ATLAS revealed

This is the US military's most advanced robot to date ... keep watching to the end. Then explore other related videos. Enjoy!

MAKI

3D printing and off-the-shelf hobby electronics is coming together to allow for some pretty cool robots to be created. Take a look at MAKI:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/391398742/maki-a-3d-printable-humanoid-robot

Jamie has built a robotic arm

Jamie has built a robotic arm. The kit with over a hundred parts came together really nicely. It appears to be rock solid and reliable. We are looking forward to some robotic experiments using this device.

The "industrial robot" design provides five actuator motors, giving it considerable freedom(s) of movement.

The arm is controlled manually ... but I am thinking about how to hook it up to a computer. More on that later once I have discussed the idea with Jamie.

First step was to get this working, and then to get some video of the robot in action.

Here is a first video of the robot arm in action:

Jamie's Robot Nation

This weekend was Jamie's birthday. As well as receiving an electronically controlled robot arm, he spent a couple of hours designing his very own 3D-Printed robot.

Electronically controlled Robot Arm

At MyRobotNation you can design, and print, a custom robot. It's very cool. If you have not heard of 3D Printing before, it's like inkjet printing, but in 3D. The object is built up layer by layer, either in plastic, powder or resin. It sets hard, and you have a real object in your own. Some people say that we'll all have 3D Printers in our own soon.

Jamie's Robot Nation

Jamie's robot will be printed on a ZCorp 3D printer. It's prints the object in a special powder bed, and can do so in full color. It's too expensive a machine to have one of these in the home yet, but you can buy cheaper printers that work in plastic.

Expensive ZCorp 3D printer

Three of the most popular home printers - which are about the price of a good PC, are the Cube, the MakerBot, and the Ultimaker.

Cube 3D printer

Ultimaker 3D printer

MakerBot 3D printer

HRP-4C Miim's Human-like Walking

NimbRo-OP Humanoid TeenSize Open Platform Robot

My Robot Nation

Arduino experiments at the Purley Hackspace

Last weekend our good friends from France stayed over at the Purley Hackspace. Fearnley and Pierre had never encountered an Arduino but were intrigued. With no programming or electronics experience the teenagers set about replicating the simple circuits and demos that come with typical starter kits.

Spurred on by their success, they proceeded through a variety of their own experiments, gradually integrating more and more functionality onto the board. 

It surprised them how tricky it was to develop the digital code that, combined with a simple 'push-to-make' switch, could turn into what they wanted: a 'push-to-make push-to-break' toggle switch. They also began to understand how integrating the code from one experiment, into another, was not trivial, and they eventually realized that the concept of an 'interrupt' would be very useful.

The pièce de résistance came in the form of a circuit with many features: on/off, speed control, colored LEDs and a chain of relays able to control any mains voltage device (up to 40 Amps) such as lamps, toaster, power tools, vacuum cleaner, cooker and beyond. Here it is controlling the lamp:

In another refinement, they added a light sensor and were able to activate the Arduino 'hands off' by turning off the main room light, with the effect of turning on the table lamp via relay chain. Pretty cool!




An 'end of day' final experiment which would have triggered a firework in the garden simply by turning off the house lights, failed to work. There was probably insufficient power to the firework-ignition circuit.

Giant Hexapod Robotic Vehicles you can ride in are coming ...

If you want to ride a giant eight legged robot, you cannot buy one, you are going to have to make one. And this is precisely what one team are trying to do. Learn about 'Stompy' below in this video.

If you like what you hear, consider backing the project here. 

Robots Dancing

Cool Robots

http://www.thecoolist.com/gordon-bennets-robots/

MouseBot works and seeks the light!

Jamie and Howard tested their Mousebot while at the London Model Engineering Show, Alexander Palace. The mouse worked perfectly.

We found a large open space and, managing to avoid the public, Jamie chased the Bot around the floor around a touch, and the robot responded to his commands.

We then let the Bot loose and it neatly turned towards the light at the end of the corridor and darted for the open door.

We forgot to take our camera to the event, so pictures of the MouseBot in action will have to wait until next time. Jamie tells me there is a large hall at his school. I think this would be the perfect place for some new tests.

Sail Robots

There is something very exciting about the idea of launching a sail robot. A sail robot is a sail boat that crosses large expanses of water, e.g. large lakes, oceans, steering all by itself. What shore or bay might the sail robot visit? What creatures will it encounter on its journey? Where will it put down its anchor? Or will it be lost to the "Davy Jones"? We need to find out more. One day, we might build a boat like this and track it across the ocean using satellites.

Learn more here

Festo a robotic seagull

Beanbots video presented by Bre Pettis

Bre Pettis is the founder of MakerBot Industries, the company that is bringing the exciting new field of 3D Printing to the hobbyist market. Here, he is inspiring us to build Beanbots, solar-powered minibots that move and seek out light to re-charge themselves.

Junk Bot Mk1

Take a pile of old computers, CD drives, historic mobile phones, broken digital cameras and other e-junk. Take it all apart. Add in a couple of keen Robobuilders (Jamie and Lauren, ably assisted by cousin Oliver) and what do you get?

Junk Bot Mk1!

The wheeled base and camera support rod was designed by Jamie. Jamie and Lauren then joined PARS at the Hackspace, glue gun in hand. We think its a pretty cool robot.



Pictures from the construction of Junk Bot Mk1:

Mouse Bot is ready for testing

We have built a Mouse Bot and the Mouse Bot is ready for testing.

Jamie and Howard now have to find a large flat open space in which to test the Mouse Bot ....because this robot moves fast, and we do mean fast! A school hall would be ideal, or a large living area, out of which all furniture is removed. Even that might not be big enough. The Mouse Bot responds to and follows light! So we will need a nice bright torch as well.

Scary Robot Invasion

Jamie Young recently built a ROBOMECH kit. Its a wooden robot, that walks, and, you put it together yourself. It's pretty cool because it has red LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) as eyes. We thought about making a short film of the ROBOMECH, turning the light off and using a touch to create some scary shadows. We think it worked really well. What do you think?

Jitterbugs - Vibrating Moving Robots

Jitterbugs are vibrating robots ... that move. Yes, that's right. They vibrate, don't have wheels, but still manage to get around. How so? Well, the vibration in the body (created by a small motor with off-center weight attached to the rotor) is transmitted to flexible legs which move back and forwards in small ways, yet it all adds up to BIG movements. It's a physical principle which we need to learn more about. Take a look at a Jitterbug in action in this video below. Watch carefully, there is nothing touching the table, yet the movement is surprisingly quick.

Hex Bug demo

While out shopping one day, we noticed a pile of strange bug looking robots. They looked cool, so as bought one home, and tried it out. It responds to touch, and sound, by changing its direction. Hex Bugs come in all shapes and sizes. Go get some and have fun.