Thats no droid! It’s an astronomy building.
Hackers at Minnesota’s Carleton College reportedly decorated their astronomy building to look like a giant R2-D2.
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!
Industrial robot arm catapults flaming bowling balls
This is a publicity stunt for a company that makes energy drinks called “Mana” and “Health” packaged to look like WoW or other fantasy-video-game potions. What’s more, we have hit their video of the robot in action before. But I could not resist that fireball photo, and this link has some good technical info about interfacing with the robot, hacking the release mechanism, and framing that awesome night shot using a blinking LED “tracer” bowling ball. Just don’t forget to buy some Mana Energy Potion while you’re there!
Speedy micromouse maps, navigates course
The micromouse competition might not be anything new, but I’m constantly amazed by the awesome performance that competitors manage to squeeze out of these tiny bots. Shown above is, it appears, the Bee robot by Japanese builder Kato-san. [via iheartrobotics] More: Breaking the 5 second Micromouse barrier (Video) 2006 APEC Micromouse competition
Parrot drone video has the DIY feel
This YouTube ‘commercial’ for the unreleased Parrot AR.Drone quadricopter has ‘maker’ all over it. Get an idea, shoot a slick video, throw in a funky beat, share on the web. Is this the future of maker businesses? The idea is neat — RC that you don’t have to control via IR; as long your phone […]
Mindstorms with friends
Spencer G, and his pals Laeo and Ava, built these nifty Mindstorm robots to wander around the living room. His Kid NXT blog is a hoot! Mindstorms with friends
Make: Robot Build: Robot round-up
Now that we’ve had a little time to recuperate from all the excitement of judging the contest, here is a more detailed look at the ‘bots:
Chess-playing robot
Del Hatch, who was at the Faire last year showing off his Mendocino Solar Motor, made a big splash again this year with his chess playing robot, which uses an off-the-shelf sensory chess board and robot arm together with the open-source chess engine GNUChess.