Niryo One is an accessible 6 axis robotic arm, powered by Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ROS. Use it at home, at work, at school !
Industrial robots improve every year. They become more powerful and more precise. However, their price is still very high and they are only available for big industrial factories. If you want to get a robotic arm for your home, your school, or your small company, you will have to spend between 20,000 $ and 200,000 $, and most companies will not even bother selling a robot to you.
Our goal is to make robotics accessible for everyone. For us, accessible means two things : low cost and user friendly.We have the dream that everyone can learn robotics and have a better life with a desktop robotic arm.
Niryo One is an accessible 6 axis robotic arm, made for makers, education, and small companies.
The robot is 3D printed and powered by Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Robot Operating System. STL files and code on the robot will be open source after the first shipments.
More than a product, we are building a complete set of cloud services around Niryo One, and a community around open source projects.
We first developed Niryo One for makers and robotics enthusiasts.
Having 6 axis, Niryo One can grab anything in its area, with any given orientation
With 6 axis, you can draw on a vertical board, or any non horizontal surface. In reality, the things you want to pick with your robot are not always on a flat surface, and on the ground. This is a huge limitation, but not for Niryo One.
Most industrial robots (in car factories, for example) are 6 axis robotic arms, because they are the most efficient robots known for now. Having a six axis robotic arm, you can easily reproduce industrial use-cases, without having to sell your house or your car !
Endless number of applications are possible by using Niryo One.
Pick and place objects with a suction pump, a gripper, or an electromagnet tool :
Automate your 3D printer :
Drill :
Play with your kids :
Hold a game contest :
Get some help for cooking :
With Niryo One, break the rules !
Make 2 robots working together :
The great thing with Niryo One, is that the number of useful applications will always grow. We, on our side, develop as many as we can, so you will be able to do useful stuff, have fun, or learn.
By being open source, we also let you, and the community, develop more use cases and functionalities ! We’d be very happy if we can work on his project, hand in hand with the community to make a product which is evolving with people needs.
You want to create your own tool, adapt some parts on the code, add new piece of software to use with your product, and share with Niryo community ? Go ahead ! We strongly encourage people to do that. If you don’t feel like creating new features by yourself, you can also check out what other people invented.
To encourage this, we will often organize contests, and expose the best projects created with Niryo One. If you want to contribute to the project, we will welcome your efforts and why not, add your new functionality in the robot.
You can control Niryo One with many interfaces and tools. Everyone can find its way, from a child to an advanced developer.
Learning mode : Just move the robot around with your hands, it will then go to all saved positions (close loop control). A great way to teach the robot what to do, and when you don’t feel using a mobile or computer.
This mode will also allow students and children to use Niryo One, without knowing anything about robots or computers. They can learn some basics mechanical principles, and get to know more about how robots are working.
Control Niryo One with a joystick (xbox or playstation controller). You can choose position mode (x,y,z, and orientation of the end effector tool), or joint mode (control each axis independently)
G-code (currently in development) :
Niryo One can also receive G-code instructions. It means you can use the robot as a CNC machine. This feature is currently being developed, and will be integrated as well in the web & mobile application.
Web and mobile application :
Control Niryo One directly with a web (any browser) or mobile (android, iOS) application. You can use it to replay some sequences, like the one that you saved with the “learning mode”.
You can also create or modify you own movement sequence ! Just give some values to the robot (coordinates or joint angle) and the robot will move to the target point. You can easily adjust to reach the point you want, then save, and play it again and again.
With the web and mobile interface you can modify a sequence of commands : change the order, add one step, modify values… You can also modify a lot of parameters on the robots, to get the most of it for each use case.
Niryo One will be connected to your home using Wi-Fi. That means that you can control it wirelessly and from any part of your home !
But that doesn’t end there… We will deploy a cloud service (beta version in September) so your robot can be connected to the Internet.
Web and mobile applications will be both connected to the robot and to the Internet (Niryo cloud service). That way you can switch from web to mobile, or mobile to web, and keep everything synchronized !
By using the Niryo mobile or web application, you can see, from all over the world, what is the state of your robot, and you can control it to do whatever you want. More freedom, more possibilities !
If you want, you can share the program you created with the online community, so others can execute the same program on their Niryo One. As sharing is two way, you also have the possibility to download programs made by passionate people around the world. Let’s say you want your robot to do a specific task, and someone already did that. The only thing you need to do is to download the program, launch it, and watch it happen !
At first we will deploy a cloud service so you can :
Share programs with other users
Control the robot from anywhere
Plan your robot tasks
Stream video so you can remotely see tasks execution
Apply automatic and free software updates on the robot
We want to build this cloud service around people’s needs, and take any suggestion or remark to make it the best it can be. That’s why we will positively welcome any feedback from you. Beta version will be launched in September, and you’ll get a free access to it if you pledge for a robot.
As the code on the robot will be open source, every time we develop new features, you will be able to see them on github, and when they are released, you will be able to easily upgrade your Niryo One with the mobile/web application.
If you purchase Niryo One you will get a free software upgrade every time we release a new core functionality. You robot will always improve over time !
We will provide easy to follow instructions so everyone can assemble Niryo One. Depending on your maker skills, it can take between 1 and 3 hours to get your Niryo One standing and ready to use.
Niryo One is a robot made by makers, for makers.
We’ve created a reward category just for you ! By pledging for the Maker Kit (more info in “reward section” below), you’ll get a full Niryo One kit, without the 3D printed parts, so you can print them by yourself. Once kits are shipped you’ll get STL files, so you can fully customize your robot, and share your amazing looking Niryo One with us and the community !
You will also be able to create new end effector tools, for even more use cases !
Technology is everywhere. Children and students are more and more using new technology in school and everyday life.
We want to help student learn about new technologies in fields like mechanical design, electronics, computer programming, artificial intelligence, …
We know that studying robotics with no robot is boring for students. You just learn some abstract concepts and don’t know what to do with them, or how they apply in real life robots.
With Niryo One, we aim to provide a low cost robot for schools and universities, to teach new technologies, from mechanics to artificial intelligence. Students will be able to experiment on a real system, so they will learn faster as the learning path is more rewarding.
Plus, this is also great for teaching some physics basics. You can learn concepts like gravity or inertia, and have a real experimentation to better understand those concepts.
We also thought about children technological education. Maybe they don’t give much attention about physics and computer science yet. But they love playing with robots !
Our children are, or will be surrounded by new technologies. Many schools are preparing for this, and already adapted their structure to give a better technology education.
With Niryo One, kids will be more willing to discover new technologies. With the help of their parent, they can learn what is a robot, how it is working, and what it is used for.
And that’s not all : they can use the web and mobile application to learn basic programming. We are integrating blockly in Niryo App, so children can learn programming with graphical blocks and see their program executed on the robot.
We believe that programming on a real physical system is much more rewarding and helps people understand faster.
If you want to go deeper and directly program on the robot, you can too ! Some users will prefer programming instead of using a pad or a web application.
Programming on the robot gives you more freedom. We will provide APIs at different levels :
Arduino : if you just want to send program to the motors controller
Raspberry Pi with ROS : You will be able to program the robot using Python or C++
You can get access to the Raspberry Pi 3 board with ssh, websockets, web server (all 3 with Wi-Fi connection), or bluetooth interface. We want to allow everyone, with different levels of skill, to develop on Niryo One.
If you want to learn robotics with Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ROS, then you are in the right place !
The code on the robot will be open source, so you can see what’s going on under the hood and how things are working on a real industrial-like robot. For more advanced users, you can also modify some parts, and share your progress with the community.
You can also use a Python API to create your own scripts running directly on the robot, so you can learn robotics and customize Niryo One for any specific use case. We will provide a set of easy-to-use libraries.
We will also set up an online forum, so you can interact with the Niryo community to find answers or to show the cool stuff you’ve made.
Learn robotics with Arduino. Get to know how to :
Control stepper and servo motors
Asynchronously handle external communication, sensors inputs, and actuator outputs
Learn robotics with Raspberry Pi. Get to know how to :
Program with Python and C++
Use GPIO pins for sensors or actuators
Communicate with an Arduino board
Use communication protocols such as I2C, SPI or Serial
When you want to learn or use ROS, you have two choices : get into a company or a university which has already bought an expensive robot, or use a simulation software, like Gazebo.
In either way you don’t own the robot, so you can’t have full control, and using a robot in real life is much more interesting than in a simulator tool.
With Niryo One, we give you a third option : get one industrial-like robot at home, with a complete ROS stack (using rosbridge, Moveit, …) running on the Raspberry Pi 3 board. The ROS code will be released after the first shipments of the product. You will have full access to it, for free. More info here about how we use ROS on Niryo One.
You will be able to learn about ROS basics, how to communicate beetwen a non-ROS system (web application) and a ROS system, handle hardware control with ROS, motion planning, sensor data analyze, and many more.
If we hit the Kickstarter goal, we will provide a complete set of Youtube tutorials to help you learn ROS with Niryo One. By doing this we want to bring accessible robots for ROS users, so you can learn faster, and with a real physical system.
The structure of Niryo One is made out of 3D printed parts. At Niryo we do love 3D printing, it allows us to make more prototypes faster, so we can always improve and make the best possible final product.
Here’s a shot of 5 prototypes before the current version. As you can see, a lot of improvements have been made over time :
After some tests we found that 3D printed parts can be very robust, and those are great for the evolution of the project. We can easily improve one part without changing everything in the production line.
Here are all the parts included in Niryo One :
We use 5 steppers motors to move the 4th first axis, and 2 servomotors to move the 5th and 6th axis.
All axis are closed-loop controlled, using magnetic sensors for stepper motors, and analog input for servo motors. For example, this is very useful for the learning mode, so you can teach the robot what to do, and it can know itself its position at any time.
Now comes the control of the robot. We use an Arduino Mega board with a RAMPS 1.4 shield to control and supply power to all the motors.
On top of that, we added a Raspberry Pi 3 board. Why this board ? Well, the Raspberry Pi 3 is a real and complete computer. Arduino is a little bit limited when it comes to complicated computations. We run ROS (Robot Operating system) on the Raspberry PI 3 board to provide a simulation of the robot, advanced computations, and an interface to web and mobile applications. Moreover, the Raspberry Pi 3 board will allow Niryo One to be 100% autonomous. You will not need to always plug a computer to control the robot. It will be connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, so you can control the robot from any place in the world.
Niryo One’s repeatability is 0.5 mm, here’s a test we made :
The drivers of the stepper motors + gear ratio with bearing allow us to go up to 10,640 steps for one axis rotation.
We’ve developed 7 tools you can use with Niryo One. You can easily switch a tool in less than 5 seconds. Just unplug, plug, and you’re ready to go ! (More info about the tools and how to get them below)
Shipping costs will be tacked on at checkout. Additional import duty or VAT may apply at time of delivery.
We offer free shipping for France !
When pledging to get a Niryo One, you also get a free gripper (gripper 1) !
If you want to add one or multiple tools to your pledge, just add the required amount (shipment is free for tools). To do that, just click on “manage” after you have pledged. After the end of this Kickstarter campaign, we’ll send you a survey so you can precise which tools (+quantity) you ordered. Just pick any tool, with any quantity, so you can fully customize your pledge !
For 179 €, you get all the tools, and you save 41€ !
Gripper 1 : (already included with each Niryo One)
This gripper is perfect for picking objects with strength. This is a gripper which can handle a lot of standard manipulations.
Specs :
Gripper 2 :
This gripper allows you to pick more larger objects. The 2 fingers always stay parallel, which ensure that the object won’t slide forward. You can also precisely pick tiny and more distant objects.
Specs :
Gripper 3 :
With this gripper you can pick objects that are harder to pick with other kind of grippers, ex : round objects, cup of tea, apple, egg. You can be sure that the object will be smoothly picked and always in the center of the fingers. This gripper is perfect for dealing with fragile items, or when the shape is too uncommon. You can also pick hollow objects on the inside.
Specs :
Electromagnet grove :
With this tool Niryo One can easily pick and place very small metallic pieces (multiple ones can be picked at the same time), which is very hard with any gripper, because grasping such pieces is not practical.
Specs :
Silent Vacuum Pump :
A vacuum pump is very efficient for fast and reliable pick and place, and allows you to pick some objects that a normal gripper can’t pick. Ex : take out the cover of a flat box, move soda cans from the top, pick and place large objects with a flat surface.
Most vacuum pumps are making so much noise, you just can’t stand and work near the robot, it is too disturbing. The pump we’ve developed is different : it’s operating silently, with the same efficiency as a vacuum pump, for the same price. A servomotor actuates a syringe which pumps the air out. We’ve also made a custom Niryo box for this vacuum pump !
Specs :
Pen holder :
The pen holder allows you to draw with any pen. You can easily adapt the tool to match the pen diameter. Niryo One can draw on any surface, with any orientation, thanks to its 6 axis.
Specs :
DC motor : (not for children)
The DC motor allows you to add new functionalities to Niryo One : you can drill, sand down, or any other use case requiring a fast end effector tool rotation. We provide 3 drill bits, you can use any other you already have in your workshop.
Specs :
Get all the tools !
If you’ve pledged for the Maker Kit, you can also get an “All the tools Maker Kit”
If you want to support us, but not get the full robot, you can pledge less to get a mini-version of Niryo One ! Kids can have fun with this toy robot, and learn some basics.
This robot has 4 axes with 4 small servo motors. It is powered by an ESP8266 board, which is Arduino compatible. It means you can still have fun and learn Arduino with this mini robot.
A gripper also comes with Mini Niryo One.
If you want to add this mini robot along with your Niryo One pledge, just add 119€ to your pledge !
Notice : the gripper for the mini robot is not compatible with the robot Niryo One, and you can’t add another tool for the mini robot.
Here are 2 stretch goals we have set for more challenge ! If we hit those stretch goals, the new functionalities and tools will be developed, and available on September 2017.
At Niryo we are huge lovers of open source.
We don’t want to continue the game played by big industrial factories, that is, keep everything secret, and try to stay alone on top of the success.
We strongly believe in open source projects. For us, this is a way to work together instead of staying alone. By sharing the work, together we can build a better product, and help each other to make technology better for people’s life, education and small companies.
The STL files and the code powering the robot (on the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi) will thus be released with an open source license.
For developers, that is a unique opportunity to learn robotics with Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ROS ! And for makers, Niryo One is everything you could dream of, with an open community, and tons of ways to customize the robot.
We will also encourage the open source community around Niryo One by creating a forum and some nice contests. So you can find answers and show the cool robotics stuff you made to all robotics passionate guys around the world.
We are French engineers who want to democratize robotics. We want to use the technical skills we have to make latest technologies accessible for everyone.
As makers ourself, we love 3D printing, Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Those are great to learn robotics, with the help of the online community. We want to go a step further, by embed those technologies and electronics platforms in Niryo One, to show to the world that, yes, we can make a real useful product with 3D printing, Arduino and Raspberry Pi. We hope that more people will be interested in learning these technologies when seeing what our robot can do, so it will reinforce the community around robotics projects.
Building a community of passionate people, helping students to learn robotics, introducing technology to children, giving more chances for small companies to compete in a tough market, are some of the goals we have.
And we do not want to accomplish those goals alone. It’s not all about us. It’s about you and us, making a better project together, for the people who need it.
That’s why we are coming now on Kickstarter, because we believe that we can make robotics accessible faster if we support each other.
As we’ve already explained, Niryo is a community project. We are planning to be present online, with a forum, a github repository, more videos, some contests, some user showcases. For this, we need your help. Not only to pledge to help this project stand out from the crowd, but also to spread the world, be part of the community to build a nice and big robotics project, and make it matters in people’s daily life.
Stay tuned by checking out and subscribing to our social accounts !
If you have any question or suggestion, feel free to contact us via our social accounts, the contact form on our website, or directly from Kickstarter website. We will answer you as quickly as possible !
We also have a blog, where we publish a post every week about robotics thoughts, news, tutorials, progress we make, …
A big challenge we met is to make the robot reliable and the most robust we can. Mechanical constraints for a 6 axis robotic arm are sometimes quite hard. After many prototypes and tries, we finally managed to make Niryo One robust enough to support a long uninterrupted sequence of movements.
We should be ready to manufacture in July. All the manufacturing will be done locally, by local French companies we know, and by ourselves. We can do that because we use 3D printing to produce the mechanical structure.
This process allows us to perfectly adapt the production to the number of orders. But if we receive too many orders, we may have to postpone the shipment for some products (the shipment for the first backers will still start in September).