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
• 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. Note: their website still exists but they've gone out of business)
• PiJuice was a UK-based supplier focusing on robot power supplies and accessories (out of business)
• 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#

• OshPark (US)
• JLCPCB (HK, CN)

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)

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