I got an OWI Robotic arm, but was slightly disappointed at it having only horizontal position for gripper. What would be the easiest way to extend with gripper/wrist rotation, i.e. 6th degree of freedom?
Unfortunately you cannot do that. I have a OWI robotic arm too. I purchased it for my semester project to demonstrate inverse kinematics for 5 DOF. Since OWI is designed as a toy to play with, we cannot expect more from it. It just does basic movements to give us an idea how a robotic arm functions. If you are looking for a 6DOF arm i suggest you purchase another 6 DOF arm like this arm by DFRobot.
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$\begingroup$ To convert vertical into horizontal without additional motors, at least there is bell crank or four-bar linkage $\endgroup$ – denfromufa Jun 29 '15 at 0:07
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$\begingroup$ But, it is not worth modifying. If you are planning for a serious experiment with a 6 DOF robotic arm, it is better to purchase a manufactured arm instead of modifying OWI. The limitations in OWI's structure and motors will not give you a good result while trying to give custom degree of freedom. It is supposed to be used as it is. However, you can only make use out of it for 4-DOF projects. Based on my experience, i really dont want you to waste your time on modifying OWI $\endgroup$ – Trinadh venna Jun 29 '15 at 0:17
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$\begingroup$ I did a similar simulation using SolidWorks: youtube.com/watch?v=crJXUlzJ918 $\endgroup$ – LCarvalho Feb 19 '18 at 20:03