Tobor, the Open Source Modular Robot Platform, Isn't Backwards About Coming Forwards
Evezor's crowdfunding campaign for a desk-scale robot arm opens with the promise of full open sourcing by the time it closes.
Open source robotics firm Evezor is looking to lower the barrier to entry for experimenting with customizable robotics systems with Tobor — a desk-scale modular robot arm platform, made available under a permissive license.
"Tobor is a fully featured robotic system that can fit on your desktop and is capable of helping you automate your workflow," Evezor's Andrew Wingate explains. "Tobor (robot spelled backwards) is built to be the most versatile open source robotics system, which can be customized endlessly to meet your automation needs. Easily combine robotic arms, motion platforms, sensors, actuators, and more to create your unique machine. Using Tobor, you can automate your world with your own customizable assistant. Conquer complex tasks such as curated assembly line help, CNC design work, rapid prototyping, and more with the help of Tobor’s modular ecosystem."
The Tobor robot arm itself, brought to our attention by CNX Software, is driven by an Espressif ESP32 microcontroller with 4MB of added pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM), Wingate says. and comes with three Texas Instruments DRV8825 stepper motor drivers and two ams OSRAM AS5048B 14-bit absolute encoders. There's an addressable LED ring for visual feedback, with eight positions, a dedicated servo header, and an external stepper driver and peripheral port. As standard, the arm offers a >700 in² work area — and includes a range of tool head options, from a pen plotter to a fourth-axis Z-stage head with suction cup.
Its creators have another use-case in mind for the robot, too: a homebrew pick-and-place machine for surface-mount technology (SMT) components. "The Tobor Pick and Place expansion pack allows you to create your own SMT PCB assembly line," Wingate says. "The Tobor Pick and Place expansion comes with an SMT-nozzle, PNP feeder edge board, down-facing camera edge board, LED backlight board, 4th axis camera mount, wiring harness for edge boards, two 8mm automatic SMT PNP feeders with quick mounts, and pairs with the Z-stage tool head to create a complete PCB assembly setup. Additional PNP feeders are available separately in 8mm, 12mm, and 16mm."
The software backing all of this up offers a range of control options, from code-free movement recording and playback to G-Code support from software including Autodesk, PrusaSlicer, Cura, Inkscape, and Mastercam. There's also a web interface with preview mode, support for forward and reverse kinematic motion control, Python support with an interactive REPL, and compatibility with Evezor's own Floe browser-based visual coding environment.
The Tobor is currently funding on Crowd Supply, with the basic arm starter kit priced at $458 including shipping. Wingate has promised to release all source code and hardware design files on GitHub "by the end of the campaign," with the main Tobor board already available under the permissive variant of the CERN Open Hardware License Version 2.