Turn your home into a giant crane game with this open source robot

Turn your living space into an automated, ceiling-mounted crane machine with the Stringman robot developed by Neufangled Robotics. This innovative AI-driven claw can autonomously move around your home, picking up and placing items up to 2 kg in weight, from ceilings down to the floor. Stringman is suspended from four strings running through the room’s corners, with motorized anchors adjusting the string lengths to control its vertical position.

While it currently remains a public prototype, Stringman showcases impressive agility by picking up and sorting laundry, toys, and other household items. The project's mission is to create robots that are narrowly effective in helping people with tedious tasks and can seamlessly blend in with their surroundings. Despite lacking reliability, Stringman demonstrates its capabilities in various video demonstrations, such as picking up laundry and stacking Lego bricks.

The device is open source, allowing users to build their own using a Raspberry Pi, a dedicated PC or Mac, and a 3D printer. Stringman's documentation outlines the necessary components, assembly instructions, calibration process, and task programming. Safety concerns are acknowledged, with the line tension limit set at 28 newtons, which, if exceeded, allows the lines to relax and be disengaged. Users can interact with a simulated version of Stringman through the robot's web portal.