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!

Rover AA1: Arduino Acer robot

Mauricio emailed me a link to his latest project, the Rover AA1. It’s a robot powered by an Arduino and a laptop. Check out the website for more information, including the Arduino and Processing code. [Thanks Mau!] This idea and had thought for several months, since it figured it would be a practical way to […]

BEAM ballbots

We’ve covered a lot of different robocritters from the BEAM taxonomy in MAKE and here on Make: Blog: rollers, walkers, spinners, pummers, poppers, crawlers. But one we haven’t, and I hardly ever see in the wild, is the robot ball/min-ball. Solarbotics even used to sell a Mini-Ball kit many moons ago (PDF here). I love […]

Canoe paddles itself out of trouble

Canoe paddles itself out of trouble

“Canoe” by Canadian artist Peter Fleming is a 20 foot long trough of water resembling a canoe where a gunwale tracking mechanism endlessly paddles forward and back inside the boat. The entire piece is solar powered and was originally built from aluminum, gussets, and bolts so that it was fully collapsible. Check out the link […]

Robot cleans your windows like an ice rink

This robot is called “WinBoni” and like its namesake, actually cleans your windows the way a Zamboni would clean your favorite ice rink. The project won first prize in the International Student Design Competition held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers so it wins for a feat of anti-gravitational genius. Watch the video to […]

Magbot solar pendulum

Gary Gipson was inspired by the Magbot Pendulum project in Dave Hrynkiw’s wonderful Junkbots, Bugbots & Bots on Wheels. Greg made a few changes. He put the electronics package on a little swinging bot and made the permanent magnet stationary to the base. The bot’s LED eyes light up when he first starts out over […]