She may look like one, but don’t call her a “bug” – The “Lady Bird” autonomous robot was introduced to Western Japan’s highway rest stops in November of 2007 to maintain restroom cleanliness as well as friendliness – In addition to cleaning, Lady Bird can engage in simple conversation with restroom users, thanks to microphones […]
Here’s Hack #111, Display a “Please Wait” Message, from David and Raina Hawley’s Excel Hacks, 2nd Edition. Millions of users create and share Excel spreadsheets every day, but few go deeply enough to learn the techniques that will make their work much easier. Yet there are many ways to take advantage of Excel’s sophisticated capabilities […]
In honor of Robot Day here on MAKE, I’ve posted my “Rules for Roboticists,” from my 2004 book Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Building Robots. It’s a playful list of operating principles, rules of thumb, and words o’ wisdom about bot building. The piece is accompanied by robot scientist “trading cards,” illustrated by Mark Frauenfelder, for […]
From the MAKE Flickr pool . . . not autonomous, not motor driven, not even powered – just plain cute. Farnea’s Audrey robots #1, – Link & #2 – Link Related: Homemade robot costume – Link
This project by Tim Redfern allows onlookers to send SMS messages to Robosapien robots who respond with some impressive dance moves. The system uses a custom built, downloadable Xtra for (Macromedia/Adobe) Director called “UIRT XTRA” that is free from the site below. Check out the video. Dancing Robosapiens – Link, UIRT Xtra Download
Back in the 1982, Heathkit released the HERO 1 educational robot. HERO 1 had a Motorola 6808 CPU and 4k of RAM on board. He came equipped with motion, light, sound and sonar ranging sensors. You could even add an optional arm attachment and max out his capabilities. Taking a cue from the success of […]
Here’s an excellent recreation of the K-9 (Mk II, I believe) from the BBC’s classic Doctor Who series. The maker did a very thorough job on the panelling and used an RC tank for locomotion – unfortunately no design measurements are supplied in the build documentation. – Link Of course that’s not the only K-9 […]
