Canadarm or Canadarm1 is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the Canadarm was always paired with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), which was used to inspect the exterior of the shuttle for damage to the thermal protection system.
Canadarm (right) during Space Shuttle mission STS-72
Life-size replica of the Canadarm at the Euro Space Center in Belgium
Story Musgrave, anchored on the end of the Canadarm, prepares to be elevated to the top of the Hubble Space Telescope during STS-61.
Peter J.K. Wisoff on the end of the arm, 1993
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion or translational (linear) displacement. The links of the manipulator can be considered to form a kinematic chain. The terminus of the kinematic chain of the manipulator is called the end effector and it is analogous to the human hand. However, the term "robotic hand" as a synonym of the robotic arm is often proscribed.
The Canadarm while deploying a payload from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle
Humans+ exhibit
uArm Metal Commercial Robot Arm
MeArm Open Source Robot Arm