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!
Paolo writes “Here’s a project developed by the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne to build insect robots that are able interact with cockroachs communities.” On the site there are photos, videos, PDF schematics and software to download. Link. In MAKE 02 we had a Made on Earth with a roach controlled robot…something for these little guys to look forward to I suppose.
Scott writes “Alexander Van de Rostyne has been designing and fabricating ever-smaller micro-helicopters out of advanced materials, batteries and remote control systems for the last six years or so. The latest has 4 channel control and weighs in at 6.9 grams ( 1/4 ounce ) with battery.” Link. The site has tons of photos, details on the miniaturization efforts and hamster comparisons.
The new ASIMO is closer to the robots that eventually revolt in all the science fiction movies “Honda Motor debuted a new ASIMO humanoid robot which features the ability to pursue key tasks in a real-life environment such as an office and an advanced level of physical capabilities. Compared to the previous model, the new ASIMO achieves the enhanced ability to act in sync with people – for example, walking with a person while holding hands. A new function to carry objects using a cart was also added.” Pictures and videos on the site. Thanks Justin! Link.
Old Professor Bear writes “This place is 2 blocks from my home. I pass by it every so often, but at night when it’s closed. But it looks like it would be of much Maker interest. Building Junior Makers, or something like that … Anyway, FWIW, have a look – Build-It-Yourself has developed a creative robotics program in collaboration with MIT that inspires, engages and guides kids to build in a unique global laboratory of the future. Build-It-Yourself seeks corporate partners who can bring our program to 20 million+ kids in the after-school market.” Link.
Nothing says Christmas like a Yeti ornament. Craftlog posted up her tips on using Print Gocco to create her abominable creature. Make one yourself or if you are up for a swap, she’ll make you one for something else in return. Also big news here, you might want to stock up on the cool printing machines as Gocco’s are being discontinued from the manufacturer. Link.
G4’s Attack of the Show had the folks from the aiBAR on – they will be in our new Makers book we’re about to announce soon – “Nate Strech, Joel Wollborg, and Torrey Baumstark have an unhealthy obsession with drinking that has resulted in the creation of the aiBAR, an automated robotic bartender. It’s not yet available commercially, but we think their idea has definite profit potential.” [via] Link.
Gene is looking for a scriptable USB-IR controller – “So far I have not been able to find such an animal. I bought the first generation of Robosapian. The robot from wowwe toys. It comes with a real crazy remote control. You have to press many keys in certain combinations to make the robot do anything. If I could program a dynamic IR device with the codes and then create scripts.. It would be possible for me to make my robot do all kinds of neat things. Also I am into doing time lapse videos. That is where you setup a camera and let it run for about an hour.. I throw the video into my computer and use the editing software to speed things up. That is fine.. But I have an Olympus 8mp digital SLR camera. It also has an IR control out. A programmable IR device as I described above would really help me out with my camera. I could setup a high resolution picture every 15 seconds using a laptop on location replacing the IR controller. This would produce a very high quality time lapse once I put it in my editing software.” I think the USB-UIRT might be a good start, any other suggestions for Gene? Link.
