Vendors#
Below are some of the vendors of robotic hardware, software, and related materials. If they're listed on this page, I've done business with them and am satisfied and/or quite happy with their service.
Limor Fried, who founded and is the CEO of AdaFruit, has a list of vendors on her wiki. While we can't vouch for them, they're likely reliable suppliers of robot and hobbiest electonics.
There is also a github project from Carl Treudler, what he's calling a curated list of awesome open source electronic resources for robotics, which includes motor drivers, actuators, RC-servo, computer vision, battery management, FPGA based, bus systems and sensor categories. The page also lists some known robot projects, competitions and university projects, etc.
Robotics & Personal Electronics#
- Adafruit
(US) personal electronics & robotics specialist
- Pimoroni
(UK) personal electronics & robotics specialist
- RobotShop
(Canada, US) robotics specialist
- ServoCity
, maker of ActoBotics robotic hardware which uses Imperial units
- also see: Servocity
at Active Robots
- also see: Servocity
- goBILDA
is the "metric version" of ServoCity
- Pololu
(US) robotics and electronics manufacturer and vendor
- Pesky Products
(US) a one-man shop of great sensor and other tiny boards (for more info about Pesky, see interview-with-kris-winer
)
- PiBorg
(UK) robotics add-on boards for Raspberry Pi (robots, motor controllers, etc.)
- PiJuice
(UK) focusing on robot power supplies and accessories
- SparkFun
(US) robotics, maker and other technologies (e.g., XBee transceivers)
- 4Tronix
(UK) robotics speciality boards for Arduino and Raspberry Pi
- Robots4All
, a Belgian supplier of STEM- and robotics-related products
- REV Robotics
(US) focusing mainly on electro-mechanical hardware, very good selection (Texas)
- Pesky Products
on Tindie
- The Evil Mad Scientist Shop
, who "produce and distribute a curated selection of components and original kits in support of art, education, and accessibility"
- Matiot Robot Kits
(and other accessories, located in Istanbul)
- Lynxmotion
, manufacturer of robot kits, accessories and hardware
- JSumo Robots
- MindKits
, sells a great deal of robot components & hardware (unfortunately mostly in inches, not metric, though located in NZ)
- Waveshare Electronics
, maker of the Alphabot2 robot
- The Robot Marketplace
- Vex Robotics
- SeeedStudio
, make of the Seeeduino XIAO as well as a variety of microcontroller, robotic and related gear
- AB Electronics
, UK supplier of Raspberry Pi expander boards
- getSurreal
sells a series of LIDAR controller boards
- AMP Technology
(NZ, no experience with them as of yet)
- Demand Peripherals
, small maker of FPGA and robotics related peripheral boards
Larger, More Expensive Commercial Robot Vendors#
- Active Robots
, a large UK robotics supplier
- Generation Robots
, a large French robotics supplier
- SuperDroid Robots
(USA) large, well-built but rather expensive wheeled (traditional, mecanum, etc.) and tracked chassis; tactical, lawn-mowing, snow-blower robots, generally remote control; autonomous robots are US$3750-$19990 (warning: their YouTube videos include rather annoying, unnecessary hard rock music)
- Nexus Robot
, a Chinese supplier of large, sometimes-expensive (US$360-5400) robot chassis and kits, some with Mecanum and Omni wheels (also a supplier of those wheels)
PC Board Fabricators#
Electronics & Motors#
- Mouser
(US) & Mouser
(NZ)
- DigiKey
(US) & DigiKey
(NZ): electronics
- Jaycar
(NZ): electronics
- D&J
, a Korean company that sells a lot of fancy motors
Hardware, Plastics, Materials, Other#
- Vanquish Products
, scale RC car parts (axles, wheels, suspension, etc.)
- Pro-Line
, maker of 1:8 and 1:10 scale radio-controlled vehicle wheels and tires
- MakerBeam
supplier of both a 10mm and 15mm square extruded aluminum construction system
- MicroRAX
supplier of a 10mm square extruded aluminum construction system
- Coastal Fasteners
(Porirua, NZ): supplier of nuts, bolts, all manner of stainless coolness
- SDP/SI
, Small Mechanical Components, Engineering and Manufacturing Services
- Mecha4Makers
: New Zealand supplier of T-Slot Aluminium Industrial Construction Extrusions & Mechatronics components, as well as motion-specific hardware, tools, cables, 3D printer parts, etc. (prices on some parts are very reasonable)
- Mitre 10
: whereas Bunnings have rather meagre pickings, Mitre 10 carry a pretty good line of stainless nuts and bolts
- Pete's Emporium
: miscellaneous everything, including wheels, hardware, etc.
- Macplas
: an Auckland supplier of pretty much any plastic you might need. I used clear polycarbonate and black delrin, ordered on the phone and it was here in a few days.
- Cactus Plastics
in Petone. They don't sell some of the more unusual plastics like Delrin but if you just need perspex (acrylic) they've got it and they're nearby.
- McMaster-Carr
, general purpose, wide-ranging hardware
- Grainger
/ Casters & Wheels
(large selection of casters and wheels, as well as other hardware)
- Steel & Tube NZ
, huge assortment of stainless hardware (e.g., tubing, rectangular framing material, etc.)
Other Lists#
- Atlanta Hobby Robot Club Robot Links
- OpenBuilds - Robotics
, "Dream it - Build it - Share it" (not actually a vendor)