[GlenTheMachine]

You need some technical specs on the website. How many DOF does it have? Does it have joint angle sensing? If so, what's the resolution? What's the interface to the servos? What's the payload capacity? Does it have integrated motor controllers? How long is it, and what does the dexterous workspace look like?

As a roboticist, what I'd vote for, in order, is:

- more degrees of freedom

- interchangeable tools, either an actual tool changer (unlikely at the price point) or a fixed bolt pattern with electronic passthroughs

- better joint sensing, e.g. absolute encoders, joint torque sensing

- fingertip force sensing

[charleszyong]

Thank you for the feedback! Thinking out loud: • Adding one DOF to match ARX kinematics is doable, with a price increase of $30–40.

• A tool changer is a great suggestion. A few of my friends are working on kinematic couplings, which would be ideal for this. I’ll need to give some thought to how to pass electrical signals and power to the tool, while also keeping it lightweight.

• Could you share what functionality you want in terms of encoders? The ST3215 uses 12-bit magnetic encoders, which can retain position after power loss. Are you looking for higher resolution? For torque sensing, if the order volume is large, I can add this for just a $20-30 price increase.

• Finger tip force sensing: Is this for applications like picking up an egg?

[charleszyong]

Just to clarify, these improvements is for future models.

[15155]

Check out Mill-Max magnetic connectors for the tool connectivity.

[michaelt]

> You need some technical specs on the website. How many DOF does it have? Does it have joint angle sensing? If so, what's the resolution? What's the interface to the servos? What's the payload capacity? Does it have integrated motor controllers? How long is it, and what does the dexterous workspace look like?

The post says "kit that keeps LeRobot SO-101’s kinematics" so it's probably very similar to [1] namely 5DOF and a gripper, using STS3215 servos [2]

> As a roboticist, what I'd vote for, in order, is:

As they are making a robot at the $219 price point, I very much doubt they have the money to add anything to the design.

[1] https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/so101 [2] https://uk.robotshop.com/products/magnetic-encoding-servo-st...

[charleszyong]

Thank you for stepping in. Yes, it’s 5 DOF and a gripper using ST3215 (12V for the follower arms and 7.4V—various gear ratios—for the leader arms).

As for hardware features, we can’t add much to the current model since, as you mentioned, we are running on very thin margins. We’re gathering suggestions primarily for future models.

[GlenTheMachine]

They did ask for suggested upgrades.

“I’d love your feedback! Beyond manufacturing, cleaning up the codebase, and writing docs, I’m considering: a force-controlled gripper, a parallel-jaw gripper, an extra wrist DOF (matching the new Trossen and ARX arms), full force feedback on the leader arm (though that may triple the price), a more affordable version with lower resolution each joint, and a longer-reach variant. Which of these—or something else—would be most useful to you?”

[clw8]

Are there any affordable robot kits you recommend for learning control, CV, RL etc.? I was budgeting for the SO-101 so I think I'll get OP's device and then something that's not an arm for variety.