Make: Online: Robotics Archives

Archive: Robotics

February 9, 2010

Our Autobot in Odessa

This Transformeresque giant metal guardian, made largely of junked car parts, was reportedly built by a company called Transinvestservice (TIS) outside the city of Odessa in the Ukraine. There's more pics over at English Russia. [via Neatorama]

Battle Symets are GO!

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

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Solar-powered miniball

February 5, 2010

Paper model of expanding 6-bar Bricard linkage

YouTuber 36AM3B has lots of cool deployable-structure models in his channel, including an expanding frame (visible to the rear in this video) made from 5 of the 6-bar linkages shown here. I got interested in Bricard linkages because of this recent model from Thingiverse user raju, which purports also to be a 6-bar Bricard linkage but looks, to me, an awful like what I've always called a kaleidocycle or flexahedron. And I don't really know enough about any of them to understand the fine distinctions. Can somebody help me out?

February 2, 2010

Oxygen-tubing-legged robot walker

Another walking robot today! This one walks on 24 pneumatically-powered legs made from oxygen tubing, by Monica Anderson. [via BoingBoing]

Crawling crochet earth

I should start considering more fiber enclosures for electronics, look how awesome this soft crawly earth robot is! However, creators Osamu Iwasaki and Hanakomet still call it RobotKnit, despite the fact that it is clearly crochet. After watching the video on repeat for the last fifteen minutes, I think I can forgive them. [via Fashioning Technology]

February 1, 2010

Dancing automaton powered by falling sand

Although the "look" of this dancing-girl automaton by English toymaker Ron Fuller is not personally to my taste, I could not resist the fact that it is powered by a stream of falling sand, which is a trick I've never seen before. Thanks to YouTuber greninmotion for the video. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]

Android controlled PLEN robot

Time again for another Android controlled robot demo. This time it's the venerable PLEN. Watch as the the diminutive 9-inch bot is put through it's paces as the demonstrator deftly navigates the touchscreen controls. [via androidauthority]

January 28, 2010

Clever arm for iRobot Create

My friend Chad Jenkins turned me on to this very nifty and very functional robot arm for the iRobot Create. It's elegant in its simplicity, and would be a great weekend robotics project.

January 27, 2010

Awesome robot uprising agitprop

I should probably just go ahead and apologize to San Francisco animator and artist Sarah Dungan for posting these images of her awesome robot-revolution-themed prints without giving her a chance to restock her Etsy shop with same. But they were just too cool for me to resist. Hopefully she'll be amenable to direct inquiries from interested buyers. Like me. Because I definitely need one of each of these. [via BotJunkie]

January 26, 2010

Geneva wheels on Thingiverse

Apparently I'm not the only one charmed by the simple elegance of the Geneva wheel movement (Wikipedia). Thingiverse users PrintTo3D and raumfahrtagentur have created printable and laser-cut-able versions, respectively, of the classic mechanism, which converts continuous rotary into intermittent rotary motion, with positive locking of the stationary shaft between cycles. PrintTo3D has also posted a YouTube video showing the final printing, assembly, and action of his model.

January 25, 2010

NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition

Want to design robots that excavate on the moon? I thought so. NASA is running a competition called Lunabotics for undergrad and grad students. The deadline for team registration is February 28, 2010. There are cash prizes and VIP Kennedy launch tickets up for grabs! [Thanks, Rachel!]

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January 21, 2010

Floating spherical robots dance in space

I just had a major "the future has arrived" moment when I saw this video, taken aboard the ISS, of three spherical robots doing precision formation flying in zero-g. Note that the video embedded above is clearly time-lapsed--they're not actually moving that fast. Here's another video (with inevitable Strauss soundtrack) that shows two of the bots orbiting each other at closer to actual speed. They maneuver using compressed carbon dioxide. It's all part of MIT's SPHERES project. [via BotJunkie]

January 20, 2010

Pololu's Micro Maestro hexapod robot

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

Awesome wall-climbing robots, including a "snail"

Roboticists at Israel's Ben Gurion University, led by Dr. Amir Shapiro, have posted a cool video on YouTube showing four of their wall-climbing bot designs in action:

First, a magnetic climber that has compliant magnetic wheels and is capable to climb on ferromagnetic surfaces. This robot can be used for inspection of ship hull or bridges. Second, is a Snail inspired wall climbing robot capable of climbing on non metallic surfaces using hot melt glue. The robot secretes the adhesive at the front and peels off the track from the wall at the bottom leaving a trail behind just like the snail does. Third, is a robot that uses sticky wheels in order to attach itself to the wall. It simply has 3Ms sticky tape on the wheels. It can climb on smooth surfaces like glass. Fourth, is a four legged wall climbing robot for climbing on rough surfaces. It has 12 claws made of fishing hooks mounted on each footpad, and it climbs like cat or other rodents.

I think the second bot, the "snail" one, is my favorite. It starts climbing around 0:30. [via BotJunkie]

January 19, 2010

BoRam: Yet another balacing robot

Kyungjae Baik designed this self-balancing robot, BoRam, to solve the classic inverted pendulum problem. Balancing robots have become fairly common these days, however Kyungjae's project stands out because of how well documented and comprehensive it is. Excellent job!

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January 17, 2010

Complete hexapod part set on Thingiverse

Thingiverse user Daniel ("mind") has uploaded a complete set of files to laser-cut all the frame members of this sweet SpiderBot hexapod. He comments:

A hexapod with servo joints. This design is quite big and needs strong servos but looks really cool...I used 20 HD-2213MG Servos...If you use other servos you need to modify the embeddings for the servos and servo horns. You may make the upper and lower legs shorter to get shorter leverage. Finally the parts get assembled with M2 thread rod and nuts.

[Thanks, Daniel!]

January 13, 2010

Lifelike robots teach students about marine life

This playful killer whale (orca) is actually a robot. One of a series of over 100 different creatures, it was built by Masamichi Hayashi to teach children about marine biology. There isn't much information about how they are made, however they look beautiful. Lucky kids! [via inhabitat]

Intern's Corner: Makey robot's sonar and maiden voyage

MAKE: Intern's Corner
Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Kris Magri, engineering intern

How I designed Makey, Part III: The Ping sonar rangefinder and maiden voyage

As we return to our robot design saga, making Makey the Robot for MAKE, Volume 19 ...

The actual robot is still just a prototype with 2 wheels and motors and no sensors, electronics, or brains inside. The better body exists only in the computer. Maker Faire is looming. I've been tapped to give two "Make Your Own Robot" workshops, and I reckon that having a working robot would be a very good idea.

I'm trying to get the Arduino into the robot body. Suddenly I learn a profound lesson regarding computer-aided design. In real life, circuit boards cannot morph through walls into their desired resting place. In the computer, it happens all the time. With a simple motion of the mouse, the Arduino circuit board has glided into place, right through the aluminum robot body ... but in real life, it won't fit. There is no possible angle or tilt that will get the Arduino into the robot. Out come the Vise-Grips and hacksaw. I saw, bend, and twist off the offending aluminum tabs. This is reality-aided design.

The battery pack doesn't fit because it hits the nuts and bolts that hold the motors in. It fit just fine in the computer model, since I didn't bother including the nuts and bolts. I'm ready to toss the computer out the window.

I show up at the Make: Labs with my fail robot. Our crew has been working like demons for weeks getting ready for Maker Faire -- preparing demos, packing everything under the sun, buying materials -- the lab is a madhouse. Eric, myself, and Steven are practically tripping over each other. I'm frantic to get the Arduino into the body and get the sonar sensor mounted somehow. Eric suggests double-stick tape. I refuse. Tape and glue, I assert, are for people who don't know about bolts and rivets. Eric manages to cram the Arduino in sideways. It barely fits, actually, it doesn't quite fit, it sticks up a little. When I drill a mounting hole, 1/3 of the hole isn't there. But the bolt manages to hold.

At this point I only have a vague idea of what motor will be turning Makey's "eyes" or how to fit it inside. We zoom off to the local hobby shop and pay way too much for the smallest servomotor they have in stock.

Steven offers to take on the servomotor/sonar sensor mounting problem. He's making detailed measurements and calculations, trying to figure out how much space there is and where the servomotor will fit into this 3D space without hitting the electronics. He marks everything and explains his calculations to me. I can't follow them, but it sounds good and looks like it might just fit. I drill the holes, we put the servo in, then close up the robot. It fits! There is much rejoicing.

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From MAKE magazine:
make volume 19 cover.gif

In MAKE, Volume 19: Robots, Rovers, and Drones, learn how to make a model plane with an autopilot and a built-in robot brain. We'll also show you how to make a comfortable chair and footstool out of a single sheet of plywood, a bicyclist's vest that shows how fast you're going, and projects that introduce you to servomotors. All this, and lots more, in MAKE, Volume 19! Subscribe here. Buy the issue in the Maker Shed.

Robotagger

A cool use of GML by Golan Levin and Jeremy Ficca, called Robotagger:

GML (Graffiti Markup Language) drawings from 000000book.com are converted into DXF via a small Processing utility. Motion paths for a robot arm are planned from this DXF using Rhino and MasterCam. The ABB 4400 series arm is wielding a 2" Montana Hardcore marker.

[Thanks, Jamie!]

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