Archive for August, 2009

Robots with Friggin Laser Beams on their Heads!

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Giving robots weaponry seems to be a recurring theme with humanity’s technological progression in robotics. Not that there is anything wrong with that; it’s not like something could ever go wrong in the future. Right?

In America, we’ve got Mech Warfare which implements archaic Airsoft guns and rockets. Japan however, has decided to step it up a notch and have equipped their robots with lasers. Building exploding, blindness causing, movie theater annoying lasers of destruction. To add insult to injury, they’ve even adding awesome PEW PEW PEW noises to their lasers! Why must you taunt us Japan, why?!? Not only do you make cooler robots, but now you’re giving them lasers. Totally not fair. The Robot BLASER Battles are definitely awesome though, check out their 2nd annual competition video below:

Via Botjunkie, Thanks Evan!

Posted in Competitions / Contests, Mech Warfare | No Comments »

Tour of Sparkfun’s Offices

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

As I’m not currently allowed within 300 feet of their premises due to a misunderstanding (My costume and intentions were good, I swear.), this photo tour found over at Keith’s Electronic Blog gives us a nice sneak peak into the Sparkfun offices. I’ve openly expressed my (unwanted) love for Sparkfun in the past; these guys are my heroes and have become what Radioshack used to be and could have been. Definitely worth taking a look, after checking out this neat little write-up I immediately emailed my boss asking why Sparkfun had a limo while we were left lame and limo-less. Sadly, he said it wasn’t going to happen.

I can only assume the silver tentacles shown in this picture are some sort of electronic mind control device for the Sparkfun army.

Sparkfun

And if you don’t know who Sparkfun is, throw your Geek Card in the trash right this instant.

Via Keith’s Electronic Blog

Posted in Fun Stuff | 1 Comment »

Tutorial Contest Winners Announced!

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
In March we announced that our contest would go in a different direction this time and with even bigger prizes:
This round is going to be a Tutorial Contest , and is quite a bit different from our previous contests. Think of it as an ‘Instructables meets How Stuff Works’ style contest: We want you to submit entries in the form of a detailed step by step ‘How-To’ or Informative Tutorials.
We had a good amount of solid entries in our first Tutorial Contest so picking our winners was a not an easy ordeal. Our entries covered many different topics, from electrical and soldering basics to more advanced robotics navigation tutorials. We highly suggest that you take a look at our Tutorials Section, there is a lot to be learned and if you have knowledge to share we highly encourage it.
Without further ado, here are our winners!

3rd Place goes to Jes1510!

Jes1510
Jes1510 submitted some ‘back to the basics’ tutorials which were well documented, easy to read through, and really helpful for the beginning robot hobbyist! He’ll be walking away with an Ollo Bug Kit!
Tutorials:

2nd Place goes to Pi Robot!

Pirobot
Pi Robot amazed us with two extremely detailed, professional tutorials that cover some very advanced robotics applications by breaking it down into more digestible bite sized pieces. Both are excellent pieces of literature, definitely worth a read through! Pi Robot will be walking away with a Bioloid Beginner Kit for his contributions!
Tutorials:

1st Place goes to lnxfergy!

lnxfergy
lnxfergy was determined to win 1st prize! He submitted awesome tutorial after awesome tutorial covering some pretty major aspects of robotics. All of these tutorials are very helpful for beginners and even more advanced builders can take something from them. From practical navigation systems to controlling AX-12 servos, lnxfergy demonstrated an amazing grasp of current hobby robotics technology, and was kind enough to share that knowledge with us. For his massive effort, he will be awarded with a Bioloid Comprehensive Kit!
Tutorials:
We want to thank everyone involved with our first Tutorial Contest! Determining the winners was not easy, as there were many great tutorials to browse through. Again, we highly recommend you check out our Tutorials section, as there is a lot to be learned! Stay tuned for an announcement on our next round of contests!

Posted in Announcements, Featured Projects / Robots, Front Page News, Misc, Tutorials | 3 Comments »

This Thing Twinges My Geek-DAR Something Fierce

Monday, August 24th, 2009

AwesomeQuad

The creator doesn’t have a name for it past “Little Walking Robot”, but I could think of a few words to describe it: Awesome, sexy, and umm, Awesome.

No but really, thing thing is a marvel of aesthetic design and function. Has a Steampunk meets “Dragoon from Starcraft” look to it. The inventor of this beauty has a well written blog detailing his progress and some of the problems he ran into along the way, as well as a Flickr photo set. This bot is all custom built from a mix of hand-built parts, as well as some waterjet steel frame components from our friends at Big Blue Saw.


Check the video below for the bot in action, big thanks to Big Blue Saw for the scoop.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Featured Projects / Robots, Fun Stuff, Product Spotlight | 4 Comments »

Mech Warfare 2009 Highlights Video

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

We came, we conquered. Mech Warfare’s first year at Robogames 2009 was a success. We had a professional video crew on hand to record the action from multiple synchronous security cameras mounted within the arena, and even threw our interns inside during a few matches. This video is a highlights compilation of some of the robots that competed, enjoy!

Posted in Competitions / Contests, Mech Warfare | No Comments »

Summer Fire Sale!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

fire-sale-09

Our annual Summer Fire Sale is in full swing! We’ve slashed the prices on our Robobuilder kits and select other robots and robot accessories! These sales are for a limited time only, and while supplies last, so jump on them quick. Click the link above for the full sale listing.

This Fire Sale was announced last Friday to those signed up for our newsletter giving them first dibs on these hot items. If you would like to be the first to know about this and future sales, be sure to sign up. It’s as simple as entering your email address on our Mailing List menu on the left side of our front page!

This sale has ended!

Posted in Announcements, Product Spotlight | No Comments »