasks. To overcome these challenges, this project has investigated the market need for an inexpensive, mass-producible robot arm that would take less time to set up than a custom-built robot arm. The results of the investigation indicated that there was at least some willingness to pay more than $500 on a robotic arm that would take less time to set up. Based on the results, a prototype of a modular arm that could be set up in minutes was built using inexpensive hardware and open-source software. Using this prototype, a 4-joint robotic arm assembly could be built for less than $200, excluding packaging, shipping, and labor costs. This prototype has the potential to bring cheaper, more adaptable robots to the fields of education and research, as well as potential for being used by hobbyists and for rapid prototyping. An additional value proposition is its potential to record specific movements through kinetic-only physical manipulation, without any programming necessary. More work is needed to validate the results obtained from customer discovery and market evaluation, as well as making the prototype robust enough to put on the market.