Robotics

Brazil-worthy robotic arm

Brazil-worthy robotic arm

I love this funky robotic arm that looks like it’s something from the set of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. The arm is constructed of techno-junk, recycled PCB material, cassette motors, 15-gauge wire, fishing line. The “brains” for the arm is a 6502 CPU from the 1980s. Tres retro! While you’re on the site, check out some […]

Beetleborg, certified Creep City

Beetleborg, certified Creep City

Cyborg insects, hybrids of insects and machines, have been under development in military R&D for a few years now (no, seriously). Now, electrical engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed an implantable radio-controlled neural stimulating device that allows them to control, with a fair degree of accuracy, the flight of an insect, in […]

How-To: Build a BEAM solarroller

How-To: Build a BEAM solarroller

Yesterday, I posted a reprinted from my old tech site, Street Tech, of a piece I did on Zach DeBord’s solar-powered vibrobots. Here’s another piece from Street Tech, one on building solarrollers, a simple kind of solar-powered car common in beginner BEAM robotics. Like the vibrobots, this would make a perfect project for a family […]

How-To: Build BEAM vibrobots

How-To: Build BEAM vibrobots

The following article is reprinted from my old personal-tech website, Street Tech. I thought these vibrobots would make perfect family projects for the “Teach Your Family to Solder” MAKEcation. If you have kids too young to solder, you could build a mint-tin vibrobot [PDF] with them (which doesn’t require soldering) and these solar-powered vibrobots with […]