“Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new robot to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest parts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To build this electronic thing, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum.”
I’m so clever I frighten myself sometimes. Lame parodies aside, the Yellow Drum Machine project we found over at Let’s Make Robots! certainly impressed us. This neat little bot autonomously navigates around and bangs on objects to make various beats and rhythms. The creator Fritsl is in the process of creating a step by step guide for building your very own Yellow Drum Machine, with the first steps already posted. Check out the preview video below to see the little guy in action:
A good caster can be a hard thing to find. I remember at times searching high and low only to end up settling for something I found at Wal-Mart. Look no further! Pololu has produced a line of omnidirectional casters that should fill this void in your robotic parts collection. Each caster comes with hardware and spacers different mounting options. Choose from 3/8″, 1/2″, 3/4″, and 1″ diameter varieties.
What better way to control a robotic arm than with… a human arm! Hakbot from Endurance Robotics posted his new Natural Robotic Arm Controller project. This project shows how a smart application of some very simple electronic components, namely potentiometers, can be used together to create an advanced control scheme. Enough with words! Check out the video for the goods:
I used to pride myself as a Legos whiz. I had two entire trashcans full of them growing up and I could build ANYTHING. I even built a thermonuclear detonator out of my Technic set until the government decided that was too much power for one 11 year old to wield.
Well, today I hang my head in shame. My self proclaimed Lego genius has been shot down and put to shame. Bazmarc from our Community Forums has shattered my fragile ego, and shown us he is in a league of his own in Lego Supremacy. Behold the Lego NXT Autonomous Wall-E Robot! Seriously, this has to be the most impressive Lego robot we’ve seen yet, not only holding true to the likeness of the beloved Wall-E, but also boasting a feature set that would make the Ultimate Wall-E toy jealous.
Here are a few pictures of NXT Lego Wall-E (Click to Enlarge)
Calling all Chicago area inventors! Come to the Museum of Science and Industry and show off your inventions! Compete for fame and fortune, conquer the legions of fellow tinkerers, and claim your right as King of the Geeks!
Okay just kidding, this is a friendly competition, but the winner does get a cash prize and publication in a future issue of MAKE. Info below:
On Saturday, September 20th at the Museum of Science and Industry, the editors of MAKE will be organizing a “show-and-tell” program called American Maker. The goal of American Maker is to showcase grassroots innovation from Chicago-area makers. We’re looking for makers who are working on cool projects and whose work has the potential to benefit others. We believe that makers are a leading force in grassroots innovation — where individuals decide to create something new.
American Maker is a friendly competition and the winner will be awarded a $500 cash prize plus publication in a future issue of MAKE.
If you’d like to participate and show what you make at this event, you can submit a project at:
You are also welcome to come on Saturday, September 20th and join us in the audience. American Maker is part of Lab Fest, which kicks off Science Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. American Maker will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on September 20th. Admission to the museum is free on that day.
We see a wide range of different projects showcased on our Community Forums, ranging from the simple and to the point (read: cheap) to the extravagant and over the top (read: how to anger your wife). One of our members, Darkback2, decided to simultaneously raise and lower the bar by creating the Junk Bot Challenge! Participants essentially try to build the best bot they can using any spare junk and salvage laying around the house and a $20 budget for additional parts.
Needless to say, this sparked some ‘interesting’ entries. The contest is being wrapped up and the entries are being voted upon, so make sure to drop by the Junk Bots Contest Thread and cast your vote. Here are the Junk Bots that were entered:
Look out Tiger, this robot could probably beat you down at your own game. Or at least Mini-Golf. Bonus points for giving this robot a very cool personality.
It’s a bug, it’s a frog, it’s a robot made out of cardboard! This bot gives “Trash Bot” a run for it’s lack of money in the cheapest robot department, and is actually quite mobile.
Many of you may not know what LIDAR is. Regardless of what wikipedia says, I know the real answer. LIDAR is what happens when someone with a serial-overachievement complex enters in the Junk Bot competition. Not satisfied with simply building a cheap robot, Adrenalynn (aka Hermoine) built a LIDAR vision system (which usually run in the several thousand dollar range) out of spare junk and pocket change. Shes sick I tell you. Sick.
Well that about wraps up the Junk Bots 08 contest. Make sure to cast your votes, poll closes on September 8th!
Kåre Halvorsen (AKA: Zenta) was the winner of our February 08 Project Contest, however when the contest ended his Phoenix Project kept going. He is continuing to study inverse kinematics to further the creepy cool movement of his Hexapod. Here is a post explaining exactly what he is doing, however don’t feel alone if you’re scratching your head a bit, the math involved behind the scenes to make this robot move like it does is pretty complex. For the instant gratification type, here is the end result:
We have some pretty cool toys laying around in the bowels of the Trossen Robotics R&D department. Late last night I had a stroke of genius and combined two readily available electronic gadgets to make a VERY cool little toy, the Micro Spy Car. Afraid of Big Brother watching you? Well now you’ll have to look out for Little Brother too.
While digging around for a spare Anti-mass Spectrometer I came across an awesome little wireless camera, the Swann Black Hawk Wireless Color Camera with Built-in Battery and 2.4ghz Receiver (which has a product line about ‘keeping an eye on loved ones’. Sure.):
The camera itself is TINY, measuring a little over 2″ long and with a built in lithium battery. Like any self respecting geek, thoughts of mounting this to a small R/C car and driving it into the girls locker room immediately filled my head. Except, I’m not in highschool anymore and I certainly don’t want to see my hairy ass coworker naked. Oh well, spying on clothed people around the office will have to suffice.
We just so happened to have a TINY Team Losi Micro-T R/C car sitting around the office:
Check out our Tutorials Section to see a step by step on just how easy it is to make one.
For size comparison, here’s the Micro Spy Car with an Ultra-Exclusive Limited Collectors Edition Official Trossen Robotics Coffee Mug: Click Here for bigger picture
Now for the fun part- driving around the office with it! I plugged the video receiver into a little portable LCD display we had laying around and went nuts.
You can also plug the video receiver into a USB video capture device to view and record your shenanigans on your computer. Here’s a quick video we shot of the Micro Spy Car driving around our back room:
So everyone has probably heard of the ‘outside the box’ marketing schemes companies come up with. Ranging from forehead tattoos to Penguins boxing Bill Gates impersonators to Lite-Brite Terrorist Devices setting cities into a panic (I’m looking at you Boston), companies continue to raise the bar in what lengths they will go to get their name out there.
Trossen Robotics is proud to present the next evolution of viral marketing:
Baby Billboards!
That’s right, now you can earn extra cash by making use of all that unused real estate on your precious bundle of joy! “My kid is an honor student” bumper stickers are a thing of the past, *Your* baby can build Robots! Beat that honor roll suckers!
We’ll take a moment to stop basking in the glorious light of our sheer marketing genius to congratulate one of the founding members of the Trossen Robotics Community, Droidworks, on his new baby girl! Congratulations! By our count that puts him outnumbered by women in his household 3:1, the only solution is to build more robots to even things out.
On behalf of all of the innovators, visionaries, and futurists of the world; we’d like to express our deepest respect in recognising the departure of a great mind from this wonderful and beautiful universe in which we all reside. Arthur C. Clarke, may we all forever bask in the light of your genius, and may your memory forever shine with the light of the stars.
