The Latest in Hobby Robotics 03
Frits and Rik are back with another episode of The Latest in Hobby Robotics! Find out about the coolest projects this week. Go to http://blog.makezine.com/?p=91043 for more info on the projects in this episode.
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!
Lego Mindstorms Eggbot
Mike Brandl’s Globe Plotter can draw the shapes of the continents on a white ball. For this robot the coordinates of the continents were prepared as a zigzag line, drawn with a green felt tip pen. After the continents are drawn the robot switches colors from green to black. With this pen the continents are […]
Robot Film Festival
Is this the world’s first Robot Film Festival? I think so! The deadline to submit a film is June 5th. So if you have a robot and a video camera, now is your robot’s chance to walk (or roll) down the red carpet in New York City! Please submit your outstanding, dazzling, hilarious or thought-provoking […]
Xylophone Made from O’Reilly Books
We’ve always prided ourselves on the resonant quality of O’Reilly titles amongst our readers, but we didn’t mean literally. This Japanese maker found that they generated the best sound when building a book xylophone. Apparently Japanese paper is too moist and returns more of a thud. But O’Reilly books are just right. And the varied […]
CrazyCopter – A Flying PCB
If the ccTLD is correct, this remarkable CrazyFlie micro-quadcopter project originates from the South Pacific island nation of Niue. The video reports a 20 gram weight, a 4.5 min flight time using the battery on the underside of the board, and a 12×12 cm footprint. [via adafruit]
Printable Strandbeests
The amazing Meredith Yayanos, of Coilhouse (my hands-down favorite art/culture actual-print zine), posted news of these awesome mini versions of kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen’s now-iconic Strandbeests. They’re 3D printed, already assembled, and available for sale by Shapeways. Sweet. They’re not that cheap, at 106 bucks a pop, but hey, it’s art, it’s future tech, it’s […]
Caterpillar Bot Mimics “Ballistic Rolling”
From Huai-Ti Lin, Gary G. Leisk, and Barry Trimmer from the Departments of Biology, and Mechanical Engineering, at Tufts University. ScienceNOW has video of the model organism, and the model behavior, that inspired this impressive means of locomotion.