Thor is an Open Source and printable robot arm with six degrees of freedom.
Its configuration (yaw-roll-roll-yaw-roll-yaw) is the same used by most of the manipulator robots on the market. In its extended position, Thor is about 625mm high and can lift loads up to 750 grams.
The project started in 2015 as a final degree project called “Design and impplementation of an Open Source, 3D printed 6DOF robotic arm”. Since then, this project has continued to develop little by little.
The main purpose of this project was to design a robot that could be used in universities and schools to teach robotics.With this in mind, the design had to be affordable and accessible. Releasing the source files and doing so under an open source licence was the best option: anyone could study any element of the robot in depth and, moreover, modify or adapt it to their needs.
To date, more than 30 units have been built in 17 different countries. In addition, several papers have been published in which Thor plays a relevant role.
Thor has been developed using only open source tools: FreeCAD for the 3D modeling, KiCAD for the PCB design and GBRL as firmware for the control electronics. In this way, access to knowledge can be guaranteed to anyone, anywhere, without any economic cost.
I hope you like this project as much as I do,
Ángel L.M.