TARA: A Low-Cost 3D-Printed Robotic Arm for Accessible Robotics Education

Mitre, Thays Leach

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence 

--The high cost of robotic platforms limits students' ability to gain practical skills directly applicable in real-world scenarios. T o address this challenge, this paper presents T ARA, a low-cost, 3D-printed robotic arm designed for accessible robotics education. T ARA includes an open-source repository with design files, assembly instructions, and baseline code, enabling users to build and customize the platform. Experimental validation confirmed accurate performance in basic manipulation tasks. Rather than focusing on performance benchmarking, this work prioritizes educational reproducibility, providing a platform that students and educators can reliably replicate and extend. Robotics is playing an increasingly vital role in both industry and education.