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!
Seattle schools were closed today (snow!), so my son decided to make a project from No Starch Press’s new book, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders. We really like this book – it consists of ten projects designed by the contributors to the NXT Step blog. The book is not for absolute beginners, but it’s not […]
The folks at Oomlout, who created the OAWR and SERB robot projects, have put up a new Instructable on controlling their SERB (or any Arduino-based bot) usuing the Wii Nunchuck. BTW: The OAWR project is featured in The Best of Instructables. We have request a SERB kit from Oomlout and hope to have full build […]
I like “dumb bots” (a.k.a. BEAM robots) as much as the next analog electronics fan, but Baca RoboCup is something entirely different. These baca (“foolish” or “stupid”) robots are meant to be as idiotic as possible and must be “useless to society,” in fact, the biggest chucklebot is voted the winner. BTW: It also states […]
This video shows swarm bots attacking pulling a child across the floor. The look on the kids face at 2:37 is classic. All joking aside, this is an amazing demonstration of the advantages of many small robots working together to accomplish a task. The goal of this project is the study of a novel design […]
Spotted on the MAKE Flickr pool, this Arduino-controlled two-servo walker, demo’d at the recent Dorkbot Bristol. Looking at the images close up, you can see this is an insta-bot, made with just the two servos, some coat hanger, and zip ties. Dorkbot Bristol, December 2008 Related: Speaking of servomotors, Solarbotics has just released some sweet-looking […]
This kinetic sculpture by artist Reuben Margolin installed at the Swiss Center for Technorama near Zurich employs 450 suspended aluminum rods on 256 wires with 3,000 pulleys and sliding bars controlling the system. Interesting effect that employs no computers, only mechanical movements to create the result. Watch the video for the full effect. via Cool […]
Photography by Jérôme Demers Ultra-simple bugbot navigates obstacles with feelers and switches. By Jérôme Demers The Beetlebot is a very simple little robot that avoids obstacles on the floor without using any silicon chip — not even an op-amp, and certainly nothing programmable. Two motors propel the bugbot forward, and when one of its feelers […]
