RepRap “Mendel” plans available
The people over at RepRap have uploaded all the design files needed to build you own “Mendel” 3D printer, including the mechanics, electronics, firmware, and software.
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!
iRobot’s Soft Morphing Blob ‘Bot Takes Its First Steps
Wow! iRobot’s soft, shape-shifting robot blob can roll around and change shape, and it will be able to squeeze through tiny cracks in a wall when the project is finished…. via jwz.
Homebrew CNC hot wire foam cutter
I keep trying to persuade anyone who will listen that CNC foam cutters are dramatically underrated machines. People look at them and say, “That’s cool and all, but I don’t want styrofoam parts.” To which I reply, “If you have a styrofoam part, you can turn it into cast aluminum with an unbelievably simple garage process.” What’s more, styrofoam is ubiquitous, cheap, and so easy to cut that the CNC robot can be extremely lightweight and inexpensive, as for instance, this one submitted by reader Raul Aguaviva, which is hacked together from a coat hanger and junked scanner parts. Combine one of these with a Gingery-style charcoal foundry and you could conceivably produce a homebrew CNC system, that can produce aluminum parts, for less than $50.
Linear actuators without shafting
A major obstacle standing in the way of total self-replication by rapid prototyping machines, notably RepRap, is that certain of the components, particularly ground shafting (or threaded rod) for the Cartesian robot’s linear actuators, require greater precision than the machines are currently capable of. Thingiverse user fdavies is engaged in a noble effort to design printable linear actuators that require no shafting and are instead based on the hinged Sarrus linkage (Wikipedia). Excelsior!
Photopopper drawbot
I love this transformation of a Solarbotics Photopopper into a drawbot, simply by attaching an alligator clip to the back of the bot and clipping on a pen. The site is in Spanish. Here’s a translation of the page, though the image pretty much speaks for itself. In the Maker Shed: Photopopper Photovore 5.0 Our […]
Dalek wheelchair costume
Check out YouTube user YellowWheels’ channel for another pretty sweet chair costume.
World’s smallest R2?
Rob Meyer built this amazingly small (1/18th scale) R2-D2 with three of Solarbotics GM15 pager gearmotors. It uses two of the motors in the drive train and one to rotate the mech’s dome. It measures 2.36″/6cm tall! [via Solarbotics] Rob Meyer Productions