Project Giant Robot Arm

[Antoniopenamaria] is working on a giant robot arm. The beauty is, he’s posting a step-by-step guide (translated) of his entire journey from start to finish.

Why does he want to build a giant robot arm? Well, the idea originally came to him a few years ago when he was soldering something together and thought, “Man, I could really use another hand!”. So he got out a Meccano set, and built a mini robot arm. Nothing fancy, but it worked. From there, he decided to program it, and was able to teach it to move things from point A to point B… as he continued to expand on his little project, the vision grew, and now he’s working on project D.I.M.E.R. — a giant robot arm.

The project isn’t quite done yet, but once it is, he’ll be posting a full write-up right here on Hackaday.io — so don’t forget to follow his project for future updates!

Looking to build one right away? Check out this open-source robotic arm that is pretty damn capable!

21 thoughts on “Project Giant Robot Arm

  1. Any fool can make a robot arm out of some DC motors and RC servos. Real beauty lies in math used to control the movement of arm.

    2/10. It’s large, makes robot noises but lacks any stiffness.

      1. By analogy, if someone makes crappy music or has no drawing skill at all am I not allowed to tell him that what he just played/drawn is complete and utter turd? This thing is nothing but cargo cult robotics. Sure it’s likely to impress your parents, non technical friends or maybe your local politician but you’ll be a laughing stock if you show this to robotics engineer. Also, why do you hate negative feedback so much? After all it’s the most elementary part of almost any control system (that this robot lacks by the way).

        1. The reason this is a perfectly valid project is because it is still in active development and likely done without any formal training. It is not a finished product and will be improved over the course of it’s life. Not only that but if it fits the needs of the project, in the eyes of any hacker it’s not a failure but rather open for improvement where budget and time allow.

        2. show this to a robotics engineer that isn’t jackass, they are likely to make suggestions without, belittling the amateur builder. The only thing useful about your comment is the statement that it lacks stiffness, you could have said that without implying the builder is a fool.

    1. The lack of stiffness is only a problem with simple control systems. Octopus tenticles aren’t very stiff at all. I’m sure the OP is planning an amazing controller with a wire thin arm rather than a clunky 80s looking battleaxe robot.

      7/10 for thinking to the future.

  2. Give this man .. a 3d printer! :D Really good to see so much creativity with all sorts of parts being used in inventive ways. Being a bit like this myself and now owning a 3d printer and having learned CAD I would never go back. For example you could make custom pulleys with just the right ratios and servo mount brackets with bearing holders or anything you can imagine. My 2 cents. :)

  3. I love this project. Got to see it live at OSHWDem and Maker Faire Bilbao, it is an impressive build indeed!
    Great job Antonio and congratulations for being featured in Hackaday :-)

Leave a Reply to Joseph Paul Johnston IICancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.