DARE ROBOTICS | Robotics student group at TU Darmstadt

Dare to learn

Why a student group builds its own robots.

Learning robotics today means one of two things: theory without practice, or building without understanding.

Cheap kits ship instructions, not explanations. Open source projects assume you are already an expert. Academic teaching robots cost thousands and arrive fully assembled. What nobody teaches is system integration: why components are chosen the way they are, and why they are connected the way they are.

That is the gap we build into.

Our mission

We bring practical robotics to engineering students, not by copying a build but by understanding it.

Our vision

An integrated learning environment across schools, universities and industry, breaking complex engineering concepts into steps that build on one another.

At a glance

Founded: 2025
Members: Around 50
Legal form: Registered association, recognised as charitable
University: Officially recognised student group
Lab: Own Lab, open to members at any time
Everything we publish: Open source

Dare to build change

Three projects, one idea: hardware anyone can rebuild, documented well enough to learn from. Open a project to read more.

Athene In development

Our education robot. A robot arm everyone can print and build themselves, where every axis is deliberately different so they meet every common design once.

A robot arm everyone can print and build themselves, and in the process learn how and why it works.

Every axis of ATHENE uses a different gearbox, a different motor type and a different encoder. That is a poor way to build a precise robot and a very good way to learn one. Anyone who builds ATHENE has had every common design in their hands and knows why engineers pick one over another.

ATHENE stands for Automation Teaching Hardware for Engineering Novices and Education.

Axes: 6
Reach: 30 to 40 cm, target
Payload: 250 g, target
Accuracy: 5 mm is enough here
Cost target: Under €1,000
Gearboxes: Belt, cycloidal, planetary, harmonic and differential, one per axis
Motors: Stepper, BLDC and servo, mixed on purpose
Control: Arduino, running our own framework
Design: Industrial: hard edges, housing on both sides
Status: Axes 1 and 2 in engineering

Photo of axes 1 and 2, to follow

Ares In development

Our performance robot. The same knowledge, built for precision instead of teaching: harmonic drives throughout and ROS2 on top.

Everything ATHENE deliberately gets wrong, ARES gets right.

ATHENE's mixed drivetrain is what makes it a good teacher and a poor robot. ARES takes what we learned from it and builds the opposite: harmonic drives throughout, steppers everywhere, magnetic encoders on the output side rather than on the motor, CAN between the axes and ROS2 on top.

The result is a desktop arm you can actually use. Where ATHENE teaches the fundamentals, ARES teaches what comes after them.

ARES stands for Articulated Robot Engineering System. In the myth, Ares is Athena's brother.

Axes: 6, a seventh planned as an extension
Reach: From 50 cm, target
Payload: 500 g, target
Accuracy: 1 mm relative, 3 mm absolute, target
Cost target: €1,000 to €1,500
Gearboxes: Harmonic drives throughout
Control: One ESP32 per axis, CAN between them, ROS2 on top
Design: Rounded cobot shape, no pinch points
Status: Control software in development

Photo of the prototype, to follow

Arcade Funded

A robotic cell built around two ARES arms, where students can test AI models on real hardware. With KTH Stockholm, funded by the Unite! network.

Access to industrial robotics hardware is locked behind cost and institutions. ARCADE is our attempt to open it up.

A small robotic cell built around two ARES arms, with depth cameras feeding the models, another camera streaming the cell so it can be used remotely, and local edge computing. Students test AI models on real physical tasks such as picking, placing, screwing and assembly.

We are building it together with the KTH Industrial Society in Stockholm, funded by the European Unite! network. We plan to publish the cell design, the control system, the AI libraries and the documentation openly.

ARCADE stands for Automated Robotic Cell for AI Development and Education.

Partner: KTH Industrial Society, Stockholm
Funding: Unite! Seed Fund
Duration: October 2026 to October 2027
Location: Institute for Robotic Systems, TU Darmstadt
Arms: Two ARES arms

What we are aiming for

A build that other student associations can reproduce for roughly €5,000
Components that can be sourced or manufactured anywhere in Europe
Published material that reaches students across the Unite! universities
AI driven industrial tasks running autonomously and remotely

Dare to team up

Five departments, one robot. You will work with people from disciplines you would otherwise never meet.

Mechanical

Design, manufacture and assemble everything that moves.

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3D printing and assembly
CAD design

Electrical

Route, wire and power the axes, from the board to the motor driver.

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Electrical engineering
Systems integration

Software

Code, control and simulate: controller, kinematics, ROS2.

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Controller front end
Controller back end
Education platform
ROS2 development
Computer vision
Simulation

Education

Teach, document and gamify. The learning concept behind every build.

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Curriculum design
Tutorial creation
Content writing

Operations

Organise, promote and manage the group and its events.

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Social media and marketing
Graphic design
Event coordination
Partnerships and sponsoring
Project management
IT administration
Website design

Senior roles

Across all departments.

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Project and robot conception
Technical mentoring
Project lead
Technical lead

Our lab

We have our own lab in the student group building at TU Darmstadt, open to every member at any time. Beyond the weekly team meeting, project and department meetings happen almost daily.

Dare to join

You do not need to be an engineer.

We need people who write, design, organise events, run our social media, manage partnerships and keep projects on track just as much as we need people who print, solder and code. Some of the most important work here never touches a CAD file.

No prior experience is required, only the drive to learn something new.

How to start

Once a semester we hold an evening where you can meet the team, see the lab and apply. We announce the date in advance.

The fastest way to hear about it is our WhatsApp community. We also post it on Instagram and LinkedIn. If you have any questions, write to info@dare-robotics.org.

Join the WhatsApp community