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CHOOSING AN APPROPRIATE ROBOTIS KIT

By C. N. Thai

If you are a newcomer to ROBOTIS systems, you may be overwhelmed by the different robot series available, thus the motivation for this article.

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From my experiences in using and teaching with ROBOTIS systems for students in secondary schools and at university undergraduate levels, I would propose that new users consider two main criteria in choosing an appropriate robot kit corresponding to their current abilities and needs:

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User’s robot construction skills.

Currently, ROBOTIS offers three ways to put their robots together:

  • “12 mm rivets” - 12 mm being the distance between adjacent rivet hole centers.  The actual rivet’s diameter is 7 mm, and it uses a single-part design targeted at the youngest users (8+).  The PLAY 600 and 700 kits belong to this product line.

  • “6 mm rivets” – again 6 mm being the distance between adjacent rivet hole centers.  The actual rivet’s diameter is 3.5 mm, and it uses a 2-component design with an outer sleeve and a stem-rivet.  This fastening approach requires more manual dexterity and is designed for mid-teens (10+).  The PLAY 300, DREAM, SMART, MINI and IoT kits belong to this product line.

  • The third fastening approach uses small standard screws and nuts and is designed for 12+ years old users.  The STEM, BIOLOID PREMIUM and GP kits belong to this product line.  The professional-grade systems such as the OP, THORMANG and Turtle Bot 3 kits also use this fastening method.

ROBOTIS Rivet Systems
ROBOTIS Screw & Nut fastening system

User’s Budget.

  • At the lowest budget range (less than $100), we have the PLAY 300, 600 and 700 kits.

  • For a mid-range budget (between $100 and $500), we have the DREAM, SMART, IoT, MINI and STEM kits (Note: currently the SMART and IoT kits are only available in South Korea).

  • For the high-end budget ($500+), we have the BIOLOID PREMIUM, GP, OP and Turtle Bot 3 (TB3) kits.

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The following chart lists the main features/criteria to help potential ROBOTIS users select their starter and continuing robotics systems.

A video version of this procedure is also available here.

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