Solarbotics has posted some video from its vault, portions of the 1995 BEAM Games, with BEAM inventor Mark Tilden talking about his VBug 1.5 (built from little more than a couple of Sony Walkmans and an Oven Timer Unit). I bought a BEAM VHS tape back then (I think of this event), which included this […]
Over at the Robot Room, Dave Cook has a brief piece on removing the eccentric weight from pager/cellphone/force-feedback joysticks motors. It really is basically a firm pull with a pair of locking pliers, but you need to do it correctly so as not to bend the drive shaft or mar the motor casing. Tiny Motor […]
The fine folks at Solarbotics have put up another Instructable on how to build a cool BEAMbot, this time, a cranked-up Symet that spins like a maniac and can go to the mat against other bots. It’s robot sumo meets the BEAM Jurassic park. Solar-powered Battle Symet More: Solar-powered miniball
When I think of horrifically frustrating project experiences that end in an outcome far exceeding expectations, two instances spring to mind. I tell these stories frequently (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) because I think they represent the power of perseverance in the face of projected failure. The first tale I’ve told countless […]
Pololu has a nice tutorial on this 3-servo, 6-legged micro-bot. I love the servo arrangement and leg configuration. It uses their Micro Maestro 6-channel USB Servo Controller as its controller and 3.7g sub-micro servos. Micro Maestro Hexapod Robot
Keanu Reeves doing a public service announcement for FIRST robotics. Wait a minute, should Neo be a spokesperson for robots/AI? [via Robots Dreams] FIRST
I love these swarm robots and the relative simplicity of the design, the means on motility (BEAM-style direct-drive pager motors), and the charging scheme (the bots in the lower image, to the right, are at the charging rail). The wiki that’s been set up doesn’t have too much info yet. There’s even going to be […]
