Routerbots

Robotics

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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@garethb2

October 7th, 2008

Routerbots seem to be a bit of a growing trend in hobby robotics. These are bots built using the WRT54G routers which have open source firmware. The bot above was built by Andrey Mikhalchuk. He created a custom version of OpenWRT Linux and modified the Linksys router hardware so it could control the two hacked (for continuous rotation) servo motors. I love the lo-tek approach of using the router as the robot body and the CDs for wheels.

Inexpensive powerful router based robot [via Hack a Day]