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!
DARPA has been working on a few impressive humanoid robots for the past few years. As before, they’re collaborating with Boston Dynamics to develop the ATLAS humanoid, and they’ve clearly come a long way since developing it’s younger sibling, the Pet-Proto. Unlike Pet-Proto, the 74″ ATLAS has arms with modular wrists, giving it near-human anthropometry.
Interaction designer Jasper van Loenen created a kit for turning everyday objects into drones. He 3D printed clamping mounts for four motors and an enclosure for all the electronics (4 ESCs, a receiver, bluetooth module, and OpenPilot CC3D control board). By clamping the kit to, say, a bike wheel, you can turn it into a drone!
Akiyuki’s sleek sorting machine sorts by beam length and can sort 40 pieces per minute, all using only a single motor!
All systems are go here at Maker Camp HQ. We kick off six weeks of projets and fun this Monday, July 8 on Google+. But the lively community of young makers on the Maker Camp community isn’t waiting until Monday to start making. The number of projects posted to the page grows by the hours. Here are a handful of projects that caught my eye.
The Raspberry Rover is a small RC car with a Raspberry Pi for a brain. It is controlled over a Wi-Fi network through a TCP/IP socket, and streams back live video from an on-board webcam. It even sports ‘Night Vision’ for navigation in the dark.
Eric Stackpole explains how OpenROV puts underwater exploration in the hands of anyone through an open source design and kit.
Mark Setrakian’s presentation on the art and science behind Robot Combat League. See giant fighting robots go from concept to reality TV.
