I was watching Simone Giertz video with the Kuka robotic arm (https://youtu.be/8TlAe4z7D6I) and wondering what we could do at the makerspace with an industrial robot arm. I’d like to see one to learn about programming robotics and maybe how makers can use industrial equipment to enhance our crafts.
We have a Kuka KR210 at my office in Arlington that we use for R&D but we’ve always wanted to do more cool stuff with it. Speaking from experience I would be careful with surplus robots as the controllers can be too old to be useful but sometimes they work out too. If you would like to come by and check out our robots DM me and I’ll send you the address. We have a Staubli, Kuka, and a UR5. They are super cool but also super dangerous if you’re not careful. We use safety cages for the big ones and the UR5 Is a collaborative robot so it’s human safe. You might look at talking to the Universal Robots office in Carrollton to see if they want to partner with the DMS.
We have some UR robots at work and i’ve been to several training classes at the Irving office. I mentioned bringing one out to the makerspace for a demo one day and it seems like they’d probably be willing to spend a few hours with a UR3 or something. I don’t know that a $25k robot with 5lbs of payload and 20inch of reach would be a good fit for the space, but I think a few classes getting some hands on time would be q good start.
