This article details how to build a FLED solar engine for your next BEAM project. 1. Take the 3904 transistor and using a pair of long nose pliers carefully bend the collector leg (that's the one on the far right) so that it is perpendicular to the …
This article shows how to hook up a LCD screen to your microcontroller. LCD displays are a great way to add output to your robot - they can be a very useful debugging aid and also can make controlling the robot much easier (setting options, vi…
How to build a BEAM symet. The symet for some reason always tends to be a three fold rotation symmetrical robot, but I like to push the envelop a little. The Quaret, hence its name, is a four fold rotation symmetrical robot. It's very small, very active, and a lot of fun to watch. So enoug…
As I mentioned in last month's article, I'd decided to turn my robot into a fire-fighting robot. Because of scheduling conflicts, I couldn't attend the international contest in CT, but I was able to compete in our club's local contest. Unfortunately, because of short time constraints I didn't do so…
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…
Read about Bernie's experiences with salvaging parts for robots. Click for bigger pic. My interest in Robotics began when I decided to try and introduce some new interests to my Grandsons, in order to get them off their Play Stations and computer games. The idea was good but, to some extent, back…
One of the single most expensive components that go to make up an amateur mobile robot is its power source. Of course, I'm speaking of the batteries that supply the current necessary to power motors, sensors and processors on board the robot (unless any of you have worked the bugs out of cold fusio…
As the dead line came closer and closer to when my 'bot needed to be finished I became more and more frustrated, frantic, and sleep deprived. I worked for hours in 1st 3 weeks of February! Many all-day-ers and late nights. One night I even said "I'm staying up till it works!" ... I fina…
Ok, last time we talked about my brand new (supposedly) maze solving robot. I have to admit that it is hard to keep on track with just making it a maze solver. There is so much more that I want to add! Oh well, so little time. Unfortunately I didn't get to much done in the way of coding. I was, ho…
