Elephant Robotics (China) myCobot 280 (1)

$599 – $830Elephant store prices by controller are Arduino $599, M5Stack $649, Pi $799, Jetson Nano $849, RDK X5 $830; launched in late 2020 at $649 list ($549 sale).

AvailablePython from a laptop6-axis desktop armUnder 1 kgPython / ROSMany controller variants

Possibly ≤ 1 weekShipping: Days to weeks. Sold direct from the Elephant Robotics online store and through resellers; delivery time depends on the warehouse and variant. Elephant store ↗

Remote control: The pymycobot Python library drives the M5Stack/Arduino versions directly over USB serial, and the Pi/Jetson versions over a TCP socket server running on the arm.

Official store ↗Docs ↗pymycobot (GitHub) ↗

Overview

The best-selling tiny 6-axis arm, and Elephant says more than 50,000 myCobot 280 units have shipped to over 70 countries. It is a servo arm with toy-scale payload and precision, but the Python API, ROS/MoveIt support and many accessories make it a popular first manipulator for classrooms and hobby AI projects. The same body is sold with several different built-in controllers, so the version matters when buying.

Specifications

Category	Robot arms · Desktop & hobby arms
Released	2020
Availability	Available
Programmability	Full SDK
Best for	Ages 14+ (estimated)
Vision sensors	Camera
Actuators	Smart servos (Dynamixel, Feetech…)
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller, Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, Other ARM chip
Remote control	Python from a laptop
DOF	6
Reach	280 mm
Payload	250 g
Repeatability	±0.5 mm
Weight	~800–860 g (by version)
Controller	Varies by version: M5Stack Basic (ESP32) + Atom, Raspberry Pi 4B, Jetson Nano, Arduino, or RDK X5
Sensors	Servo position feedback; 5×5 LED matrix on the end joint; optional camera flange and AI vision kit
SDK	pymycobot (Python), ROS 1/ROS 2 + MoveIt, C++, C#, Arduino, myBlockly, gamepad and app control