Skip to main content

Build your own Raspberry Pi-controlled robot arm with this Kickstarter kit

Build your own Raspberry Pi-controlled robot arm with this Kickstarter kit

Share this story

Robot arms are getting cheaper than ever, making it possible for you to get your own personal assembly line / disembodied droid buddy to have around. But maybe you’re not ready to spend $500 for a robotic arm wrestling partner. Or maybe you prefer building things yourself. Or perhaps (in what’s probably the most likely scenario) you’re a kid who doesn’t have $500 to drop on a robotic arm but still are interested in learning to code.

Enter the MeArm Pi, a Kickstarter project that claims to offer just that. It’s a miniature robotic arm designed to be simple enough for a child to put together, and it’s controlled by both a pair of attached joysticks and more advanced coding through a Raspberry Pi. The company has also put together a simplified, block coding web application that makes it easy to start programming the arm through an internet-connected computer without necessarily needing to know how to code first.

The MeArm Pi is available to back on Kickstarter now for £40 (approximately $74.53) which gets you just the arm, should you already have a Raspberry Pi, while £110 (roughly $136.63) will get you a full kit, including a Raspberry Pi 3. While the MeArm Pi is technically from new company, the team has previously run successful Kickstarters for other robot arms in the past, which should help reassure nervous backers. The MeArm Pi is expected to ship later this year in July.