From time to time and thanks to crowdfunding, many projects related to hardware libre, they come forward, such is the case of MeArm, a robotic arm project that is also scaled to mini size and is created with hardware libre.
MeArm was launched on the Kickstarter platform by Benjamin Gray. His goal was to reach 5.000 pounds to be able to take this project not only to reality but also to schools and thus make the little ones learn to build their own robotic arm. This objective has not only been achieved, but the proposal has been exceeded five times, widely meeting the team's expectations.
MeArm is designed with hardware libre and both his designs and his software are in thingvirse so it is in the public domain. They can also be altered and personalized, something that helps the little ones to enjoy and learn from it.
MeArm reproduces the behavior of an industrial robotic arm
MeArm copies the model and operation of an industrial robotic arm, but unlike these, with MeArm it can be operated in two ways, either through its command or through movement programming. We decide how we want it to work and it can also help the child learn how a robotic arm works.
The project, as many of you will imagine, is developed in the United Kingdom and seems to be part of a trend of hardware libre which is having its large audience. If you remember, not long ago we had news about a similar project, astro pi, which tried to bring together robotics and hardware libre to British schools. MeArm is much more interesting since we do not need external data, but this does not mean that it is incompatible with the rest of the projects.
Although personally I think we have a long way to go to reach those projects that the big screen shows us, both MeArm and their peers are a good step towards creating war robots or medical robots, despite having a long way ahead.