Hi all, i am semi technical, good base understanding of math, physics and CS, but not in robotics/hardware engineering. I want to get started building some interesting stuff that moves ;) Imagine the dream being building a robot myself (using various parts), what should I start building first? Any kits or so you would recommend?

Hi everyone! I’m an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Robotics and AI Engineering. Most robotics and mechatronics R&D roles require experience with Raspberry Pi or edge computing.

​Since I currently don't have the budget to buy a physical Raspberry Pi, I’ve been looking into Raspberry Pi simulations. I want to gain hands-on experience in handling computing limitations at zero or very low cost.

​Could you guys give me some advice? Are there alternative ways to gain experience with hardware and computing constraints using simulation tools?

​Thanks a lot for your time and help!

ROSHUB: A tool to focus more on development, rather than solving bugs, or keeping a notepad for commands.

But it is still in early-stage, so feedback and contributions are welcome

I’ve noticed that more and more robotics startups are offering their products through a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. We’re also exploring this at our startup, but one of our biggest challenges is financing it.

The main issue is the cash flow gap between the upfront costs of building and deploying a robot and the recurring revenue coming in through subscriptions. Compared to selling a robot outright, it takes much longer to recover the initial investment.

I’m curious how other companies manage this challenge. Do they rely on external financing, leasing models, or other ways to fund their RaaS operations while keeping cash flow healthy?

https://youtu.be/k_1Paexlc_A?si=MPRehvRC2VVNThbR

I really want to build this robot for school (Arduino day) and private use, but the original parts for this robot are too expensive (especially the brain (the cognog) and the grove vision ai v2 (Total: 173€ for the kit with all the components)), so how can i make It in the cheapest way possible? (Apart the 3d prints, my school Is helping me printing them with their 3d printer for free) (BTW im a Total beginner at robotics, but i have the tutorial to build It, so im fine)

Hello, everyone. I am building a 6DOF robot arm and I wanted to know how can I reliably mount the nema 23 gearbox on the J2-J3 link. I want to follow the style of the industrial robot were the motor and gearbox are on the joint directly and not via a belt, like in the AR4 robot arm of Chris Annin. Here are the links to how the motor and the link will be before I connect them:

https://i.postimg.cc/Ss91BQTf/Screenshot-2026-10-21-104434.png
https://i.postimg.cc/rm4ZBynZ/Screenshot-2026-10-21-104443.png

I wanted to buy harmonic drives or the flange output style planetary gearbox, but they are not affordable for a university FYP. Thank you in advance !!

Hey everyone!

I'm looking to buy my first 3D printer and would really appreciate some advice from people who use theirs for mechanical projects, robotics, and functional parts.

I already have experience with 3D modeling and SolidWorks, but I'm completely new to 3D printing and electronics.

My goal is to start designing and building personal projects at home, combining industrial design, mechanical design, electronics, and eventually robotics.

Some examples of what I'd like to build:

• Custom enclosures for electronics, ESP32/Arduino projects, and small interactive devices.
• Mechanical assemblies, gears, brackets, joints, and moving mechanisms.
• Small robots and eventually robotic arms.
• Drone frames, protective housings, and other functional parts.
• Well-designed product prototypes where I can print most of the custom parts myself.

I'm not planning to sell anything. This is purely about learning, experimenting, and building my own projects.

The Bambu Lab A1 is currently my main choice. It seems reliable, beginner-friendly, and capable of producing good-quality prints without spending too much time troubleshooting the printer itself.

However, I'm worried about its material limitations.

I know that enclosed printers offer more possibilities with materials like ABS, ASA, and certain nylons, but I'm not sure how often I'd actually need those materials for the projects I have in mind.

Maybe I'm overthinking future requirements instead of focusing on what I need right now.

I don't mind spending more on an enclosed printer if there's a genuine benefit for my intended use. At the same time, I don't want to spend significantly more just to future-proof against situations that might never happen.

A few questions for those with experience:

1. For small robotics, mechanical assemblies, and electronics enclosures, how far can I realistically go with PLA, PETG, and TPU?
2. At what point do materials like ABS, ASA, or nylon become genuinely necessary?
3. Would you recommend starting with the A1 and upgrading only if I eventually need more advanced materials, or buying an enclosed printer from the beginning?
4. Are there alternatives to the A1 that you'd recommend for this kind of work?
5. If you've built similar projects, which printer and materials do you actually use most often?

I'm based in Portugal, and my priority is reliability, good dimensional accuracy, and the ability to focus on designing and building rather than constantly troubleshooting the printer.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who started with an open-frame printer and later upgraded, or people who are still happily building mechanical and robotics projects with an A1.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hey , I'm a 3rd year btech student from Hyderabad, india. I currently switched from ML to robotics. I have been learning robotics from 4 to 5 weeks. Currently , couldn't access and afford to hardware , I have been working on simulations and ros2. I built a project as my learning : A diff drive autonomous robot simulation in a maze map in the gazebo , rviz , ros2 using 2d slam and nav2 ( amcl algorithm ) . I have a post abt my robot sim ( u can view from my profile posts ).

Few of the ppl reached me out for giving me an opportunity but most of them were interested in my ml work which I'm not interested or intended to work on.

This post is specifically for reaching out for the ppl for the opportunity in a robotics startup with a decent pay as an internship.

The reason I'm seeking for paid internship opportunity is that Im currently working on building a new type of morphing quadcopter ( more like hybrid topology based ) . To be precise , an articulated armed morphing drone. I haven't started yet since I'm learning freecad to first build structure and simulate in mujoco ( I'm learning mujoco In parallel ). If anyone , who are genuinely seeking for interns in robotics or would like to give me an opportunity to work and help me , please DM me. I would like to share my exact idea of the quadcopter.

Being honest , I have a great fundamentals of electronics ( circuits, resistors , diodes , capacitors , basics of quadcopter like kinematics , it's components ) . Hoping for atleast one opportunity to learn and build my first morphing drone. I can assure that If I don't know anything , I can learn it asap and be honest of what ik and what I don't.

Hi, I’m based in nowhere out of South Korea. I know a lot of small farm owners (labor-intensive like strawberries, fruit orchards, blueberries, bamboo, decorative moss, or insects) as well as an exterior stone-cladding company, a fabric goods manufacturing company, and a small dental appliance assembly factory where a few highly trained people with 10+ years of experience do a little bit of everything. And licensed tree doctors who do surgeries and treatments when trees get sick. And seaweed (Gim/Nori) factories that make the seaweed you see in sushi and poke places so a lot of niche manufacturers and farmers I didn’t know existed until I moved here.

The owners are mostly my next door neighbors and family friends and for the last few years, I’ve heard them saying the most experienced artisans are working past the retirement age and there's no one to take over so l guess l am here. I have cameras and their trust but not sure how to go on from here?

My idea is to do egocentric video and third-person video at the same time while an artisan or farmer do verbal narration while I work with the factory or business owner to come up with QC benchmarks that’s not soulless metrics.

So there’s a strawberry farm where a farmer does everything organic and plants strawberries in real soil (not potting mix bags and none of the LED container box farm stuffs) and he said he’s retiring in one or two years since it’s bad for his health. I want to somehow make the metrics more about the picked strawberries smell like roses and taste like heaven than the usual sugar meters when I’m collecting and making the datasets. I have a CS degree and garden on the weekends but just learning about this robotics stuff so if this is not the right question for the sub, feel free to direct me to other subs? Thanks.

Hi guys, how are you doing?

I am a robotics engineer looking for part time robotics jobs (also open for pure software roles).

I have worked on quadcopters(drone shows), building navigation systems for AUV for the Indian Navy and also on AMR's and Quadruped.

I am currently in jaipur and open to meeting up with people if needed.

Thanks

I’m fairly comfortable with the software side of robotics, particularly computer vision, ROS 2, and SLAM. However, I’m struggling to gain hands-on experience integrating these systems with physical robots because the hardware can get really expensive on a student budget.

I recently interviewed for a ROS 2 internship at TR1. In the first technical round, they focused mainly on the software side of my take-home assignment and my personal projects. However, in the second round, they started asking about hardware constraints and the kinds of issues I’d encounter when transferring a simulation to a real robot.

That made me realise that knowing how to build something in simulation is only part of the picture. I also need to understand the practical challenges of real-world deployment, such as sensor noise, latency, calibration, motor control, and communication failures.

The problem is that building even a relatively basic physical ROS 2 robot can get expensive. A LiDAR, camera, Raspberry Pi or other onboard computer, IMU, motor drivers, and the rest of the hardware can easily exceed my budget.

For those of you who are into robotics software, how did you gain practical hardware integration and debugging experience without spending a fortune?

A few things I’d especially love to hear about:

• Has anyone built a relatively simple ESP32- or Arduino-based project and used that experience to land a robotics software internship or job?
• Are there any budget-friendly projects that use ROS 2 on a physical robot without requiring expensive sensors or a Raspberry Pi?
• How did you learn to answer real-world integration and debugging questions in interviews when most of your experience was simulation-based?
• If your primary interest is robotics software rather than hardware design, how much hands-on hardware experience do employers actually expect?

I’m particularly interested in software-focused robotics roles, so I’d love to hear from people who have taken a similar path.

I’m not necessarily looking to build an advanced robot. I just want a practical, affordable way to learn how to bridge the gap between simulation and real-world robotics. I’d also prefer using standard ROS 2 rather than going down the micro-ROS route for this project.

Any advice, project ideas, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Help diagnosing my 3D-printed cycloidal gearbox for a robotic arm

Hey everyone,

I'm building a robotic arm using a custom cycloidal gearbox, and I'm having a few problems that I can't seem to figure out. I'd appreciate some help identifying what I've done wrong mechanically.

My current setup

• Motor: NEMA 17, 60 mm long, rated at 0.65 Nm torque
• Eccentricity: 1.15 mm
• Bearings: 2 × 40 × 52 × 7 mm and 2 × 15 × 24 × 5 mm
• Output mechanism: 8 output pins in total
• 4 × 4 mm × 20 mm dowel pins
• 4 × M3 screws holding the assembly together
• Material: 3D-printed cycloidal discs and housing

Problems I'm experiencing

1. Wobble: The output has noticeable play and doesn't feel mechanically stable.
2. Jerky movement: Instead of rotating smoothly, the gearbox moves in a steppy, uneven way.
3. Excessive friction: When I tighten the M3 screws holding the assembly together, the friction increases so much that the motor can no longer turn the gearbox. Loosening them allows it to move again, but the assembly becomes less secure.

I'm trying to understand whether the problem comes from my bearing arrangement, tolerances, disc alignment, output pin geometry, screw placement, or something else entirely.

What would you investigate first? Are there any obvious design mistakes in this setup that could explain all three symptoms?

I'm happy to provide pictures, CAD screenshots, or a video of the mechanism if that helps.

Video of the gearbox: https://streamable.com/dsxsu0

Thanks!

Hey all, posting here because this is a pretty niche role and figured this community would have the right people.

We’re an early-stage startup building AI tools for industrial automation. As we expand into more customer types, we’re bringing on more people to help with QA, testing the AI’s outputs for technical accuracy and keeping up with the scope of what we’re covering.

This is a part-time, remote role, built for someone currently studying or recently graduated in electrical engineering or mechanical engineering (mechatronics track). You’d be reviewing AI-generated answers related to PLCs, sensors, controls, and robotics for accuracy, flagging what’s wrong or incomplete, and helping build out test datasets and demo environments.

What matters most:

• Real coursework or hands-on exposure to electrical/mechatronics engineering (PLCs, sensors, controls, robotics)
• Fluent English, spoken and written. All the work happens in English
• Detail-oriented, patient with structured review work
• Comfortable saying “I don’t know, let me check” instead of guessing

Fully remote, part-time, paid. If this sounds like your kind of thing (or you know someone it fits), drop a comment or DM me and I’ll share more details.

I recently graduated from a very health-oriented university and I'm new to robotics. Labs there collect a lot of data for studies. E.g. The lab I was in measured eye tracking and depth perception.

Most of that data ends up sitting on a drive after the paper is published. So I'm wondering: could existing lab data from universities(video, motion, eye tracking, expert annotations) be useful for training robot policies, maybe specialized procedures like surgical?

If you work on robot data pipelines (collection, cleaning, labeling, or training), please reach out !! Would love to chat!

I have been working at a startup for 3 years, here I have worked in all domains from mechanical design, electronics & firmware, software development of the robot for product development.

Now I am looking at the market, almost all job listings are very specific to some domain in robotics. And require a few years of experience in that specific domain. I feel like i have wasted the time working on becoming a jack of all trades instead of sticking to one, but since this was a small startup, we had no choice.

Would a company prefer the profile of such a candidate? Or can someone advise how I should choose one domain? Keeping opportunities, salaries and future potential into perspective!! Thank you.

I need help for a project for university, it's in ABB Robot studio, it's simple but I'm in the middle of 3 other projects and I need help.

I think this is the right place if not someone tell me where to look for.

Thx

Hello everyone,
I’m a final-year Mechatronics Engineering student in Gaza, and I’m working on my graduation project: a snake-inspired robot designed to help rescue victims trapped under rubble here.

I’d be very grateful for any resources that could help with my research, such as papers, tutorials, or recommended reading.

I’m also trying to get access to this book:

Hirose, S.: Biologically Inspired Robots: Snake-like Locomotors and Manipulators. Oxford University Press, New York, 1993.

If anyone can help me get access to it, or point me toward any advice or resources, it would be a big step forward for my project.

Also, a large part of the project will be simulation. What are the best software tools I can use for this?

Thank you all in advance.

Curious question for the engineers here. My company is exhibiting at The Assembly Show in Chicago this month. I’ve been to a few other US expos before, and almost everyone I met, at the booths and walking the floor, was in sales.

So I’m wondering: do engineers usually attend these shows? If you do, are you at the booth showing your work and talking with customers and visitors, or are you mostly behind the scenes?

Would love to hear how it works at your company, and whether you think it’s worth an engineer’s time.

Also, if you have any fav EXPO for robotics/ machinery in US, let me know and I'd love to join.

I have understood quarternions as just tool that can rotate around a 4th dimensional axes in way that we can never acheive in 3D spaces from the 3b1b video on this. However, I fail to get an intuition on how a controller practically use this ? For example in a drone how does this prevent gimbal lock ?

I am basically looking for a physics** based explanation for how this doesn't fail the drone when it gimbal locks at 90 to the ground plane ?

**: or any other explanation for an intuition

Hi there, i was wondering what are some already existing examples of robots for nature or animal conservation.
If anyone has some ideas of ones that may not exist yet but should ,im all ears aswell.
Thank you