Affordable igus robot kits remove the guesswork from system design

RS Components has introduced two new robotic ‘bundles’, which contain all of the components required to build a four-axis robotic arm and will bring the efficiency and reliability of robotic solutions to a far wider audience. Not only will users benefit from the functional capabilities of a robotic solution, but the bundles also offer significant cost savings versus buying the individual parts separately. Each of the two available kits comprise the parts required to build an igus Robolink D robotic arm – one with a 1kg capacity and another with a 4kg capacity and longer reach. Both can offer up to four axes and four degrees of freedom and are ideal for use in applications including research and development departments, educational establishments, laboratories and small/medium industrial factories; anywhere where a reliable, precise, affordable and flexible collaborative bench robotic arm is needed. In addition to the parts required to build the robotic arm, the company has also devoted a significant part of its DesignSpark website over to educational videos and instructions that will help users to pair the robot with controllers and programming solutions, giving them the freedom to choose a programming language and control hardware that is best suited to their precise requirements or to simply integrate them into an existing factory automation control infrastructure. The website contains a number of tutorials, including videos created by Massimo Temporelli, president and founder of The Fablab, in Milan. The tutorials, which can all be referenced from each other, depending on the user’s stage in the build journey, contain all the necessary instructions to build a working robotic model. With the introduction of these new kits a lot of the ‘black art’ regarding the design and specification of robotic systems is removed. By deploying this approach, users can have the confidence that they can build a robotic solution that matches their precise needs as opposed to ‘dumbing down’ a much more expensive unit. The open-source control solution makes integration a lot easier too, and allows the robot to easily connect into what are steadily becoming even more connected enterprises and smart factories. In this case compact and affordable does not mean lower performance – these robots easily compete with more expensive robots in their class.