Robotics

Drawbot corral

Drawbot corral

From the MAKE Flickr photo pool Looks like pool member Nortis had a lot of fun building drawbots and setting them loose inside a makeshift art-corral. Check out more of the organized chaos on Flickr – Drawbot photo set Related: HOW TO – Make a Kid’s “Draw Bot” Make Podcast: Weekend Projects – Making A […]

Synth demo from robotmaker Stanley

Synth demo from robotmaker Stanley

Robot-turned-Synthmaker Stanley gives an awesomely quirky video demo of his new sound-making device. (WARNING: contains a little cursing, smoking, and lovable condescension) Stanley Povoda, the worldfamous “Robot Man” is now creating all kinds of sound-devices for Metamorphosis. He built countless robots in his life and just recently decided to take again a more musical direction, […]

Wii-controlled robo-blimp

Today on BBtv, Xeni talks with Wired’s Chris Anderson and “airplane geek” Jordi Munoz about blimp-based aerial drones. Through his DIYDrones site, Chris is on a mission to create an under $100 UAV. The robo-blimp used in the vehicle shown in the vid is based on Jed Berk’s Blubber Bot design, featured on the cover […]

FIRST robots square off @ VCU

FIRST robots square off @ VCU

Video from the NASA/VCU FIRST robotics competition – A lot of durability and articulation seem required for this bot-bout. It’s really amazing what a group of high school students can crank out in six weeks. Get a closer look at some of the players and makers involved: NASA Langley Research Center/VCU School of Engineering FIRST […]

Rules for Roboticists

Rules for Roboticists

In honor of Robot Day here on MAKE, I’ve posted my “Rules for Roboticists,” from my 2004 book Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Building Robots. It’s a playful list of operating principles, rules of thumb, and words o’ wisdom about bot building. The piece is accompanied by robot scientist “trading cards,” illustrated by Mark Frauenfelder, for […]

Attention DC Dorks!

Don’t forget: This Tuesday (tomorrow, Feb 26, 7-9pm) is the next Dorkbot DC. Presenters include Katie Bechtold, a spacecraft flight software developer and controller, talking about the Mercury MESSENGER mission, Justin Sabe on making cheap MIDI controlled instruments from toys, and Alberto Gaitán, presenting Part Two, The Software, of his talk on Remembrancer, the amazing […]