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!
Welcome to the third installment of the Make It Last Build Series and contest, sponsored by Microchip and Energizer. Over the next five weeks, we’re going to be working on the third project, a cool mural drawing machine called the Drawbot. With two stepper motors, some monofilament line, a binder clip, a Sharpie and a […]
This video from sculptor Seth Goldstein shows one cycle of the operation of his piece Why Knot?, which is described as “[a] kinetic sculpture that continually ties and unties a necktie.” While the video leaves me just a bit dubious about how long it could really run without human intervention, I’m impressed by the dedication, effort, and patience required to get it to work even once. [via Dug North]
Handmade and for sale by British eBay seller kidsrusje, with three days to go as of this writing. [via Boing Boing]
In this video, Steve Norris of Norris Labs presents his low-cost implementation of Cornell’s jamming-skin-enabled balloon gripper using a Handi-Vac as a vacuum source. [via BotJunkie]
Congrats to MAKE contributor I-Wei Huang, aka Crabfu, for his inclusion in the latest Gakken kit magazine. He’s especially thrilled because the kit is a model of Theo Jansen’s wind-powered Strandbeest kinetic sculpture and I-Wei is a big fan of Theo’s. In fact, he’s the one who turned us on to this amazing Dutch artist. […]
Here’s another “news from the future”… …Dubai police have confirmed they uncovered a gang of dealers who were selling electric stun gun kits, for up to £5,000, across the region. These were then being fitted inside the robot jockeys… The electric shocks could be administered by remote control to encourage the camel to run faster. […]
Northwestern University professor Malcolm MacIver’s GhostBot is a robotic fish that can swim forward, backward, and vertically using its incredible ribbon-like fin. Ghostbot’s locomotion is inspired by a knifefish in MacIver’s aquarium, which a colleague observed making an unexpected, vertical movement. Further observations revealed that while the fish only uses one traveling wave along the […]
