Berkeley Blue – Accelerating robotics through low-cost hardware

Very, interesting project! I found it so inspiring that I included it in the Weekly Robotics #34 that is live since 30s ago (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;weeklyrobotics.com&#x2F;weekly-robotics-34" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;weeklyrobotics.com&#x2F;weekly-robotics-34</a>).<p>For anyone interested here is a link to the paper: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;1904.03815" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;1904.03815</a> . Having robotic arms for &lt;$5k would be great for research, hobbyist and applications not requiring crazy accuracy. I don&#x27;t have hard data at hand but I doubt that at present you can find commercially available robot with similar characteristics for less than $15k.<p>Another thing that&#x27;s happening here and I really enjoy is how BLDC motors are being used in applications like these. The reason I like it so much is because hopefully there will be a market for cheap actuators that will do the job well enough to be used for some applications. I&#x27;m pretty sure that among other things I&#x27;ve seen a lot of BLDC based actuators on quadruped robots.

Abstract— Robots must cost less and be force-controlled to enable widespread, safe deployment in unconstrained human environments. We propose Quasi-Direct Drive actuation as a capable paradigm for robotic force-controlled manipulation in human environments at low-cost. Our prototype - Blue - is a human scale 7 Degree of Freedom arm with 2kg payload. Blue can cost less than $5000. We show that Blue has dynamic properties that meet or exceed the needs of human operators: the robot has a nominal position-control bandwidth of 7.5Hz and repeatability within 4mm. We demonstrate a Virtual Reality based interface that can be used as a method for telepresence and collecting robot training demonstrations. Manufacturability, scaling, and potential use-cases for the Blue system are also addressed. Videos and additional information can be found online at berkeleyopenarms.github.io.

Looks like some great hardware! I love the simple joint design and the variable impedance. I hope sales are successful and this venture is able to perpetuate itself!

Define low-cost? What sensors are being used in the video?

Awesome. But I think the real revolution in robotics is when tact can be built in throughout the arm. Feeling force feedback in each joint is one part of the equation; but tact is the way that subtle manipulation, precise feedback and deep environment status understanding will close the gap with human manipulation.

Berkely also has some interesting research on embodied AI.<p>My belief about robotics is that we need really efficient and powerful artificial muscles and closer biomimicry. It seems like the way real limbs operate with leverage will be an advantage if we can get useful muscles.

Are there any DIY robotic arms that you would recommend below $1000 ?

In the video, the robot is remotely controlled.<p>How long will it take until reinforcement learning &#x2F; ML can do these things automatically?

Will robotics be 2050s version of 1950s kitchen appliances ?

Is there a MuJoCo model?