I'm interested in hearing from anybody who has sucessfully built a useful research robot for < $1K. Even just a SCARA arm.
my experience has been everything < $1K uses crappy servos.
my experience has been everything < $1K uses crappy servos.
The total cost for one robot was well below 1k. The servos are $25 each (Turnigy 306G if remember correctly), all connecting parts are 3d printed, the electronics and batteries are about $50, and you could add a raspberry pi for $50. So in total <$500, depending on number of DOFs.
Of course, these servos don't have the same torque as Dynamixles, for example. But they are lighter!
Unfortunately at that price it comes without a manipulator, but I have bought (very) cheap arms and will experiment with them soon.