Durable Robotic Arm, Easy Controls

Hi all,

I have an escape room company and we’re interested in using a robotic arm that would allow our players to retrieve something.

Can anyone suggest and off the shelf option/kit that would fit our needs:

Here are the parameters:

  • Durability: While customers will not have access to the robotic arm itself, it will be used frequently and in service for a long period of time.

    • Regular operation will likely be 5 to 10 minutes, 5 to 10 times a day, 3 to 4 days a week.
    • Its reliability will be critical to paying customers who will require its functionality to achieve their goal and complete their experience.
    • In many cases, props/puzzles in our room will have duplicates/backups in case one fails. Having a secondary arm that could be installed in case of an issue would be sound practice.
  • Reach: From the point of retrieval to the point of delivery it should not need to be more than 2.5 to 3’. This number could be shortened if critical.

  • Controls: Must be very accessible to all persons. Ideally a joystick/button that controls each function of movement.

    • Additionally we’d like to place the controls in another room - players will have to work together/communicate in order to give one person instructions while another watches.
  • Movement: it must be able to rotate at its base, extend the arm outward and inward from the base. articulate a grabber, and grab and release.

  • Payload Capacity: it would need a lift strength of at least .5kg. Ideally it would have a lifting capacity 20% above the final weight of the hand so as not to put the machine under heavy stress each time.

Budget:

Resources when designing a scenario must be allocated to a number of props, puzzles, technology and design elements. For this particular feature we’d like to allocate $600 towards a robotic arm. We would be prepared to spend an additional $600 if we could have a secondary backup as well.

Thanks for any help.

1 Like

Hi @MassEscape and welcome to our forum.

This is a really interesting usage of the robotic arm, although it is not easy to find a durable and easy to control arm for $600.

You can see what RobotShop offers here: https://www.robotshop.com/collections/robotic-arms

I would recommend that you have a look at uArm Swift Pro Standard 4 DoF Metal Robotic Arm w/ Bluetooth and Suction Cup: https://www.robotshop.com/products/uarm-swift-pro-standard-4-dof-metal-robotic-arm-bluetooth-suction-cup

It’s made of metal, it has 0.5kg payload, working range up to 12 inches, it has suction cup to lift objects and you can control it via app over Bluetooth. Let me know your opinion.