For our Gripper Robot Arm, we mainly used 3D Printed and Laser-Cut parts. This allowed for rapid prototyping and testing to make sure that all the parts fit correctly. (Especially Pressure Fit Tolerances)
We chose to go with 1/4" Acrylic plates wherever we could because they were thick enough to provide a good amount of structural stability and rigidity. For the Arm links, we chose to go with carbon fiber rods as they helped decrease the weight of the arm and provided very good strength. We chose the baseplate to be 1/4' Birchwood.
For the adapter pieces for the carbon fiber rods, we chose to go with 3D Printed Carbon fiber PLA as it helped add more strength, especially since the joints would be a critical point for the load the system would have to handle. For the joints in the arm, we chose to go with fitted bearings for the "Wrist" and spare carbon fiber rods for the base joints.
Arm Mechanism without Gripper
Gripper Mechanism with Water Bottle Model
Bare Gripper Mechanism Assembled