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.

翻译：近年来，高中生对机器人课外活动（如机器人俱乐部和机器人竞赛）的兴趣日益增长。这一需求上升得益于日益普及的开源软件和价格低廉的现成硬件套件，它们显著降低了入门级机器人爱好者的门槛。在本项目中，我们介绍了一款由高中生在大学教师和博士研究生指导下设计开发的开源、低成本、轻量级机器人臂。我们认为，该项目适合高中生机器人研究与教育活动。我们的开源软件包包含机械设计模型、机电一体化规格说明及软件程序源代码。机械设计模型包括可直接用于原型制造（3D打印技术）的CAD（计算机辅助设计）文件，并附有完整的物料清单作为装配指南。电气接线图及底层控制器的详细文档已纳入开源软件包。本项目的教育目标是让高中学生团队能够复制并搭建一台机器人臂。学生在项目中获得的工程经验是全栈式的，涵盖机械设计、机电一体化与编程。该项目在基于项目的环境中显著丰富了学生的动手工程经验。通过本项目，我们发现高中研究者能够运用K-12阶段STEM课程中的多学科知识来构建机器人臂。该研究者经历了系统工程设计与开发流程，并掌握了SolidWorks及Arduino微控制器等专业工程工具的使用技能。