Robots of Maker Faire
At this year’s Maker Faire Bay Area, there were robots of all kinds! Enjoy a few snapshots of our robotic friends, taken by Gregory Hayes.
Technology
Thigamakit Remixed into a Robot
Travis Chen of L.A. added a Thingamakit synthesizer (formerly sold by Bleep Labs) along with with dual LEDacles, to his Nintendo R.O.B. robot, then sold it on Etsy. [Via Bleep Labs]
Arduino-based KENBAK-1 Recreation
Mark Wilson of New Zealand created an Arduino-based emulation of the KENBAK-1, one of the first, if not THE first personal computer, released 40 years ago. Fully assembled and powered on. The LED indicates that the INPUT register is being displayed, pressing the 8 buttons on the left will toggle the corresponding bits and LEDs. […]
Floppy Drive Imperial March
The nerd quotient of Silent’s project is nearly off the charts. The sound created by movement of the head, which is moved in steps with sufficient frequency. Interface description can be found, for example HERE. Simply activate the station by providing a low-to DRVSB0 or 1 (depending on whether we have the tape from the […]
The Many Uses of ShapeLock
ShapeLock is an amazingly useful polycaprolactone plastic that starts to melt and become moldable at 160ºF. When it cools to room temperature it becomes rigid and tough with qualities similar to nylon. By heating it in water with a microwave or using a heat gun, you can easily hand form it into almost anything.
Four Ways To Make a “Worm” For an Existing Gear
Here, automata guru Dug North rounds up four expedient methods for improvising a worm drive given an on-hand spur gear. Digging through our archives also reveals this interesting method for coming at the problem from the other direction, i.e. improvising a spur gear for an on-hand worm!
Playing Tetris with DDR Controller Mats
MIT students Andrew Carlson, Leah Alpert and Russell Cohen built this Tetris game that uses pads from dancing game Dance Dance Revolution to control the shapes. Each board is a 200-LED matrix. Tetris installation controlled by DDR Mats. Color Kinetic LEDs in laser cut acrylic tubes set in chip-board matrix. If one player clears two […]