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!
Wiimote hacker Johnny Chung Lee built this relatively low-cost telepresence robot using an iRobot Create, a netbook, a bit of laser cut acrylic, and some custom software. I’ve seen cheaper, but this video does a good job of illustrating that you can piece together this sort of thing out of off-the-shelf components rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars on purpose-built gear. But will it fetch scones for you?
The goal for this week is to prototype the driver circuit for the two stepper motors. Check out the Make It Last Build Series landing page for full info, prize details, and info about the first two builds in the series. A pin of a microcontroller can source enough current to power an LED, but […]
Via i.materialise: This robot is nothing we haven’t seen before, but it intrigues me. It was apparently built as a promotion by the folks who make Objet 3D printers. I’d love to see what each module looks like — room for a servo, PCB and battery pack, maybe. Someone needs to put a robot snake […]
In response to our latest Make It Last Build Series project, the Drawbot, Bill Ola Rasmussen posted a link to this piece he wrote on the math involved in V-plotter design. Thanks, Bill! What is the optimal configuration of control lines for an area to be plotted? Obviously, we can’t have a drawing area above […]
A couple of weeks ago, we posted about our pal I-Wei (Crabfu) being featured in the latest Gakken magazine/kit dedicated to kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest walker. I-Wei built the mini walker kit and was pretty pleased with it. But his maker heart remained restless. He could make it better, faster, stronger… rodent-powered? And so, […]
So sweet. I’d love to see a video of it in action. After many little pieces, I am finally able to construct a delta robot that is mostly made of printed parts. This thing is a delta robot frame. There is the basic frame, mounted motors, arms, tool holder, and the like. The arms closest […]
Joris Peels, of i.materialse, has a curious hobby he calls “Skynet search.” He goes around the internets looking for evidence of the real-world emergence of Skynet. He posted this item about RoboEarth to his blog. RoboEarth is an attempt at creating a sort of Google Earth/Internet for robots, a place where standardized navigation and object […]
