The Source Wholesale CONSTRUCT & CREATE Build Your Own Robot Arm - Battery Powered Motorised STEM Project

This is a great product. It is not too difficult to assemble, and took me (almost 40yo) almost 2 hours.Build quality is good. It is relatively easy to assemble and I found no parts either too small or fickle. Pay attention to the instructions and you'll be fine. Instructions are in v good English.You need 4x D type batteries - these are not included. This makes 6V, split in the middle to give a floating ground. Thus both directions of motor rotation can be achieved with 3V each way.There are no electronics in this product. There are no sensors, no relays, there is no control system. The gearing is "safe", so at end of travel the gear snaps safely.Control is rather binary - each of the 5 motors is simply switched full on or off (no analogue or partial drive) and driven at full available current. I found no limiting devices. The full current passes through the remote control - remember no electronics or relays. The current per motor is approx 200mA (measured with an ammeter). This is useful info if you're thinking to build and control with an Arduino or similar (I'm using a raspberry pi).It is rather slow - will do a full rotation around the base in approx 25secs on fresh batteries. Working range is quite good - robot can pick up items relatively close, and also further (up to 25cm or so) away. See pix.LED is nicely bright - somewhere between xmas light and phone flashlight brightness.Only real limit is that the gripper does not yaw or roll - giving 4 degrees of freedom (back/forth, right/left, up/down, pitch).As an additional project for my STEM group, we replaced the batteries with a dual power supply with 3V on each leg, then used the raspberry pi for control. This allows proportional control, with the rPi modulating the drive current in proportion to user control. Next step is to do develop automatic pick and place abilities based on rPi tracking of object and gripper LED.

My 11 year old Grandson loves anything scientific so really enjoyed this. Enough brain stretch with the instructions. Probably more fun building than actually using. The cat is terrified of it though!!

the quality is good, and easy to play with, but needs assembling for about 2 hours, and the joysticks are a bit hard to move for a young child, especially the M5

This was a super present for my 10 year old grandkid. He managed most of it himself, following the diagrammatic steps. Only needing help with the self tapping screws which could be difficult to screw in place. Suggest you get a small model/craft set of tools to trim and clip the occasional bit of plastic. A really great kit, works well, take your time, don't rush and definitely attach the parts in the order shown on the instructions, don't try and skip ahead. Recommended :)

A challenge to assemble and with plenty of play value

I am very pleased with this purchase. The instructions were very clear and all the parts were in the kit. One would be advised as I did to carefully identify each screw and metal part with the diagram and to segregate them into labelled boxes, like an egg box for example. The chances of using the wrong screw or pin in the wrong place is then much reduced. The danger with not doing this is to damage the plastic mouldings which would probably be non recoverable. The arm worked well at first testing and I am using it for a specialist purpose with fine success.

The arm works as one would expect when completed but it was very disappointing to find there were several screws missing in the kit. If the contents cannot be checked accurately during production then I cannot give the robot arm more than 2 stars.

Robot arm built itself first day we got it, then dragged it's self round the house collecting parts. It's currently attempting to creat a body for its self. We are very concerned that if it figures put how to plug itself into our wall socket we could end up getting a larger electric bill.