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!
This harrowing t-shirt cannon was built by Team 254 Robotics of Bellarmine College Prepatory of San Jose, California with the help of NASA Ames Robotics. It weighs 160 pounds, can shoot over 200 t-shirts per tank, has a range of upwards of 150 yards, and packs a rate of fire of 3 shirts a second. […]
his very clever design by Derek Engelhaupt has me looking around the house for something I can put tank treads on. The sofa, maybe?
It’s actually one of seven designs for homebrew treads collected on this page over at R/C Tank Combat, which looks to be an absolutely fascinating click-trap. [via Hack a Day]
Eric Brown and co-workers at the University of Chicago have just published their design for an entirely non-anthropomorphic robot gripper based on the “jamming” principle. The gripper consists of a spheroid balloon, filled with dry coffee grounds, which can be filled with air or evacuated through the arm. Adding air expands the balloon and lets the coffee grounds flow freely around an object; withdrawing it contracts the balloons and “jams” the grounds in place around that object.
Have a vision for a gigantic robot, but no resources to see your dream enacted?
MAKE reader gnomic has a sweet deal on a new robo mower… ALMOST FREE to a loving maker that will rip the guts out of it and turn it into something that the world has never seen: 1 Robomower RL 850 Robotic Lawnmower – Never Used. Includes: 2 motors for turning the wheels 3 motors […]
The results from Sparkfun’s self-destructing robot contest are in, and there were some excellent entries: a teddy bear birthday party gone wrong, a lego robot that cuts through the wrong cord, and a ghost piñata that gets attacked by excited children.
Once again, our pals at ComBots are offering discounts on this year’s ComBots Cup event. David Calkins writes: ComBots invites all Bay Area MAKE readers and Maker Faire attendees to discounted tickets to “ComBots Cup V,” the fifth annual heavyweight robot combat championship. This event highlights the best combat robot teams in America and their […]
