This professional grade Mirobot 6-Axis Mini Robot Arm is just the tool engineering students need

TLDR: This amazingly precise robotic arm is a perfect tool for up-and-coming engineers, designed to teach the principles of manufacturing robotics right from your desktop.

Let’s get something out of the way quickly here. While there are any number of both fun and educational tinkerer sets to choose from out there, most are fundamentally toys. Oh sure, the lessons they offer and some of the functions they serve are certainly real enough, but at the end of the day, they’re mostly just enjoyable side diversions into the world of basic engineering.

But make no mistake. The WLKATA Mirobot 6-Axis Mini Robot Arm ($1,539.99, 8 percent off, from TNW Deals) is absolutely no toy. 

Designed specifically for engineering students, this professional grade, open source tool is essentially just like a robotic arm you’d find on a factory floor or in an ultra-precise lab setting…just at a tiny fraction of the price of those extremely expensive bigger brothers.

This arm comes ready to use right out of the box, packing hardware based on an Arduino control board with an open source programming origin, so it’s ready for any level of customization. With the same 6-axis range of movement found in larger industrial arms, this one only sits 9 inches high, allowing engineers and manufacturers to use this cute, yet powerful tool to simulate start fashioning real world robotic uses in a test setting right on a desktop.

And users know they’re getting it right with this arm, which features 0.2mm repeated positioning accuracy, making it ideal for both education purposes as well as light duty tasks, but with the same attention to intricacy and absolute precision robotic work demands.

Its programming produces smooth and stable movement, without a lot of the jerking or slight tremors found on arms that run on servos. Plus, this arm comes with a range of convenient attachments for all your arm modifications, with effectors to serve as a micro-servo gripper, a pen holder, a suction cup, a pneumatic two-finger gripper, a universal ball gripper, and even a GoPro carrier.

This kit also comes with a Bluetooth remote controller, designed to function just like a real industrial robot, with an accompanying act, so you can run the arm right through your smartphone.

Right now, students can get the WLKATA Mirobot 6-Axis Mini Robot Arm Professional Kit and The Educational Kit at nearly 10 percent off the regular price, cutting almost $150 off the total down to only $1,539.99 and $1,399.99 for the Education Kit

Prices are subject to change.