Ooz and Oz
Hacking robot toys is all in a day’s work for Natalie Jeremijenko. Dale Dougherty trails the UCSD professor for a day of fun at the races, transforming toy robotic dogs into environmental avengers.
Technology
Radio Shack Robots
About a year ago I was at Radio Shack headquarters hanging out with my friend and Make pal Dave, while there I saw the now released Vex Robotic Kits in early development. The cool thing, amongst other cool things about these robotic kits is that they were specifically designed to be used in the FIRST national high-school science competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). We’ll try and do a review of these here right away. I’m so thrilled to see these. PC Magazine article here, along with photos here.
Bunnie’s Workbench — Glowstick a Go-Go
Bunnie Huang prototypes two kinetic glowsticks: instead of creating a single arc of light, glowsticking dancers can now create their own two-dimensional fantasias.
Homebrew—My First Computer
Remembering how my dad built an Apple II from scratch.
Basic Stamp
Basic Stamp is a hobbyists microcontoller that uses the BASIC programming language. Here’s a primer on how to use it. After meeting Joe Grand, I became really interested in the Basic Stamp , made by Parallax. It’s a microcontroller that you can program using BASIC. The robotics applications for it look fantastic (check out this Toddler Robot.) I’d love to hear from anyone who has been using Basic Stamp and would like to write a story about it for MAKE.
300 in 1 kit…
On page 184 of issue 01 in our toolbox section contributer Mister Jalopy has one of my favorite electronic kits featured. The Elenco 300 in 1 Electronic Project Lab. Usually, about 3 or 4 times a week I receive an email or IM from someone who wants to get started in electronics and I always point them towards this kit. Solderless breadboard, all the wires resistors and capacitors you’ll need to get started along with some fun projects. I found one here for $59.99 and they’re also at many Target stores. Here’s mine, I think there are some “extra” projects you can do with these too…
Mark on G4TechTV
Editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder will be on G4TechTV’s The ScreenSavers 4pm PST 2/8/05. It usually repeats a few times for the next day and the shows are always on those torrent places. Update: Here’s an interview with Mark by Coury Turczyn for the Screen Saver’s website.