3D Printed Tool Changer Robotic Arm from Haddington Dynamics

The DEXTER robotic arm from Haddington Dynamics is a 7 axis, mostly 3d printed, tool changer, open source, fpga controlled, work of art. The precision that DEXTER can attain is amazing to watch in person. I spoke with James at CES 2020 about DEXTER HDI and what this wonderful piece of tech could do.
Haddington Dynamics
hdrobotic.com
Mark Forged
markforged.com
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[@ModestAndroid]

So cool!! I went to their office in Vegas a couple months ago to learn how to build Dexter (I worked for a Markforged reseller). It looks like they've made some significant improvements since then! They are super cool guys and their technology is seriously impressive. Keep an eye on Haddington Dynamics!!

[@noahhastings6145]

"We work with a company called DuPont" Oh, you know. Just DuPont. No big deal.

[@hazonku]

Right?! I literally laughed out loud at that. Just casually name drops one of the greatest & oldest companies in the country like they're just another little startup. We're working with a little company called Dupont. Some people might have heard of them, they're kinda good with materials sciences. They made some interesting stuff like styrofoam, astroturf, nylon, lucite, teflon, lycra, kevlar, other stuff that makes up our ENTIRE way of life. Not a big deal or anything. LOL

[@consig1iere294]

I smiled a bit because there was a bit of silence when he mentioned Dupont, I don't think Joel knows about the company.

[@SirLoinOfHamalot]

Riight??! Lol, I had to rewind real quick because he said it so non-chalantly

[@DavidCAdams]

You may have heard of them, they invented NYLON. LOL

[@court2379]

@@hazonku Dupont has created a lot of amazing products, but they also have a checkered past like many large companies. Do some research on how they poisoned 100s of thousands of people with the catalyst used to produce teflon and covered it up for 30 years. There is some evidence that most of the population has the chemical in thier bodies due to the wide use of teflon. In the articles I read it also wasn't clear if the issue has been corrected, or the product still contains the chemical.

[@noahhastings6145]

I have literally been working on designing one of these for the past 6 months

[@sandeepebaynes]

My friend and I have been doing exactly the same as well. Module for module. And then we see this.

[@crazystuffproduction]

i would love to see what you have! i want to build one for automated can sorting for a contactles food bank/pantry.

[@anthonyrossi8255]

Thanks Joel, this is very impressive especially considering the price.

[@boozekashi]

This is really cool! I need this as an assistive device. I hope you consider doing a build series Joel, that would be awesome 😎 I have Parkinson’s and literally LOL’d at the part where the shakiness was a feature. 🤣🤣🤣

[@ronzawora]

Many of you may or may not know - we almost lost our Joel due to dehydration recently! His Apple Watch saved his life along with fast thinking and lightning fast reflexes seeking proper medical attention...next time you see Joel ask for a selfie, high five, a hug, and give Joel a bottle of ice cold (SEALED) water, please!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Awww, love you too, Ron :)

[@nofme]

HYDRATION CHECK! You hydrated right now bro?

[@bermudatriangle2036]

@@3DPrintingNerd would it really not work in PLA?

[@VisionMiner]

6:07 Dooooo it! We'll help print all the parts! :D

[@oiramormedeiros]

That would be amazing!

[@titankorellc2937]

I wish I had the money for the parts. This tool would be perfect for my various projects, due to illness/injuries I can't do fine/detail work for long periods, but the neat thing about doing things digitally is I can easily work a bit at a time/save/pick up again later and then have this arm build the part/piece.

[@Magic3DPrinting]

OMG this is the coolest thing since the wheel! They really need toship you one for more videos!!

[@lillehavn90]

fascinating to see how long this open source robotic arm has come :)

[@unionse7en]

next up: " A company called Amazon...."

[@crussty3d]

YES!!!! I still want to see this painting fingernails!!!

[@DougsMessyGarage]

Joel, when can we expect E1 of the arm build series?

[@CAILZZZ]

Wow !! Gj !! That a nice robot arm !! :)

[@notsonominal]

Your lips said "No, no, NO" your eyes were more like "High Five!" .... so when will we see the arm?

[@damfastfpv8016]

Yes! Everyone agrees, build it!

[@claws61821]

DO IT!

[@noahdiamond4095]

Nice video!!

[@hazonku]

I don't think I've EVER seen someone so casually name drop their partnership with literally one of the greatest & oldest companies in the world like it's just another startup. I literally laughed out loud at that. Talking about working with Dupont like it's just another startup & their products aren't an integral part of EVERYONE'S lives.

[@clickticnic]

Love it, if you don't build one I'll do it myself!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

YOU SHOULD!

[@DougsMessyGarage]

@@3DPrintingNerd You first Joel

[@3DPrintingNerd]

@@DougsMessyGarage hahahah :)

[@smilesaredaggers3088]

this is so bad ass and for a great price point to start

[@grantsbirds1207]

i love it!

[@joetylerdale]

What a device!!!

[@TheSloppyDingo]

DO IT JOEL!!!!

[@garthor]

6:12 yes! yes! yes!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

NO NO NO hahahahaha

[@xanamata5386]

@@3DPrintingNerd no deck

[@henry67278]

we want you to make a build series

[@TSARIB0MBA]

Nice desing, seems familar ;)

[@davidwhitten8985]

This would be amazing for small businesses that produce a lot of tedious to manufacture parts. And it's open source....that's awesome.

[@davidwhitten8985]

@Glyn Thx I'll have to look it up. That's pretty affordable.

[@rcmaniac25]

So I hear you have a new project. When does the video come out?

[@3DPrintingNerd]

HAHAHAHA

[@johngriffin618]

Hey boss, could I borrow the markforged for a couple days? I need to make something 😅

[@JanKopanski]

Where do we put in donations for BOM for the arm?

[@tsalVlog]

me: **downloads DDE** also me: now I just need a robot arm.

[@JamesNewton]

There is a tiny little simulator panel in DDE... Just enough to get the idea of What your program is doing.

[@shanejohnson5318]

Need to build one just for a Dexter High Five. BUILD IT.

[@Trivimania]

just $10000 . Perfect for any hobbyist ;)

[@tx6723]

Yep it's perfect for my McDonald's salary

[@Spirit532]

I love it. Use the highest precision, expensive harmonic drives and pair them with the shittiest materials for building a robot - thin printed plastic and belts. And overcharge for it. In an extremely outdated PUMA form factor.

[@kentvandervelden]

What's a more current form factor with similar capabilities? Lots of fancy and expensive arms look like this and I'd like to know if there is a better design. Thank you

[@Spirit532]

​@@kentvandervelden The issue is not so much with the overall form factor but with the hideous design of this particular unit. The proper industrial robots are incredibly rigid and heavy, most being constructed out of cast aluminium and iron, with serious reinforcement inside. This thing is so flimsy they had to use the motors and reducers as counterweights, just to prevent it from flopping around too much. Then they hung the entire robot on belts, thereby defeating the sole purpose of harmonic drives - point of load zero backlash reduction. As a tangible example - take your mill project, and think what would happen if you replaced the frame with plastic food containers, ballscrews with belts, and servos with undersized steppers. That's the downgrade here.

[@vithursenmurugravi9009]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

[@cdub]

Very cool.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Thanks!

[@cho4d]

liked and subscribed at the moment of the fist pump when he nailed your intro :D

[@Tannerhasabike]

The motion doesn't look very repeatable tbh, I find the 50 micron claim a little wild for something 3D printed in plastic..

[@3DPrintingNerd]

It has a lot of 3d printed parts on it, but in the core are some carbon fiber rods :)

[@kentvandervelden]

Agreed. There's a lot going on to make 50 micron repeatability hard including those long arms and oscillations. Regardless, hope they are super successful!

[@BLBlackDragon]

Joel: "Future Joel, don't even think it."

[@dragoraan7247]

Super cool man, wish I could afford one, soon,,. :)

[@FixItStig]

Yes yes

[@crazystuffproduction]

i'd like to see a 3d printed PLA version!

[@infernofury5567]

Joel.... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make that robot, PLEASE.

[@TheSecurity16]

You know you want to print one. DO IT!

[@darren990]

i bet it makes a great cupper aswell

[@tylerchiu7065]

You should make one

[@TD3DMakes]

Well.... That's cool!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

I think so too!

[@KiR_3d]

Woaaaahh ) The price is for reachie guys... Nerdie reachie guys... BUT it's Open Source! :D Great and thanx a lot! :) Will get this thing for my biggest procrastination (or for a special project). It's one of the coolest things I've seen since the last new about AI-powered laser synthering defect compensation algorythm. It would be cool to teach this hand wireless BTW (with a XBox controller or kind of).

[@KiR_3d]

@Glyn Thanx, but I'm not going to dive into this theme soon... I have much easier and more important projects.

[@plebetopro5786]

As someone who sells/installs industrial arms, the Dexter for $10k is not all that impressive. Most industrial customers would laugh you out of the building for walking in with a 3D printed arm. I have had to let multiple people grab the one I bring around to prove it is metal. They also should show a demo where the robot is NOT shaking. Any robot can shake. A good robot does NOT shake.

[@plebetopro5786]

@Glyn I saw shake on the arm as it did the orange plate. I have been selling and installing industrial robots since I got out of college, and other automation systems. I would gladly play with the Dexter, and would love to have one personally, but I would NEVER spec one, nor would I use one in a real production environment. Also there are multiple industrial cobots with the same "copy me exactly" method of programming. While also allowing for classic robot programming. And most of them are also cross compatible with programming in other languages.

[@scoutg001]

That'd be a great project Joel ;)

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Yes it would ;)

[@qpeighty]

Joel's version should be an exact replica in every way only 8x the size.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

A Hahahah YES!!!

[@fofopads4450]

@@3DPrintingNerd and do not use a Markforged, use a Prusa

[@trevorward85043]

Well, we know what his next side-project might be...

[@GibClark]

Coooool 👍👍👍👍

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Thanks!

[@calciumchloride]

A robot arm what has a 3D pen... I like such a project.

[@DocHuard]

While interesting this isn't new. Everything they're showing was done in the mid 80s by several microbiotics companies, one of which I worked for, including the path learning, to submicron accuracies. The price is the really interesting part.

[@gilbertocordero6176]

I imagine that mechanical robot used as a 3d printer

[@crocythecrocodile8843]

As always number one fan

[@mitsmillman1652]

That thing shakes worse then granny’s bad arm

[@scottt6806]

Buuuuuuild one! You can do it without the Markforged printer. He'd be a great assistant, and he'd look great in high-five blue!

[@EddieGamer482]

Cool

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Agreed

[@sethphillips4779]

I'm curious about the accuracy/repeatability... It looks incredibly shaky, and thats only holding a brush...

[@ModestAndroid]

It looks shaky, but the repeatability they've recorded is insanely high. I can't remember off the top of my head what they publish. But they use 3D printed encoders to measure the position of movements, and even measure something like 8,000 points in between each spoke (and there are hundreds and hundreds of spokes per encoder).

[@JamesNewton]

The shanking is an accurate capture of the human motion. Precision is 20 microns or better. But that is not stiffness.. E.g. it may be pushed off point, but then always fights back to return to the exact spot.

[@adisharr]

Very cool product although I struggle why Dupont would ever entertain use one of these over a commercially available proven platform like a small UR3e or 5e.

[@DrAhemkuf]

Even Dupont are happy to save around $60k for a two armed system including a bespoke tool change system. A company once said to me "we want to be the first at coming second"! Thankfully companies like Dupont have a more enlightend attitude to risk.

[@Kael87full]

What you mean no! YES is the word!

[@laytonblance]

So I guess our robot overlords will be 3D printed!?

[@robbys929]

Prusa mini review when?

[@SerafinTirado471]

MAKE ONE

[@C-M-E]

Fortuitous in timing; I've been using my full google-fu this last week looking for robotic arms that can also 3D print with some sort of module to fully exploit printing highly complex models with little to no support. I can learn to do most anything, but there's some things that I just don't have the desire to pursue, and writing code is way high on that list. (My first foray into coding was way, way back in the day when monitors had one color and you input directions to make a turtle draw lines. Wooo, high tech!) Unfortunately, either the home versions of these arms aren't there yet, or the software hasn't developed to a point where this seems affordable or practical. Someone, PLEASE prove me wrong on that last bit. A four axis would be a fine starting point with at least a 400mm reach. I've come across these two, the Arduino Braccio and LynxMotion at robotshop.com, that seem like great starting points.

[@DominicVictoria]

Guy: "It's called Dexter" Me: That's a cool name, like Dexter's Lab. Guy: "It's IDE is called DDE" Me: OMG! He's still going! 🤯

[@Unmannedair]

Where can I buy one?!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Their website!

[@williamhouse754]

❤❤❤

[@sebastianc1639]

yes...I made a car...working with a company called Ferrari..may be some of you know it..also after work I play my bass with the rollings stones....just for fun they have a couple of songs, may be they´ll be great in a near future..

[@nickn2804]

4:07 Unity

[@scottr.hampton2474]

Can Dexter be programmed to set up to remove 3D printed parts from a printer?

[@3DPrintingNerd]

I bet it can

[@anthonyrich1592]

@@3DPrintingNerd The $64,000 RepRap question: can Dexter be programmed to make itself?

[@scottr.hampton2474]

Sky Net any one? I'd love to set up a printer to run several parts, but auto unload when I'm not there.

[@centerwiggshikar]

@@scottr.hampton2474 Yeah, they're able to have the arm remove a print, level the bed, start a new print, etc. I think they're working on an autonomous print farm too...

[@JamesNewton]

Yes. Some students at a University in MI did that, and it was done at HQ with the Markforged printers as well,

[@JagdeepSingh-lo6ns]

Open source , now all I need Is some money. 🤤🤓😭😭😭😭😵

[@madforit9661]

I NEED YOUR HELP. printing a small whoop quadcopter, I am using cura. Problem is ,After 2 hours of printing ,the printer stops in the front left hand corner. The first time this happened I thought the filament had jammed, so started a New print same STL File. Just after 2 hours ,I even did a video showing a friend how great it was printing ,when 5 minutes later I went to check and the print head had stopped in the same position as last time, front left corner, it allowed me to click resume print. But as I did the print head lowered into the print and was jammed. It was like it wanted to go to first print layer. I got the stl file off Thingiverse and there arnt any complaints about it. Strange why it would stop in the same place twice and after same time period of 2hours sumit. Grateful for your input Tried another print, just under 2 hours and just tried another 2 prints and each time they stopped same place ,front left side after 10 minutes. It does say resume print ,but the printer lowers into the print and starts to print at a lower level and then raises up to the correct height, by this time the nozzles has damaged the print Cant find anything on the net on the ender 3

[@henrituhola]

It could be tons of things. I guess vertical motion is obstructed and it'd show up in calibration.

[@donalain69]

Oh.. that’s cool.. now you just need to find the future Picasso, and let the robot remember how to paint his masterpiece... and then produce unlimited originals :)

[@bmw5002]

Pretty nice job but innfos gluon looks better and is much cheaper

[@KS_Pictures]

You missed the most importand question: "Can I print a Dexter with a Dexter?" Then the 10000$ are quickly reduced....

[@jenspetersen5865]

They said that you could print it with Markforged!

[@Spirit532]

Nah. 90% of the price is in the harmonic drives and motors. The rest is just plastic junk.

[@Spirit532]

​@Glyn Please learn the definition of carbon fiber composites. It prints plastic with a shredded fiber infill. Stronger than regular plastic, but still total garbage to use for an "industrial" robot. Source: Own and operate a real industrial robot.

[@dominikwagner7810]

@@Spirit532 markforged printers actually print continuous fiber, not just shredded ones

[@JinKee]

@@Spirit532 they hinted at this - the client that Haddington Dynamics is making the Dexter for is DuPont who is printing electronics with conductive ink and then testing the connections with the robot after printing it. You could make the Dexter assemble the electronics for another Dexter. The vitamins become belts and the harmonic drives but with two dexters one could hold the component and the other could bolt it in. Later you could get a dexter built in all metal with the rigidity to machine its own all metal parts. It would still be cheaper than a CNC because of the lack of human labor. You'd need to engineer the process really well so that the components just snap in without much machine vision, or get better sensing to make sure you're assembling it right or both to really have exponential replication. But all these things have been demoed elsewhere piecemeal - eg the commercial robot arms that demo assmebling other robot arms from racks of parts.

[@Guesswhokk]

Just add a Renishaw Probe and you have a CMM arm $$$

[@HaloWolf102]

Well...there goes all the people currently trying to make this exact same device. God what a let down. I know the feel, not to such this extent but wow.

[@justinlipkin]

Make it pla plz Joel

[@ratsemor]

I will buy nothing having to do with Dupont, great idea pairing up with a company with a long rap sheet and dark history world wide.

[@moltenhydrogen2218]

tf did dupont do? imagine a world without the things created by them!

[@Ron_Ventura]

So you get EVERYTHING you buy to make sure DuPont has had nothing to do with it. Of course you do.

[@ratsemor]

@@moltenhydrogen2218 tf they do? do some learning of the companies history and how many people they negatively effected.

[@ratsemor]

@@Ron_Ventura as I look around me I see nothing with the label DuPont, now I concede that indirectly by third party but never go looking directly for that label, if given the choice I use something else.

[@ratsemor]

@Glyn Oh no an internet name caller, so scared let me shut up before you defend they use of teflon and poisoning water sources.

[@ARVash]

Absolutely tragic that they didn't pay an artist to sketch out a thing with the robot. Extremely cool though.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

What - you didn't like the abstract art? :)

[@ARVash]

@@3DPrintingNerd hahaha well

[@ryanlangan1060]

It puts the lotion on it's skin!

[@3DPrintingNerd]

I mean, it COULD do that. heh.

[@jyc1952]

this is crazy, I feel like he downplayed this a lot. and a prime example of how an engineer sells something

[@willcarlton9806]

Yeah exactly. To him, it's easy and understandable, so it's not big deal. But to most people, it's amazing, but he didn't really act that way.

[@EnnTomi1]

5:55 that looks way off.

[@crocythecrocodile8843]

Welcome to the future brother a friend was telling me she is going to get her knee replaced and the doctor told her to wait until she got a 3-D printed knee I think that’s pretty awesome

[@madao7865]

6:07 >:D

[@m.t-thoughts8919]

Does it work with Python?

[@3DPrintingNerd]

I believe so

[@JamesNewton]

Anything that can open a socket connection and send simple text commands. And we could probably support USB if you needed that.

[@user-xs7yx4zl4j]

Хочу такую же

[@hansdietrich83]

Ok tell me what is new or innovative about this product? Also it looks pretty wobbly, so not precise at all

[@hansdietrich83]

@Glyn it literally MISSES a point on the orange mat. WATCH THE VIDEO! and at around a meter in lenght, the pulling force on those tiny toothed belts must be imens. I bet they flex a lot when the arm is streched out. Infact that's what when it changes the tool.

[@hansdietrich83]

@Glyn 5:57 the third dot ist literally on the orange. Also you are confusing precision and repeatability. Yes it hits the same points every time, but the are all off center. Repeatability in a cenario with basiaclly no load isn't difficult to achive. What is difficult to achive is repeatability under changing conditions. I bet of the table was tilted a few degrees, it's own weight would be enough to push the tip a millimeter or two out of allignment. 3d printed construction on that scale is just too flexible. Trust me, I've done it myself. Also keep in mind this thing cost 10000$. At that price you could easily build it out of bent sheetmetal, which is a lot stiffer and i bet if you factor in running cost of the 3dprinters, not that much more expensive.

[@lacombar]

Water painting is not very hard precision, all the movements seems pretty sloppy.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Remember, it's mimicking what a human does. So, the sloppy is from the human operator that programmed the movements.

[@jojoposter]

@@3DPrintingNerd eh. I think the stand is not doing it any favors regarding jerky moves

[@DrAhemkuf]

Kevin, I understand your skepticism. We have made something extraordinary with an exceptional 3D printer, However I can attest to having personally dragged a single Dexter robot from Las Vegas, San Franciso, Auckland, Brisbane and Perth where it still lives. It didnt miss a beat, being taken out of its Pelican Case multiple times for multiple demonstrations. That was our old HD model. The new Dexter HDI is even better.

[@lacombar]

@Glyn do you mean a 4mm round ? the markings on the bottom left 4mm strip seems to be pretty wide, maybe ~2mm across the one axis.

[@williamfosterXD]

10 thousand dollars ? i want what they are smoking, small INDUSTRIAL robots start just above that price, and second hand robots can be picked up for half that and still have 100 times the lifespan these ever will.

[@sortofsmarter]

lol....arm cost $10k , but its open sourced just the MARKFORGED X5 3D PRINTER to print the carbon fiber is $50K....

[@3DPrintingNerd]

You can definitely print without the Mark Forged CF if you're rolling your own arm :)

[@markforged]

Haddington actually has a fleet of Mark Two 3D printers, which start at $20,000.

[@owensparks5013]

Or the onyx one which is way less money.

[@williamhuang5329]

Hanzhen harmonic drive gear , robot gear reducer , over 30 years experience

[@corporaal1]

This thing is what you call a ‘cobot’. Its not a new thing. There are more robust industrial versions for less than 10k.

[@kentvandervelden]

I'm interested in a reference too. The only solid cobots that I know are are many 10's of thousands USD. Can get used industrial robots on eBay but that's probably a massive project.

[@JohnKlosner]

Please build an arm of some sort now.

[@bboybaozong7629]

没有字幕🥶

[@severpop8699]

Universal dove tail 3D Printers tool change adapter, manual. www.cgtrader.com/.../universal-dove-tail-3d...Advantages? Yes: one can change various printing heads, manually, on printers that were never made to accomplish this. Unlike the versions you can buy ready made, this is more compact, easy to install on a vast range of models with minimum tweakening, and you print it yourself mirrored or straight as needed. It has (Tada....) a Z axis sensor slider support adjustable as needed to the micron height by twisting a screw... Bye bye sensor adjusting headache.

[@alcryton6515]

Do you know that $10000 is really high....

[@cleitonfelipe2092]

Why does it look like it has Parkinson?

[@nowy5]

because it is only a toy