[netinstructions]

They may be lower cost than the status quo, but $3199 to $3699 is out of my reach as a (non professional) hobbyist. I hope maybe one day though!

https://sites.google.com/view/roboicsbenchmarks/getting-star...

https://www.trossenrobotics.com/d-kitty.aspx

https://www.trossenrobotics.com/d-claw.aspx

Not quite in the realm like the $50 to $90 'Google Voice / Google Vision AI' kits

https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/

[pmorais]

You’re not the intended audience. This is meant for small research labs that are just starting up and want to enter the RL/Robotics research space and can’t afford a $400,000 PR2 or $150,000 shadow hand.

[rficcaglia]

Totally worth the money :)

https://youtu.be/c3Cq0sy4TBs

[richk449]

You can buy a meca500 for 15k USD. If you are just doing learning stuff, it should be more than adequate.

[markisus]

How do you know these prices? I generally find these companies do not publish them on their websites

[gene-h]

The main cost is the actuators. The servos they use are the only ones out there with integrated feed back from the sensors which is required so they can calculate hardware safety. They also have, albeit pretty bad, torque control which is necessary for many approaches to controlling legged robots and manipulators.

[contingencies]

According to a Chinese SCARA motor producer, Tamagawa is a notable Japanese manufacturer of servos used in SCARA robots. http://www.tamagawa-seiki.com/products/servomotor/

[lnsru]

Wouldn’t stepper motor with encoder and current sensor be cheaper?