The robotic arm is a manipulator attached to the front of the rover.  It is housed inside the instrument panel behind a door.  The door opens when the arm is in use.  The end of the arm has grippers that can move and pick up different objects.  The arm can reach out and move in several different ways.  It has 4 degrees of freedom.  It is jointed to be able to reach into the scoop on the front of the rover.  Our arm is patterned after the Phoenix robotic arm built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the NASA Phoenix Mars mission.  [9]

Bends up and down

Twirls around

Gripper opens and closes