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
- goBuilda is the "metric version" of ServoCity
- Pololu (US) robotics and electronics manufacturer and vendor
- 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
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#
- 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
- 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)
enbuilds.com/projects/category/robotics.10/], "Dream it - Build it - Share it" (not actually a vendor)