The RobotShop Ultimate Challenge is moving along quickly now; the Roomba 500 series has completed all the tests and its final score is now available. If you recall, the robot vacuums are being scored by 15 different performance tests: how well they pick up debris, how fast they clean, how loud they…
I was recently offered the chance to review Microbric's Viper Robotics Development Kit. I always love to try out new robot kits and see what's on the market, so I jumped at the chance. Prior to Microbric contacting me, I had heard some about the kits. You may have read a prior review of the kit fro…
Yesterday I received a preview copy of Robot Magazine's "premier issue." After having seen it in very rough form during RoboNexus, I have to say that the actual print version is even more impressive. For those of you familiar with RC Driver or Fly RC, Robot Magazine will be from the same …
The folks at McGraw Hill graciously sent me a copy of Edwin Wise's new book, Robotics Demystified, for me to review. Unfortunately, I got it right around the time that I left for Hong Kong (study abroad) and I'm just now getting around to actually reviewing it. The title calls it a "self-teaching…
Zac Soden reviews Combat Robots Complete UNLESS you have pay TV, there is not much coverage of robotic combat here in Australia. Of course there is the occasional airing of Robot Wars, but other than that we don't get much exposure to this quite fast growing sport. This lack of exposure also mea…
Zac Soden reviews Lego Mindstorms Interfacing THE LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System is the most advanced construction toys to date and has been amazingly successful, opening the LEGO market to a whole new audience of builders, both young and old. Being a fan of all things LEGO, I had to g…
Zac Soden reviews Easy Microcontrol'n A YEAR ago I would have never imagined myself programming a PICmicro MCU in assembly language. Even just considering learning the assembly code seemed a daunting task, let alone writing my own programs in it. But all that changed when around four months ago my …
Zac takes a look at the TAB Electronics Build Your Own Robot Kit TAB Electronics Build Your Own Robot Kit Designers: Myke Predko and Ben Wirz Publisher: McGraw-Hill Rating: 4/5 Notes: Excellent for beginners PROBABLY a month ago I remember visiting my local Dick Smith Electronics and noticing a…
This is a large review of many different Leatherman multitools - perfect for building robots with!In a geek's toolbox, especially robot geeks, there are loads of great tools: pliers, soldering irons, solder suckers, drills, screw drivers, and the list goes on and on. However, one tool that no robot…
This is a review of Savage Innovation's new microcontroller, the OOPic 2 By now, all the regular readers here at The GoRobotics Network are probably aware of the OOPic processors. This little beauty is loaded with great features (and a great price) that make it quite attractive to robot builders…
This is a review of Joe Nagata's LEGO Mindstorms Idea Book While surfing around the 'net the other day I came across the website of No Starch Press. What caught my eye was the fact that they published a couple of LEGO Mindstorms books that I've seen around. While I don't have LEGO M…
This is a review of the book Robotsapiens One of the latest additions to the growing array of robotics related books is the book entitled Robosapiens. The authors describe their new book as a "field guide to our mechanical future." Husband and wife team, Peter Menzel and Fait…
Bernie's experiences with the Lynxmotion line tracker kit. Having just finished my hexapod robot and before progressing to a more advanced model with jointed legs, I decided I would like to try my hand at a wheeled robot. I made up a robot platform to experiment with and to try different sen…
