While our neighbors in the USA use drones for warfare and spying, here in Canada we have other types of applications for UAVs that address other types of peace-disturbing assailants: geese. If there's something strange in your neighborhood. Who ya gonna call? Goosebusters! Steve Wambolt was …
If your Roomba Discovery 4XXX/4XX series is having a problem or is not working properly, it will communicate this to you by beeps, songs, and lights. The following table is essential in understanding possible problems the Roomba can have. Roomba will tell you what problem it has in order for you…
Well, it's no secret that posting around here has been pretty slow lately. I do have excuses though - first the trip to San Diego, then much sleep afterwards, then a trip to the beach before school started, then school started on Wednesday, then catchup. So, here we are, back ready for more …
Robot Localization Making a Robot know where it is I started looking into localization for use with sandbot but there have been many other things that conspired to prevent me progressing with it. I put it here as a placeholder and will come back to this when I have more time to think about it.. Int…
Brewster Robot The Brewster robot came to our attention via the RobotShop Forum. User robmcc hacked an older model Roomba, some servo motors, and what looks like a complex and custom-made mechanical rig to fetch and transport a can of beer. Without further delay, here is the robot in action:.'> …
Owning a 3D printer can be lots of fun and opens up a lot of possibilities for fabricating objects. However, if you want to print an object, you need to design it in a CAD program. This is a limitation that Volumental is trying to remove. By making it easy to scan objects (even people) and getting …
AR.Drone 2.0 by Parrot The popular quadcopter AR.Drone 2.0 is now available at RobotShop and in stock. Since this is a very popular flying platform, we expect it to sell very quickly, so if you want yours without any delay, we recommend placing an order as soon as possible. This quadcopter co
Here's a nifty project I found off of Hackaday - how to build your own 16 point (4bit) digital compass. Instead of using the popular 3bit Dinsmore compass the author decided to build his own. The author attached a magnet to a reflective encoding disk. Using four infrared photoreflectors he w…
UPDATE: 6 Oct, 2013Ok, I have been too lazy to update this as this was done a month or so ago. I hereby declare this project complete. It is now bigger and better! Below are some photos and a video of the completed matrix and driver board(click any picture for a larger view)-The Matrix-The dr…
DelFly Micro The DelFly Micro, built by Delft University of Technology, is the world's smallest ornithopther. The flapping robot has a 10 cm wingspan and even includes a video camera. In a mere year-and-a-half, the team decreased the weight from the 16 grams of the DelFly II, to the amazing …
This repair guide explains how to replace (or clean and lubricate) the main brush casing gears on a 500 series Roomba. For details on how to first disassemble your Roomba, please see Roomba 500 Series Servicing and Repair Guide Chapter 3: How to Open Up Roomba. Some of the 500 series Roombas are…
We would like to thank Chris and Jim from Project Lead The Way (PLTW) for creating several videos around the Lynxmotion Servo Erector Set (SES) V1.1. Videos are one of the best ways to get a good understanding of a product. This set of seven videos include unboxing / package contents of the SES V1
Automated Parking As we wait for a future where cars autonomously park themselves after they have transported us around, it is currently possible to get your car parked by a giant robot. Automated parking towers are able to store a vast number of cars very efficiently (saving time and space). Th…
LEGO has recently come out with a new linear actuator piece as part of their new Power Function sets. The new actuators have a movement range of 5 studs, or about 1.6 in (4cm), which correspond to 26 full revolutions of the input shaft. The actuators also have a built in clutch mechanism …
2020 Mars Rover Robotic missions to mars have been highly successful. So far, Sojourner, Spirit and Curiosity are roving the red planet and conducting experiments, but why stop there? NASA is already planning their 2020 mission. Based on Curiosity's success, they are planning on sending out a ve…
Oleg put together this pretty neat robotic arm that he can control using a standard USB mouse. He used a Lynxmotion robotic arm with a wrist upgrade, an Arduino as the brain, a USB Host shield in order to interface a regular computer mouse, and a custom made servo motor controller. This is a rat…
