Elephant Robotics Launches the myPalletizer, a Low-Cost Four-Axis Robot Arm Developed with M5Stack

Chinese robotics specialist Elephant Robotics has launched what it claims is the first fully-wrapped compact four-axis robot arm to hit the market: the myPalletizer, built in cooperation with M5Stack.

"The new series myPalletizer 4-axis robotic arm, jointly produced with M5Stack, is the world's first fully wrapped 4-axis robot arm," Elephant Robotics claims of its new design, "with an overall fin-less design, safety wrapping, compact and easy to bring it everywhere."

Weighing just over 2lbs and capable of carrying a 10.6-ounce payload, the myPalletizer robot arm is designed for makers and educators. It's also highly portable: Because all the moving parts are enclosed within the robot arm body, it's easy to slot into a backpack without the risk of catching anything as you remove it.

An M5Stack Atom at the top of the arm provides status readouts with an LED matrix, while an M5Stack Basic at the bottom control the arm and provides a display. Software support includes ROS, Moveit, Python, and Roboflow, while all of the accessories developed for Elephant's earlier myCobot-series robot arm — including an adaptive gripper, suction pump, pen holder, and camera mount — are fully compatible.

The arm includes four degrees of freedom, a 10.2in working radius, and a repeatability of ±0.02in. Its maximum speed is rated at 120° per second, and a USB Type-C connector provides data connectivity while power comes from a 5A 8-12V power supply. The external casing, meanwhile, is 3D printed in SLA resin.

The myPalletizer arm is now available to order on Elephant's Tindie store at $499, $100 less than the company's six-axis myCobot; it's also compatible with the company's myAGV Raspberry Pi-based wheeled robot platform, on which the myPalletizer can be mounted to create a mobile companion robot system.