Stephen Hobley is at it again.  His laser harp was cool enough to win second place in our project contest a few months back, and since then he’s managed to make it even cooler.  Using a Wiimote to accurately track the positions at which the beams are interrupted, he added some very clean and precise pitch control to the already impressive instrument.  Watch the video.  After about a minute of demonstration, he gives a quick explanation of how the modification works, so be sure to watch the whole video.

He started a thread about this in our forums, so head on over there to give him props, ask questions, etc:
Laser Harp Mk III

If you haven’t read the original thread from when he first completed the project, check it out here:
Frameless Laser Harp

If you want more info on how it was made, or if you want to build your own, follow this link to Stephens’s site:
The Laboratory

In case you’re new to the Trossen Robotics Community, here’s a quick refresher on how this contest works:  First, all kinds of fantastically talented and dedicated people come to our Project Showcase forum to tell us all about the projects they’ve been working on.  Periodically, we (the Trossen Robotics team) sort through these projects, and score them very scientifically in the following categories: "Wow" factor, Ingenuity, creativity, and presentation (this includes graphics, videos, documentation, explanation, etc.).  This is the fourth contest we’ve run here at Trossen Robotics, and the projects just keep getting cooler!  This time around, we extended the deadline and upped the stakes.  Since the last contest, the community has grown and expanded well beyond our expectations, and this has resulted in some of the best work we’ve seen yet.  If you showed off your project in our Project Showcase forum, give yourself a big ol’ pat on the back.  Now, let’s get to the meat and potatoes.  Here are the runners-up and winners, in suspense-building ascending order!

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Honorable Mention

Project: "Johnny 5.3"

Creator: Andrew Alter (Tyberius)

We’ve been working a little too closely with Andrew to let him enter the contest, but we can’t totally leave him hanging.  He’s been building a "Johnny 5"-inspired humanoid/trackbot hybrid, and it’s really coming together.  His brain (Johnny’s, not Andrew’s) is a Pico-ITX running Windows XP Pro.  It has a vocal synthesizer, great big grippers, a reinforced suspension system, a snarky personality, and I’ve heard that it drives around harassing Andrew’s baby.  It’s the embodiment of robotic awesomeness, in other words.  Check out his thread, picture gallery, and his blog.

Runners-Up

Project: "Leviskate"

Creator: Rodger Cleye
Average Score: 7.63 / 10
Prize: $20 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

The Leviskate is a "self-balancing motorboard."  Kind of like a Segway for people who really like head injuries.  Seriously though, this contraption is truly awesome.  There are some cool videos in Rodger’s thread, too.  Our favorite thing about the videos is that Rodger sounds genuinely amazed that it actually works.

Project: "The Bratinator Project"

Creator: SN96
Average Score: 7.67 / 10
Prize: $20 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

It walks, it talks, it scares the kids.  It’s… the Bratinator.  Built around the Lynxmotion Brat biped, this monstrosity features speech, binaural hearing, a custom-machined aluminum head.

Project: "Gepetto"

Creator: darkback2
Average Score: 8.25 / 10
Prize: $20 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

It really pains us to see Gepetto in the runners up, instead of placing in a cash-winning position, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes.  This was a very close race.  This bot is beautifully made from wood and metal, has a really cool suspension system, carries its laptop brain around with it, and is programmed with some really interesting behavior/mood software.  That’s really just the tip of the iceberg, so you’ll have to read through the thread to see Gepetto’s full story.

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Third Place

Project: "eyeRobot"
Creator: Nathaniel Barshay
Average Score: 8.38 / 10
Prize: $100 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

The eyeRobot is a robotic guide for people with vision impairments.  It has a whole slew of IR and ultrasonic range sensors for collision avoidance, and pathfinding software to keep it moving through the clearest area.  This was a proof-of-concept prototype meant to "marry the simplicity of the traditional white cane with the instincts of a seeing-eye dog."  This project is going places, and hopefully one day it will help other people go places.

Second Place

Project: "Frameless Laser Harp"
Creator: Stephen Hobley
Average Score: 8.88 / 10
Prize: $250 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

Twenty-two years ago, he saw Jean-Michel Jarre play a laser harp at a concert, and from that day he’s been on a mission.  This mission finally came to fruition last month, when he completed his own laser harp, and let me tell you, it’s a pretty stunning piece of equipment.  Using a galvanometer to very rapidly and precisely aim a pulsing laser, light sensors to detect where a beam has been interrupted, and an Arduino brain; the harp sends MIDI control signals to a synthesizer.

First Place

Project: "Phoenix"
Creator: KÃ¥re Halvorsen
Average Score: 9.63 / 10
Prize: $500 Trossen Robotics Gift Certificate!

Phoenix is a six legged walking robot.  Wait, we know some of you out there may be thinking that hexapod robots are old hat.  Well, you’re wrong.  So very wrong.  Wait until you see it move.  Phoenix’s real beauty lies in her graceful motion, which is some of the most convincing and eerily lifelike that we’ve seen in a robot that uses standard hobby servos and a common off-the-shelf servo controller.  The kinematics are computed by an intricately programmed spreadsheet, which we highly recommend you check out if you’re a fan of trigonometry.

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We want to thank everyone for their great submissions.  If all goes as planned, the next contest (which is already underway) will conclude at the end of May 2008.  You can stay up to date on contest rules and regulations at the Trossen Robotics Project Contest page, and start posting your projects in our Project Showcase Forum.

Jeffery Stephenson of Humidor PC fame was also at the press lunch with his latest creations the Pico Bayard and the G-metric Nano. Jeffrey specializes in making really beautiful custom PC cases using small ITX boards that combine modern technology with classy old world style. His creations are vaguely steampunk without the steam. Jeffrey has a whole pile of his projects profiled on his website SlipperySkip.com.

Jeffrey describes his Pico Bayard: “This computer was inspired by a design by the French clockmaker Bayard. It is an example of the art deco skyscraper school of design that flourished between the world wars. The clock’s landscape orientation was rare for the period.”

The Pico Bayard and the G-metric Nano by Jeffrey Stephenson

More pictures after the fold…
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Ok, this is just too damn cool. The Surveyor crew have integrated the SRV-1 controller with a quad-rotor helicopter.

The heli, called "X-3D-BL Scientific," is from a German company called Ascending Technologies GmbH.  I knew it was easy to use the SRV-1 controller for other wheeled vehicles, but seeing it on a UAV is pretty exciting.  They don’t have too much info up yet, but it sounds promising.  Here’s a video of the aircraft (without SRV-1 controller) in action:

Check out the original post, and keep an eye on the Surveyor Robotics Journal for updates!

"Droid Works" recently joined our forums, and he submitted this gem to our Project Showcase forum (which means he’s entered in this month’s Submit Your Project and WIN Contest!).

It’s a suped-up Parallax BOE-Bot designed to seek out dark places and illuminate them.  I’ll let him explain the project in his own words:

You’ll find a few more pictures of this critter (and its human master) in the forum thread:

http://forums.trossenrobotics.com/showthread.php?t=1139

If you’re interested in getting the BOE-Bot starter kit, click anywhere within this sentence.

To see the other Parallax products we carry, check out this blog post from last week.

Hello, readers! We’d just like to give a quick internet high-five to I-Wei (of Crabfu), who has posted a new video of his KHR-2HV this afternoon.

He modified the feel a bit, curling the edges and decreacing the surface area, allowing for a smoother gait.

Here are some links!
Crabfu
Crabfu Youtube vids
KHR-2HV product page

Lots of good humanoid news today. Matt Bauer posted his newest Robonova mod in our forums this morning. Just in time for the release of the new Transformers movie, we have this:

More than meets the eye, indeed.

Check out the thread in the TR Forums for bigger pictures and enlightening discussion.

This video speaks for itself, for the most part, so I’ll let it speak.

They’re using a stock SixAxis controller, a PS3 (in hypervisor mode) with Linux installed, and a Gumstix controller w/ built-in Bluetooth to drive the six servos. You’re probably thinking, “Gee wiz, this sure is an awfully convoluted way to control a few servos!” Well… it is; but it’s unique, it works, and it’s a great proof of concept that will undoubtedly lead to more practical applications. With some more complex kinematic algorithms, this could be adapted to control the position of the gripper on a manipulator arm, the control surfaces of a UAV, the orientation of a wireless security camera, the motion and posture of a multi-legged robot, or any number of other cool motion control-related projects. The interactive art community should be all over this, as well.

I don’t know about you, but I love to see accelerometer-equipped game controllers used for novel purposes such as this; mostly because game designers have so far failed to use these devices to their full potential.

www.pabr.org/sixlinux

Via Engadget

UPDATE: We are now carrying this sick A-621 suite! Get it now while supplies last.

As we all know, the Kondo KHR-2HV isn’t much to look at. It’s a sweet humanoid, but as far as looks go, my props have to go out to the Manoi PF01, until now…

Dubbed, The A-621 GENEX Suit, we saw a Kondo KHR-2HV all dressed up in these threads in a Japanese Kondo catalog a while back, but it didn’t give any word on availability, and said it was only a prototype at the time. Well, thanks to lampcov for giving everyone a heads up in the RobotSavvy forums, we now know that these new threads for the KHR-2HV Humanoid are no longer a myth, and are going to be available soon. Keep an eye out in our Kondo Section in our Catalogue, and as soon as we can get them, we’ll have them there!

UPDATE: We have them

via Engadget

This is such a brilliant mod. Homemade XY tables are a fringe area of robotics that we hear about often. People build them to make chess/checkers players, painting/drawing machines, even low grade protoype machines. This is an interesting new mod along the same lines.

What do you get when you mix a 1970’s style analog chart recorder, an 8-bit microcontroller, and a Fisher-Price Doodle Pro? A truly 21st century toy: An analog PlotBot with e-paper display technology!

Link - Evil Mad Scientist

Via Engadget