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!
Easton LaChappelle, 16, of Mancos, CO, created his own servo by adding a potentiometer to a DC motor, and won a 2nd-place ribbon at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. [Via Hacked Gadgets]
I Heart Robotics is running a cool series of posts testing the merits and failure modes of various types of threaded fasteners in 3D-printed plastic parts. So far they’ve hit wood screws, self-tapping plastic screws, and a special type of melt-in threaded insert for machine screws I’d never seen before. Check it out!
NASA JPL researchers present a 250-mm diameter omni-directional anchor that uses an array of claws with suspension flexures, called microspines, designed to grip rocks on the surfaces of asteroids and comets and to grip the cliff faces and lava tubes of Mars. [via Techland; thanks Bigpaws!]
Daniel of Valencia, Spain, built this clever waiter bot to dispense (warm?) beer: This time, I show the operation of HeinyBot Waiter in static mode. In this mode, once activated the robot, it enters a loop oscillating movements, gestures and audio messages which only comes when we approach from the side or front to less […]
DIY drones are the rage! Chris flew a quadcopter off the stage, and entertained droves of questions from how much weight the copters can carry, to FAA regulations, and announced that they would have a new ARM-based APM (Ardu Pilot Mega) by Maker Faire New York.
Craig Newswanger’s Drawing Machine II combines tricks from a 19th century geometric lathe, a 1920s Spirograph-esque toy, and a modern CNC tool to produce a really mesmerizing art-bot that was a huge crowd-pleaser at Saturday’s Austin Mini Maker Faire. His explanatory video is outstanding.
Our 7th annual Maker Faire Bay Area, taking place on May 19 and 20 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, is definitely geared to be the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth, with over 700 makers to be in attendance. One maker whose creations I always look forward to seeing is Justin Gray, who has participated […]
