Making a robot can be an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s the perfect combination of creativity, engineering and problem solving. However, if you’re just getting started in robotics, it can also be overwhelming. To make things easier for those who are just starting out, we’ve put together some tips and tricks to help makers bring robots to life! From the basics of assembling your robot to software implementation, these pointers will give you everything you need to get started on your robotic adventure!
David Dorhout of Ames, IA, is trying to develop a system where a bunch of robots perform all the farming tasks in a field. This is a short video that lays out the new concept of swarm farming and demonstrates the first phase with Prospero, the robot farmer.
In honor of our Robots issue, illustrator Brian McLaughlin designed a rad robot wallpaper for you to download.
How do you make a walking biped robot, with only three servos? Without saying a word, Frits Lyneborg from letsmakerobots.com shows you his inventive way of doing just that!
This is an entry from Bay Stater John Neiner in Starship Modeler’s 2007 Yellow contest. It’s built from sheet styrene with a few borrowed details from various model kits. Lots more written how-to from John on the model detail page, and some great work-in-progress shots on the Neiner family blog.
How do you make a walking biped robot, with only 3 servos? In this episode of The Latest in Hobby Robotics, Frits Lyneborg from letsmakerobots.com shows you his inventive way of doing just that.
The programs used the robot on the video can be downloaded here: letsmakerobots.com/node/29379
Tools needed are just very basics, like saw, drill, ruler etc.
Materials are the 3 servos, some wood (4 paint sticks), hot glue, a couple of screws and some thread locking fluid. The servos are controlled by an AXE230, and batteries are used as balancing weight.
You can use either 3 “normal” batteries, or 4 rechargeable, you just need somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 volts.
You can adjust the the height of the batteries, and there are several parameters to adjust in the programming code as well, to make your robot walk well.
You can also port the simple code to any other micro controller of your choise, and add sensors, arms and more to your own robot.
If you have never build a robot before, the best place to start is probably here: letsmakerobots.com/start
Here’s an elegant idea: A treaded “tank” type platform for your smartphone, controlled via the headphone jack. All the software lives in the phone, and can be downloaded, installed, modified, and shared as apps. It’s the work of Peter Seid and Phu Nguyen at Seattle’s Romotive, Inc. Their already-funded Kickstarter is still ongoing.
It rolls on tracks instead of walking, but this ditch-witch style tracked chassis retrofit with a pair of giant waldos is pretty much the power loader from Aliens. This video showing it in action is a great news segment from Ed Yeates of Utah’s KSL-TV, right up to the point where they start talking about the system as an “equalizer” opening up jobs to women “that might’ve otherwise been closed just based on strength issues.”
