An open-source robotic arm for educational purposes

Abstract

the dynamic spread of 3D printing technologies and open-source electronics prototyping platforms have enriched the possibilities of makers communities and the diversity of the
approaches used within educational settings at different levels. Consequently, the complexity of the final projects has increased considerably. From one side, such a phenomenon may be regarded as extremely positive, given the continuous improvement and complexity of the actual general technological level. However, from the other side, the educational community may risk shifting the students’
attention towards a higher level of abstraction, namely coding, while dealing with hi-techsolutions. Therefore, in the article, the realization of an open-source-based robotic arm for educational purposes is provided. In particular, the complete 3D printing of the constructional parts and the development of the Arduino platform based on controlling software and hardware is given. The work aims at describing the experience of the robotic arm realization with an educational emphasis on the hardware and software, providing an example of an adapted underlying arguments exposition.