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 self-balancing robot was designed and built by Kerry Wong and uses just a few ICs and some basic electronic components to get the job done. This project is definitely more up your alley if you’re interested in using discrete components rather than a microcontroller designed for prototyping, but the cost in doing it this way makes it attractive.
Tacocopter has been trending for awhile, now, but I wanted to hold off on covering it until the hype wore off a bit and a more sober analysis appeared. And now it has, thanks to Huffington Post reporter Jason Gilbert, who got an interview with MIT Personal Robots Group alum Star Simpson, one of three brains behind behind the project…
A collaboration between Stratasys and Optomec, Inc. has produced the first 3D printed UAV with surface printed electronics.
17 year-old Anika Brandsma, of the Netherlands, (known as Anika Vuurzoon in the LEGO community) built this excellent take on the LEGO Friends Olivia’s Invention Workshop set. To bring Olivia’s enviable robotics workshop to life, Anika added motors, sensors, and the micro controller brain from a Mindstorms NXT set. She hid the mechanisms below the […]
This cool robot is inspired by the way slime mold moves, and consists of a balloon serving as the protoplasm, with real-time tunable springs and friction control units surrounding the balloon. [Technology Review via Beyond the Beyond]
GeekDad Robert Ferguson is playing around with Lego WeDo, a robotics system intended for kids too young for Mindstorms. He tested it out the best way possible, by building a Lego Most Useless Machine! It sounds like Robert’s post is the beginning of a detailed exploration of the system, so be sure to check back.
Boxie is a semi-autonomous robot that roams through its surroundings until it finds a willing human participant to answer its questions and star in a movie it films. It was designed and built by Alexander Reben at MIT’s Media Lab.
