Published once in 2016, with no wiring diagram and a loosely specified parts list.
The BCN3D Moveo is a 5-axis 3D-printed robotic arm with a gripper, designed by BCN3D Technologies with the Catalan education department as a low-cost teaching arm. It is driven by stepper motors through belts and printed parts, controlled by an Arduino Mega with a RAMPS board running a modified Marlin 3D printer firmware. BCN3D never sold it, and the design was published once in 2016.
At a glance
| Parts cost | $430 estimated How Estimated for this page from current retail prices (2026-10-02) of the parts in the project parts list source ↗ Build priced Stock build from the parts list (Arduino Mega + RAMPS 1.4 + 6 external TB6560 drivers, MG996R-class gripper servo), with a clone Mega Not included 3D printing, tools, shipping, tax; laptop for flashing and control |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4/5 Advanced · Many large prints, belt tensioning, and stepper wiring with no official wiring diagram. |
| Build time | About 97 hours of print time at 0.3 mm layers per one builder; another group took about a week and a half to print all parts source ↗ |
| Tools needed | 3D printer (large parts, roughly 100 h of printing), soldering and crimping for stepper and driver wiring, wood base cut to 550 x 550 mm |
| Motors | Nema 17 and Nema 23 steppers (one with a 5:1 planetary gearbox), Nema 14 stepper, hobby servo for the gripper |
| Controller | Arduino Mega 2560 + RAMPS 1.4 with 6x external TB6560 stepper drivers |
| Sensors | None in the stock parts list (no endstops listed) |
| Published | ✓ Parts list✓ CAD/STL✓ Assembly guide✗ Wiring✓ Software✗ Video GitHub repo with parts list PDF, SolidWorks and STL files, bilingual (Spanish/English) assembly manual PDF and Marlin firmware |
| Activity | Last update 2016-10-03 · 1,982 GitHub stars · 571 forks; active community forks and ROS/MoveIt ports, no official forum |
| Kits | None official (BCN3D states it won't be sold) |
Licenses
| Design files | MIT (repo-wide LICENSE covering STL and SolidWorks files) source ↗ |
|---|---|
| Code | MIT (repo-wide, covers the Marlin-based firmware folder; Marlin itself is GPL upstream, unconfirmed how that is reconciled) source ↗ |
| Documentation | MIT (repo-wide, covers the user manual PDF) source ↗ |
Caveats
- Roughly 100 hours of printing for the full set of parts. source ↗
- Matching the loosely specified belts, rods and motors in the parts list to real part numbers, which builders describe as the main time sink. The listed motor part numbers are no longer sold, but close equivalents are. source ↗
- The CAD is SolidWorks only. It imports into Fusion 360 when all files are uploaded together, and a community fork offers a cleaned-up assembly. source ↗
Builder notes
Practical points from the project's issue tracker, forum and docs, each linked to its source.
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