Hiwonder's JetMax Robot Arm Kit, Powered by an NVIDIA Jetson Nano, Offers Entry to AI Projects

Starting at $299 for early bird backers, this robot arm comes with a bunch of upgrade options — including a four-wheeled vehicle body.

Hong Kong-based robotics specialist Hiwonder is looking to crowdfunding a new smart robot arm, JetMax, with on-board artificial intelligence powered by an NVIDIA Jetson Nano.

"JetMax features deep learning and computer vision abilities," Hiwonder founder Xingchen Hu explains. "It is equipped with [a] Jetson Nano and HD wide angle camera, which enables it to interact with the perceived environment efficiently. It empowers you to skilfully make your AI creativity into reality."

The JetMax is a low-cost robot arm powered by a built-in NVIDIA Jetson Nano single-board computer. (📹: Hiwonder)

Based on a 4+1 axis design, the aluminum-and-fiberglass JetMax robot arm is capable of carrying a payload of up to 450g and a claimed repeatability for movement of ±1mm. Both small and large grippers and a suction cup - linked to an on-board air pump system — are supported, while the arm's reach is given as R104-289mm over a 120 degree angle.

In addition to the standard fixed base, Hiwonder has also shown off two other options: A sliding rail base, which allows the arm to move from side to side to extend its range, and a four-wheeled vehicle chassis for complete freedom of movement.

On the software side, the company promises direct and control through a PC, smartphone app, or gamepad, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for Python, C/C++, and Java — plus support for the Robot Operating System (ROS).

"We provide a lot of sample codes for using JetMax," Hu promises. "Including the function of forward and inverse kinematics algorithms, the control of peripherals of expansion board and a variety of AI application examples, such as target recognition and image classification."

The AI side of things is driven by an NVIDIA Jetson Nano B01, which is linked to an expansion board and provided with a cooling fan — meaning it shouldn't hit its thermal throttle point even when the GPU is under load. USB, Wi-Fi, and wired Ethernet connectivity are included as standard.

The company is now funding for production of the JetMax arm on Kickstarter, with the cheapest entry point the JetMax Starter Kit at $299 for early bird backers — a bundle which includes the arm with suction cup, the Jetson Nano, power supply, SD card reader, and card, cube, and map accessories for the computer vision code examples.

A larger bundle, at $359, adds the small and large mechanical grippers, a pen holder and dry-erase whiteboard, an electromagnet, and a wireless gamepad controller.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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