Hackaday

James Gullberg built a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm primarily from 3D printed parts as a hands-on learning project. The design explores multiple joint and reducer types including planetary gear drives, split-ring planetary gearboxes with integrated magnetic encoders, and an inverted belt differential wrist. An STM32 microcontroller handles encoders, PID control loops, and motor step generation, communicating with a Raspberry Pi over CAN bus. The Raspberry Pi is planned to run a ROS 2 software stack for higher-level control. The project demonstrates how building physical hardware teaches control theory, motion planning, and mechanical design far more effectively than simulation alone.

3D Printed Robot Arm Built For Learning Purposes