Finally, there's a robot that can be smart enough to copy and move like humans even without having to do some coding beforehand.
The 7Bot is a $350 robotic arm that is now being launched as a Kickstarter campaign. The project is launched under the premise that robots should be for everyone and that it doesn't have to require one to have an engineering degree in order to program it to move.
As the team behind 7Bot points out, the robotic arm is even cheaper than an iPhone and a whole lot cheaper than its bigger version, the IRB 2400, one of the most popular robots, which costs $50K.
The 7Bot is a 6-axis desktop robot arm that has an all-metal design. Its power comes from 6 high torque metal servos which allows it to deliver reliable movements and performance with an impressive level of precision and speed. It weighs 2.5 kilos and has a height of 17 inches. The arm has a total reach of 434 millimeters.
"While 7Bot could provide you a fantastic and awesome hardware, programming a robot is no trivial thing, especially for the users without very strong engineering background. So we offer [a] various [of] controlling and programming methods, from very basic level to the most advanced level," said the team at Kickstarter.
According to the team, the easiest way to control the 7Bot arm is by using a remote control. The latter can be anything from the traditional keyboard and mouse to current popular devices for gesture control such as Kinect sensors and Leapmotion.
"You can use a Leapmotion sensor to control 7Bot Arm to follow your gestures and use Kinect sensors to make the 7Bot Arm dual imitate your movement of upper limb in real time," adds the team.
With all these gestures and movements capabilities, there are so many things that the 7Bot Arm can learn to do and even play. These include learning Chinese calligraphy, sorting one color from the other, reading and understanding math, doing a child's homework, playing iPad games, playing Xylophone, playing chess, and painting a cherry blossom tree.
The 7Bot Kickstarter project has already earned more than $200,000 in funding out of the original goal of $50,000 with the help of 419 backers. Pledges start from $1 up to $4,997. There are also rewards being offered starting from the pledge that's worth $30. Shipping is scheduled to begin in January 2016 and will be available anywhere in the world.
