Iron Man Origami
One of many really impressive models from MIT staffer Brian Chan. [via CRAFT]
Robotics
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!
In the MakerShed: BrushBots
Build your own scuttling vibrating robot with our BrushBot kit from the Maker Shed. Brushbots are easy to make, fun to build, and easy to personalize. You will find all the parts needed to build 4 BrushBots in each kit.
SparkFun Drone Contest Recap with Chris Anderson
The New York Times has produced an entertaining recap vid of last month’s Autonomous Vehicle Competition, hosted by our pals at SparkFun. It’s narrated by WIRED’s Chris Anderson, who is also the founder and chairman of DIY Drones. The contest embraces three classes of autonomous outdoor vehicles–roughly, wheeled, winged, and with rotors.
JPL Curiosity Mobility Platform
My family and I went to the wonderful NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Open House this weekend. Among the many fascinating sights they shared with the public, this was our favorite. The mobility test platform for the Curiosity rover. With its rocker-bogie passive balance suspension system, this bot does not consider large rocks to be much of an obstacle. At 20″, its wheels are twice the size of those of its predecessors, including the forever-stuck Spirit. Plus, there was a woman from JPL controlling it from an iPhone.
Interesting Engineering Problem to Solve…
We do not have a dog where I live, but we do have Roombas (and a cat). While this example above is funny, it’s also a fun engineering challenge. How would you modify the Roomba to detect dog poop and stop instead of making modern art all over the place?
Quadrotor Formation Flying
The University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab, famous for those crazy quadrotors that can fly through windows and hula hoops, has been working on getting groups of the robots to fly together in formation. Just like with a formation of fighter jets, there’s a leader robot in each squad along with several follower robots. The followers […]
Scratch-Built Wall-E Mobile PC
Tinkerer “thechoozen” of Cologne, Germany built this superb Wall-E robot with a Mini ITX computer, an Arduino, and some servos. Nearly every step is documented from concept through paint! [Thanks, Petar]