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!
High school student Leon Overweel built this sick flyer robot to hand out leaflets Rye High School science fair. It uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect a visitor, then pulls a flyer off of a pile and hands it to the visitor. My favorite details are the Fergelli linear actuators and the Mindsensors Flexi Cables. […]
This cable car is cool — it uses a Lego Mindstorms NXT brick loaded with RobotC, Lego servos, and a bunch of laser-cut wood parts. The robot scrapes up shapes and haul it up an inclined wire, and dumps them out at the top. This is the result of a project our team had to […]
The makers of MakeBlock, a very cool and sophisticated extruded aluminum building set, are showing off their stuff with this fantastic xylophone-playing robot controlled by an Arduino. MakeBlock, as you can see from the photo, is very beautiful (love the blue anodization!) and it’s extremely well thought out. They’re a startup located in Shenzhen, China. […]
Robert, Camille and Genevieve Beatty, a family of robotics enthusiasts, gets the celebrity treatment on the Sparkfun Electronics blog about their custom build of a Mars Rover replica.
Jason “True Dimensions” Allemann built this motorized Theo Janssen-style strandbeest walking robot, but evoking a cool steampunk style! I love all the little details on the deck like the tiny herd of goats to the ratty shack teetering on one corner. Jason has the building instructions on his website.
Team Antipodes, a FIRST robotics team consisting of Emma, Kjersti, and Violet of Terra Nova High School in Pacifica, CA, built this sweet magnetic levitation vehicle.
We all know what drones can do in the hands of the military and law enforcement. For recreational use, they’re fun to fly around with a GoPro strapped to its belly. The commercial use of drones is in its infancy. Congress passed a law last year requiring the FAA to open the skies to wider drone flights by 2015. Once the happens, the FAA estimates that within five years there will be about 7,500 civilian drones in use. According DIY Drones’ Chris Anderson, one of the areas we’re likely see more drones is a place that doesn’t come to mind when we think about aerial robots: farms.
