DeltaZ: An Accessible Compliant Delta Robot Manipulator for Research and Education

TL;DR

The DeltaZ robot is an affordable, easy-to-assemble delta-style manipulator designed for research and education, featuring 3D-printed parts, intuitive kinematics, and open-source resources to democratize robotic manipulation studies.

Contribution

It introduces a low-cost, 3D-printable delta robot with a closed-form kinematic solution, enhancing accessibility for research and educational purposes.

Findings

Accessible and easy-to-assemble design

Open-source 3D-printable components and code

Suitable as a reinforcement learning benchmark

Abstract

This paper presents the DeltaZ robot, a centimeter-scale, low-cost, delta-style robot that allows for a broad range of capabilities and robust functionalities. Current technologies allow DeltaZ to be 3D-printed from soft and rigid materials so that it is easy to assemble and maintain, and lowers the barriers to utilize. Functionality of the robot stems from its three translational degrees of freedom and a closed form kinematic solution which makes manipulation problems more intuitive compared to other manipulators. Moreover, the low cost of the robot presents an opportunity to democratize manipulators for a research setting. We also describe how the robot can be used as a reinforcement learning benchmark. Open-source 3D-printable designs and code are available to the public.