  In recent years, there is an increasing interest in high school robotics
extracurriculars such as robotics clubs and robotics competitions. The growing
demand is a result of more ubiquitous open-source software and affordable
off-the-shelf hardware kits, which significantly help lower the barrier for
entry-level robotics hobbyists. In this project, we present an open-source,
low-cost, and lightweight robotic manipulator designed and developed by a high
school researcher under the guidance of a university faculty and a Ph.D.
student. We believe the presented project is suitable for high school robotics
research and educational activities. Our open-source package consists of
mechanical design models, mechatronics specifications, and software program
source codes. The mechanical design models include CAD (Computer Aided Design)
files that are ready for prototyping (3D printing technology) and serve as an
assembly guide accommodated with a complete bill of materials. Electrical
wiring diagrams and low-level controllers are documented in detail as part of
the open-source software package. The educational objective of this project is
to enable high school student teams to replicate and build a robotic
manipulator. The engineering experience that high school students acquire in
the proposed project is full-stack, including mechanical design, mechatronics,
and programming. The project significantly enriches their hands-on engineering
experience in a project-based environment. Throughout this project, we
discovered that the high school researcher was able to apply multidisciplinary
knowledge from K-12 STEM courses to build the robotic manipulator. The
researcher was able to go through a system engineering design and development
process and obtain skills to use professional engineering tools including
SolidWorks and Arduino microcontrollers.
