A couple of weeks ago we reported on Jon Hyland's NanoSeeker Micro AUV project. Today Jon posted some more details on his project and he seems to be making rapid progress. With the help of a rapid prototype machine there are now working prototypes of the vehicles in the water. The NanoSeeker
Jon Hylands, on his blog this week, posted a link to his NanoSeeker Micro AUV project. The vehicle is 6 inches long and 1.25 inches in diameter. That's tiny! Jon plans to outfit the AUV with a 6 DOF IMU, a compass, depth sensor and an ARM based microcontroller. You can see some pictures of the
Here's a fantastic walking robot costume for a small child. Check out the "build notes" after the jump. Just add some water or nerf guns and your kid will be the ultimate ruler of the neighborhood! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I9v0EdhwlM L's chicken walking robot costume http://www.youtube.c…
After ten yeras, the array of creations made with the LEGO's Mindstorms kit is pretty impressive. One of the latest things to amaze me is this NXT 3D scanner created by Philo. The device uses several motors and linear actuators to probe the surface of an object and precisely record its shape. The …
I always like to point out great design when I see it, and Mike Smyth's Minimechadon is a prime example. Mike created the little guy to experiment with learning algorithms for walking. The robot weighs 12oz and has 4 degrees-of-freedom. The sensor array consists of 4 touch sensors on the bottom of…
The RB2000 robot from JR Robotics and VStone is able to perform some impressive acrobatic feats. Our friend, Lem, over at Robots Dreams captured some video of the RB2000 twirling about on the highbars. However, ... since the robot doesn't have any hands, the bar was passed through openings in the …
Lem over at Robots-Dreams has once again brought us some crazy Japanese robot-lovin'. This time it's Japanese American-Style Robot Football! The teams are made up of 4 robot players roughly the size of 3kg sumo-robots. Crazy mayhem ensues. Game play is in 2 3 minute halves. http://www.youtube.com/…
Here's a fun link for your Friday enjoyment - a rollar skating Robo-One. A quick check over to our favorite Japanese-related robot site, Robots Dreams, revealed more information. The robot, named Plen, has 18 degrees of freedom and stands 9 inches tall. It retails for about $2,000 USD. More inform…
Tom Atwood, over at Robot Magazine, has put a review of the Robotis Bioloid "edutainment" robot kit on their website. You can also find more information on Robotis' website, though, be warned that it's a Korean company and the "English" version is a bit confusing. ROBOT Magazine recently took a clo…
Jim Kelly, over at our favorite LEGO Mindstorms NXT blog, The NXT Step, is putting together a "shopping list" of questions that folks have about Mindstorms NXT and the Mindstorms Development Program (MDP). Jim is one of the lucky few that actually made it into the program. However, the MDPers are u…
Recently, Jim, over at The NXT Step blog let me know he'd added GoRobotics.net to his blogroll. Since we don't currently have a blogroll, the "nxt" best thing is to give him a shout-out in a post! The NXT Step is now on my feed list. It's a great site for information about about LEGO's up-and-comin…
"The street finds its own use for things. It's all in the mix.” -- William Gibson Feral Robotic Dog project is proof of this. It started with Natalie Jeremijenko, who advocated hacking robotic dogs and using them as a tool for exploring the environment. These wild dogs in effect became low cost
In a tribute to Joseph Weisenbaum, Andrianne Wortzel has wired up a Robosapien to a chatbot and a webcam. The Robosapien sits in the studio and provides psychoanalysis over the Web. The project is Eliza Redux and is named after Weisenbaum’s famed Eliza. Curious idea, though more as an art piece th
Here is a link that recently came to our attention: Crab Fu Steam Toys! If you have ever wondered what would happen if a Gakken Mechamo Centipede or Mechamo Crab was crossed with a steam engine, Crab Fu shows the way. There are videos of these creations in action. As an aside, the downside of the…
Robert from Nurmijarvi Finland has created a robotic allosaurus. There are pictures of the construction on his website, along with an English description of the project. The robot is 8ft (2.5m) long, 5ft (1.6m) tall, and weights 55lb (25kg). It uses 13 motors to move and is wirelessly controlled vi…
Continuing from the link in the last post about making your own LEGO bricks, it looks like Derek is at it again. This time he's creating his own LEGO Mindstorms RCX like brick, but this one is powered by a GumStix computer. He's machining the housing out of Delrin and details the process on his bl…