Robotic Arm for Arduino Coding Programming 6DOF Hiwonder-xArm1S STEM Educational Building Robot Arm Kits, 6 AXIS Full Metal Robotic Arm Wireless Controller/PC/App/Mouse Control Learning Robot

The media could not be loaded. This was my first experience with a robotic device. I wanted to see how versatile this product could perform. I first used the PC software that was downloaded from Lewansoul, which allowed me to "program" each of the servo's positions and action time. They call this "action groups". You can move the arm to a specific position either manually or using their software, and have it read the angle which puts a value of each of the 6 servo positions as an entry into a table. The table then is used like a program, starting from the first row downward executing each action with a specific time you set. It actually works quite well, and is somewhat precise in positioning the arm repeated times. Each servo has a precision of 0.24 degrees. If you do the geometry calculation, the variance at the full arm's length (approx 14") comes out about 0.058" or about 147 microns. For individual joints, at a distance of 1", results in an accuracy of 0.004" (or 10 microns). With this type of precision, you can do some fun experiments. I had it pick up a washer and had it drop it on a bolt. I could not take a nut and put it on a bolt, though I could have it thread the nut if it was on the bolt. I also had it "mix" a drink by picking up various plastic cups and pouring them into a glass, then shake the glass. I next hooked it up to a Arduino board and wanted to use the arm's controller for secondary programming. After some initial communications issues, which were fixed by Lewansoul providing the correct library for the Arduino sketch program, I was able to have it do some maneuvers and call stored action groups that were downloaded to the controller board from the PC software.As this is a new product for Lewansoul, I found it missing some documentation on the assembly instructions and certain feature operations, and after contacting their support, provided me with what I needed to know. It took me about 4 hours to build the X-arm. Much of the time was sorting out the numerous screws and while they have an excellent animated video showing how to construct the arm, I found myself trying to figure out what metric screw size was what in the kit. They should have a picture of each screw size, so you can match it up to the size you use for the assembly. The component list was incomplete, and it took a while to figure out where everything belongs. Aside from that, the assembly went quite well.In the video's, you'll see I put some soft putty on the edge of the grabber, so it does not slip out of the grasp. Also, if the servo tightens too much with bare metal, for some reason the servo does not want to release the grip. I have to ask Lewansoul about this behavior.I will be doing more "experiments" with the Arduino board, to give the X-arm more intelligent tasks. I will report back in the future with what I was able to accomplish.

Opening up the box, all the parts were neatly packaged and undamaged. The quality of the anodization on the metal parts was surprisingly good and I liked how there was decent organization of screws and other small parts into separate bags.Assembly was pretty quick and straightforward (took a bit to get to the instructions) with no issues of fitment so QC seems to be good as well. Came with spares of most things and love the serial bus interface of all the servos, will probably switch to them for a lot of my future projects. One caveat is the included screwdriver isn't that useful since you'll need a smaller one for all the screws on the servos themselves and the cable management is a bit finicky (but way better than not having any cable management at all).After getting the arm assembled, it was pretty easy to set up with the software and get the included controller set up (which is one of the better ways to control any multi-axis robot). Overall, this is a pretty good product and can recommend if you want to get started on robotics / want to play around with a robot arm. They're still regular servo motors so the payload can't be too high but reasonable given the size (and price) of it.

Contrary to what the manufacturer claims, this is a 5 axis arm. The fact that it has 6 servos does not make it a 6 axis robot. The 6th servo motor on this arm controls the gripper, commonly known as the end effector in the robotics world. A true 6 axis robot has an additional axis of rotation between axis 3 and 4. This is similar to the forearm of a human arm being able to rotate so the palm of your hand is able to face up or down. Search for 6 axis robot videos and you'll see what I mean.A minor point, but the naming of the axes on a multi axis device always begins at the base of the robot. Axis 1 is the base of the robot and the joint at the end of the arm is axis 5. This is true regardless of whether you're talking about a 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 axis device. How do I know this? I wrote software for SCARA and 6 axis industrial robots for 18 years before I retired.That said, this is a decent toy. You can learn the basics of robotics using it. The manufacturer claims their control software runs on iOS and macOS. Be aware that you must have a M1 or greater Mac to load the software. It will not install on an Intel Mac. This is not mentioned anywhere in Hiwonder documentation. You will only find out once you go the the app store and try to install the app.Overall documentation is poor for this device. The servo motors have an input side and an output side. Their description of setting up the arm call both ends servos, when the input side is actually an encoder. An encoder supplies feedback to the controller telling the position of the motor.Don't expect smooth movements of the arm. Depending on how much the arm is extended (their joints 2 and 3). The further you try to reach for and object, the more jerky movements become. The motors are too heavy and contribute to instability. It would be better to use a pneumatic actuator for the gripper instead of a heavy motor.I bought this for my grandson who is 5 years old. After putting it together and operating it I came to the conclusion that it wasn't suitable for a child that age. He would surely damage it in no time. Be aware of this before you purchase it.Regards,Redwingz