U-ARM : Ultra low-cost general teleoperation interface for robot manipulation

2025-09-02

AI Summary

Addressing the challenges of low-cost deployment, cross-platform compatibility, and ambiguous mapping of redundant degrees of freedom (DoFs) in general-purpose robotic teleoperation, this paper proposes U-Arm—a master-slave teleoperation framework. It employs three structurally heterogeneous yet logically unified 3D-printed master arms, optimized servo selection, and standardized hardware interfaces to enable rapid adaptation to multiple commercial 6-DoF robotic arms, with a total material cost of only $50.50. By synergistically integrating mechanical simplification and control strategy optimization, U-Arm effectively mitigates redundancy-induced mapping ambiguity, improving teleoperation data collection efficiency by 39%. The framework is fully open-sourced, including CAD models, Gazebo simulation modules, and real-world teleoperation datasets. Experimental evaluation demonstrates task success rates comparable to those achieved using Nintendo Joy-Con controllers—despite U-Arm’s significantly lower cost and broader hardware compatibility.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Replanning and Plan Repair
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Cost models of using LLMs in production systems

Abstract

We propose U-Arm, a low-cost and rapidly adaptable leader-follower teleoperation framework designed to interface with most of commercially available robotic arms. Our system supports teleoperation through three structurally distinct 3D-printed leader arms that share consistent control logic, enabling seamless compatibility with diverse commercial robot configurations. Compared with previous open-source leader-follower interfaces, we further optimized both the mechanical design and servo selection, achieving a bill of materials (BOM) cost of only $50.5 for the 6-DoF leader arm and $56.8 for the 7-DoF version. To enhance usability, we mitigate the common challenge in controlling redundant degrees of freedom by %engineering methods mechanical and control optimizations. Experimental results demonstrate that U-Arm achieves 39% higher data collection efficiency and comparable task success rates across multiple manipulation scenarios compared with Joycon, another low-cost teleoperation interface. We have open-sourced all CAD models of three configs and also provided simulation support for validating teleoperation workflows. We also open-sourced real-world manipulation data collected with U-Arm. The project website is https://github.com/MINT-SJTU/LeRobot-Anything-U-Arm.

Problem

• Designing ultra low-cost teleoperation interface for robot manipulation
• Achieving seamless compatibility with diverse commercial robot arms
• Mitigating control challenges in redundant degrees of freedom

Innovation

• Low-cost 3D-printed leader arms for teleoperation
• Consistent control logic across diverse robot configurations
• Optimized mechanical design reducing cost to $50