Fugitt’s Favorites: Robots of MakerCon and Maker Faire

The number of maker designed and fabricated hands and limbs, and their target use, was startling.

Applications for the maker created arms and hands included everything from humanoid robots…

Haptic feedback devices for virtual environments and user interfaces…

Human enhancement…

And prosthetic medical devices.

One of the most interesting, and unexpected, applications was e-NABLE, a network of volunteers donating their time and know-how to design and manufacture free prostheses for children and adults that are missing fingers or hands, typically in 3rd world countries without access to advanced medical technology.

RAPIRO put in an appearance in the Seeed Studio booth demonstrating its hybrid controller design utilizing a Raspberry-Pi controller for high level functions and application programming coupled with a custom designed Arduino board that handles the robots servos and LEDs. In line with the philosophy of most makers, RAPIRO features an Open-Source body design with downloadable STL files, to make it easy for users to adapt/modify/hack/improve the robot as they like.

The new DARwin-MINI humanoid robot kit from ROBOTIS, introduced at the Bay Area Maker Faire and on sale in the MakerShed, drew large crowds. Fully functional with 17 degrees of freedom, the robot is Open-Source from both the hardware and software perspectives since STLs for all the body parts are downloadable online and the built-in controller is Arduino IDE compatible.

The real surprise is that while the kit sells for USD$499 all the servos are full performance digital models rather than the cheap analog servos typical in other low cost kits. Makers will be able to develop robot applications that utilize a wide range of sensors as well as monitoring each servo’s position, speed, torque, and temperature. I talked to several educators at the Faire that purchased the DARwin-MINI and planned on incorporating it into their STEM curriculum, especially since the low price will allow them to get more students involved hands-on. One of them pointed out that their students that learn humanoid robotics with the DARwin-MINI will be able to use their know-how directly with its larger and more powerful cousins, like the Bioloid Premium and DARwin-OP models popular in high schools, universities, and major research labs.

Brian Roe’s ‘Roy the Robot’, billed as “an experiment in laser cut animatronics” turned out to be much, much more. It’s a tour de force demonstrating what can be accomplished in robotics on a budget using readily available materials and fabrication tools.

Starting off with just a used laser cutter, some plywood, and a few low cost servos, Roy has evolved into a life sized, highly functional, robot/puppet that looks and acts surprisingly realistic.

R2D2 makers were out in force. The time and dedication that they put into their fully functional R2D2 replicas is really amazing. Some of the more advanced R2D2 models incorporated functionality and automation that went far beyond what I had imagined.

Carla Diana always wanted to design things that would improve people’s lives. In school she didn’t know if that would turn out to be household appliances, cars, or something else, but she felt a deep passion to create and contribute.

Now, having established herself as a well known and highly regarded product designer, author, and educator, she is introducing a whole new generation of potential makers to the wonders of design and 3D printing via the “LEO the Maker Prince – Journeys in 3D Printing”.

Being a maker often provides the opportunity to think outside the box, to experiment, and to answer the “what if I?” question. It allows you to experiment with new materials and try things that wouldn’t occur to non-makers. For Michael Curry, one of the most knowledgeable and innovative makers in the 3D printer community, the question was “What if I try 3D printing a fully functional electric car?”

Michael’s awesome result was a 70 lb, 4-wheeled electric vehicle capable of carrying him around. It features a full gear train, differential, and suspension.

With the exception of a few metal parts, batteries, and some Delrin ball bearings, all the car parts were printed on a Makerbot Replicator.

Even the four wheels which were printed as pie sections that snap fit together. Here, MAKE founder Dale Dougherty admires one of the wheel assemblies.

Quite a few booths showed off simple robot designs for education and experimentation.

Proliferation of great kits is made possible through the use of low cost maker technologies like laser cutting.

According to the founders, Arcbotics is planning a third Kickstarter robot campaign this Fall – an under $500 humanoid robot kit that will feature advanced functionality to rival kits that currently sell for double that or more.

Shawn Thorsson built a life size replica of Robocop’s ED-209 robot and had it operational on Sunday.

This wooden robot sculpture was huge – taller than me, and I’m 6’7”.

There was plenty more robotic sculpture in evidence.

Another robot posed in front of San Francisco hackerspace Noisebridge’s table.

Kazu Terasaki, famous for his walking iPhone and iPad YouTube videos as well as his innovative ROBO-ONE humanoid robot designs, demonstrated GlueMotor – a plug and play servo motor that attaches to a smart phone jack and enables you to control the motor movement with your finger. As a proof of concept, he had the system setup to monitor Twitter for specific hashtags, then it would plot the detected Tweets on a whiteboard using two GlueMotor servos. Terasaki sees a lot of application for this technique in rapid prototyping of new designs since all you need is a smartphone, GlueMotor, and some double-sided tape to start breadboarding your idea.

Teams from FIRST Tech Challenge were there.

The teams put on challenge matches to introduce makers to the FIRST robot initiative and competitions.