International Space Station like Robotic Arm - Hinges vs Rigged Model

Getting Started
1

Hello All,

I am trying to replicate the functionality of a robotic arm like the one on the International Space Station.
So basically you will be driving the part that grabs things on the end of the arm and the arm should follow that position with all required moves.

I so far found that you can assemble an arm using hinges on every connection and lock their rotation and things like that, but I haven’t found the way of controlling the arm correctly.

I also see that there is an option to use Inverse Kinematics but seems to be only for humanoid rigged models.

Is there any experienced user that could advise on what is the best approach to accomplish this? I don’t want to go to deep into the rabbit hole in either approach to find I am in the wrong path.

Hope I made the question clear enough,
thanks for any help!!

2

Don’t use hinges and physics. That way is the way of pain. Use a rigged model.

Now the next question is, how do you set the joints in order to put the end effector where the user wants it? And that is, in fact, inverse kinematics. You’re right, Unity’s built-in IK is only for humanoid models, so you’ll need to either write your own IK code, or find an asset that does the job.