ASTRONEER: How to Build, Power and Filter an Auto Arm

Unlock the schematic and gather materials

Bytes pay for schematic unlocks. They are shared between players in a multiplayer save, as are unlocked schematics, so check the group’s existing unlocks before assuming each player needs to research the arm separately. [1]

Earn Bytes by researching items or resources in a Research Chamber, or by collecting Research Samples from plants, rocks and Astroneer bodies. This is the documented progression route to new schematics; the guide does not require a particular late-game planet. [1]

Steps

1. Unlock the Auto Arm schematic for the listed 1,500 Bytes. [2]
2. Gather Aluminum and Graphite and print the Auto Arm at a Small Printer. [2]

Place the arm on a powered slot

Choose a power source for the base: solar needs natural light, wind needs windy weather, generators consume fuel, and an RTG provides another generation option. Intermittent sources can leave machinery without supply when their condition changes. [3]

An enabled Auto Arm consumes power even when idle. Turning it on without providing items does not make its power demand disappear. [2]

Steps

1. Place the arm in a Tier 2 slot on a powered platform and toggle it on. [2]

Arrange input and output storage

Hovering over the arm exposes its working areas: green is input and blue is output. Position the source and destination using those indicators instead of assuming every neighbouring storage slot is within reach. [4]

Steps

1. Put the resource source within the input area and receiving storage within the output area. [4]
2. Leave a free receiving slot. Watch the arm pick up an item, rotate and place it; if it keeps holding the item, free a destination slot within reach. [2]

Restrict the transferred resource

Steps

1. Put a sample of the desired item into the central filter slot. The arm then picks up that item type, allowing the setup to sort a resource rather than moving everything available. [4]

Check limits before rebuilding the setup

The arm transfers Tier 1 items between slots; it is not a general-purpose mover for large packaged machines. [2]

An arm does not pull items out of the player’s backpack, directly out of another arm, or out of an arm’s filter slot. Use eligible source storage rather than expecting those positions to behave as ordinary input slots. [2]