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.
Here is a quick recap of some of the awesome robots and people we met at Robogames 2009! We had the opportunity to show off some of our creations as well as check out the innovative stuff others brought along to Robogames, to say it was merely inspirational would be an understatement. We’ll see you at Robogames 2010!
We had a blast at Robogames 2009 and had quite a few of our Community members show up and hang out in our lounge. Robots were battled, discussed, and otherwise shared! We cannot wait until next year, and we hope to see more of you there. Here is a quick highlight video showing some of the lounge and the attending members, as well as some of our member’s robots interacting with the crowd.
Do you ever find yourself in need of exactly 101 awesome Robot T-Shirts? Your long search is over thanks to the T-Shirt Blog, HIDEYOURARMS. This is quite possibly the single most comprehensive list of robot related torso wear the internets has ever seen, so I won’t bore you with the many reasons on why it is awesome. Instead, click the picture below and enjoy!
We want to apologize for being so quiet, but Robogames and the subsequent chaos of getting caught up has taken us all by a storm. We’ll be making up for it by posting a ton of content in the next few days.
Year 1 of Mech Warfare turned out great, better than expected for a first year competition. We came, we conquered, and more than anything we learned a LOT. Seven robots total showed up, though Murphy’s Law was in full effect and we only had 4 running consistently. That said, everyone involved still had a ton of fun, and Botjunkie and Society of Robots were there covering the action. Here are two quick highlight videos they put together, stay tuned for the official Mech Warfare coverage video from multiple in-arena cameras in the near future!
And as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so we’re at least in the million “word” range with our TRC Gallery. Over the past year our Community has grown considerably, and with it a really awesome collection of pictures from our various members’ projects! We highly recommend a look through if you’re the robot savvy type. Here are just a few choice pics to share:
Everyone loves a good conspiracy theorist, right? Well, at least they’re good for a laugh from time to time. Take a gander at the new blog Resist Or Be Terminated, this nutcase has some insane conspiracy cooked up that our friends over at Skynet Research are up to something bad. What a joke! Skynet Research has been completely transparent in their intentions, they’re simply trying to foster along robotics development and have even been so kind as to share some of their technology with the robotics community. If you’re looking for a laugh, check out the video below showing some alleged ‘glitches’ in their system. People these days, ha!
Our friends over at Lynxmotion are hosting their first ever Project Contest! Do you have an awesomely customized Johnny 5 kit you want to show off? How about a suped-up Phoenix? Head over to the Lynxmotion forums and submit a detailed write-up of your project, complete with pictures and videos for a chance to win some very generous gift cards. Here is the official posting:
We are happy to announce our first Robot Project Contest. People have been building awesome robots from our kits and parts for 15 years. We want to do a better job of recognizing and rewarding these efforts. The contest will have two categories.
The first category can be any project that is based on a Lynxmotion robot kit. This can be anything from a Robotic Arm or Rover to a Johnny 5 or 3DOF Hexapod. We’re looking for anything that has been added or modified to improve the aesthetics or the functionality of the robot. Your take on your favorite movie robot, or your version of a Mars Rover would be cool. Submitting a stock build is not likely to draw much attention.
The second category can be anything created with our Servo Erector Set series of brackets and components. For this category we are looking for something unique, interesting and different. It must use the SES components as the primary construction material.
The entries must be posted here in this section of the forum. Even if the robot has been posted in other sections of the website. The first post is the submission, so you should edit it to keep it up to date. The entry must have quality higher resolution images and clear video as a minimum. We will also require a full write up of the parts used, the problems solved, or the inspiration for the project, etc. We need details. At the time of this writing we do not have the ability to host the images or video. You will need to find a place to host them for now. You are encouraged to post what you have as soon as possible. You will have time to edit your post to fulfill the contest requirements as you require.
The contest time frame is three months, ending on May 31st. The awards are as follows:
Kit Robot Contest
1st Place = $350.00 gift certificate
2nd Place = $200.00 gift certificate
3rd Place = $100.00 gift certificate
SES Robot Contest
1st Place = $350.00 gift certificate
2nd Place = $200.00 gift certificate
3rd Place = $100.00 gift certificate
Our own custom Pico-ITX based Johnny 5 will be cheering from the sidelines! Go get em guys!
Funny I found this, because I was just thinking that if (when) the Zombie Armageddon hits, I’d need to fortify my Costco fortress (find your own) with some automatic turrets capable of firing zombie repellent, and what better project to detail building exactly that?
InventGeek.com has painstakingly detailed all of their most excellent work that went into building this beauty, and while we have seen a paintball turret pop up over the years, none have even come close to such an elegant execution. Complete parts lists and even the ability to purchase the acrylic parts are available, so you too can build your very own “Zombie Repellent Paintball Turret” to fortify your “Post-Zombie Armageddon Costco Fortress” (dibs on the one by my office!).
Editor’s note: Sorry folks, all sold out! Stay tuned for our next Grab Bag and/or limited time special!
We’re offering a limited time only Grab Bag of random parts, which is sure to make the geek and packrat in all of us cry out in glee.
We estimate the retail value on the parts included in this Grab Bag at over $100!
We’ve been cleaning house around here, moving out older products bringing in new… and during this spring cleaning we realized we were ending up with a large supply of very cool little gizmos and random parts. Rather than try and sell it piece by piece, we figured it would be fun to divide it all up evenly (based on value) into 30 Random Grab Bags!
Now these Grab Bags are a dream come true for tinkerers and experimenters alike. Since these parts were just going to gather dust, we figured we would mark them down to an insanely low price to get rid of them ASAP. We’re going to keep the contents a mystery as that’s half the fun of a Random Grab Gag… but I will say that all of them have at least $20 worth of aluminum parts alone.
The last time we did something like this these Grab Bags flew off the shelves, so get them while they last. You don’t find deals like this very often! We only have 30 Grab Bags available and that is it.
