Robot arms

miniArm

A beginner's open-source robot arm on Arduino UNO, with knob control, an app and sensor expansion.

Arduino
Suggested for secondary

miniArm is an open-source robot arm that Hiwonder developed for beginners. It is built on an Arduino UNO (ATmega328) with a 6-channel knob expansion board, a Bluetooth module and high-precision digital servos, and has spare interfaces for sensors. Students can move each joint with the knobs, record motions offline, control it from a phone app and program it in the Arduino IDE with commented open-source code. The Standard Kit adds an ESP32-CAM vision module, an ultrasonic module and sensors for vision and sensor projects.

Zeta42 is an authorised Hiwonder partner in the Middle East.

Configurations

Choose how it ships.

Package: Starter Kit · Standard Kit

What it does

Built for.

Arduino compatible
miniArm works with Arduino hardware interfaces and the Arduino IDE, and Hiwonder provides open-source code with detailed comments.
Knob control and offline editing
Six knob potentiometers move the joints directly, and the knobs and buttons record motions so they can be edited and replayed without a computer.
App control
Over Bluetooth, the iOS and Android app runs actions with a tap of a button or a swipe of a slider.
Anti-blocking servos
A built-in stall protection algorithm stops the servos burning out when the arm is blocked or collides with something.
Vision and sensors (Standard Kit)
The ESP32-CAM module adds colour recognition, face recognition and tracking. A glowing ultrasonic module, an acceleration sensor and a touch sensor let miniArm react to distance, tilt and touch, such as grabbing a ball it detects or picking up a block when touched.

Where it is used

Applications.

A first robot arm for Arduino programming
Hands-on lessons in servos and motion, with or without code
Sensor projects with ultrasonic, touch and motion sensing (Standard Kit)
Beginner vision projects with the ESP32-CAM (Standard Kit)

Videos

See it run.

Specifications

The full sheet.

Size: 207 × 120 × 339 mm
Weight: About 0.66kg
Body material: Acrylic plate + hard aluminium
DOF: 4DOF + gripper (5DOF)
Main control system: Arduino UNO control board + UNO 6-channel knob expansion board
Power supply: Two 3.7V 18650 batteries (1200mAh)
Servo: LFD-01M / LDX-218 / LD-1501MG servo
Software: iOS / Android mobile app
Communication method: Bluetooth
Control method: Mobile phone control / knob control
Vision module (Standard Kit): ESP32-CAM
Package size: 295 × 165 × 115 mm