Gravity: Digital 5A RelayPrice: $2.95
MX-106 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $699.95
MX-64 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $509.95
MX-28 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $369.95
AX-18 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $239.95Boston.com published a great article featuring a wide variety of robots around the world. If you like robots, and you like big pretty pictures of robots, you definitely have to check it out. In style with the article, I’ll keep this short and let you check out the pictures yourself!
Sure, the researchers may state they are intended for assistance in disasters… but these wifi network creating robots could just as easily be used to spread the reach of the dreaded Skynet! I have my doubts, but Engadget seems pretty sure that these robots have good intentions. Time shall tell!
Researchers at Germany’s Ilmenau University of Technology are developing flying quadcopter robots that can be used to form a self-assembling ad-hoc wireless network in the event of disaster. Built with off-the-shelf parts (including VIA’s Pico-ITX hardware and a GPS unit) the robots are designed to provide both mobile phone and WiFi access — and they can do it far more quickly than a technician on the ground might be able to. The device comes in a kit for €300 (about $380), which includes all but the battery — the batteries currently run around €1,000 (over $1200) and only offer up 20 minutes of flight time. Once the device has found a perch, however, it can operate for “several hours.”
You probably have heard the term thrown around, but many out there might not know what an Accelerometer does exactly. They are used in a variety of modern machines and gadgets, and a necessity for dynamic balancing in walking robots. Here is a quick tutorial video that we put together, explaining the basics and application of Accelerometers.
We had a blast at iHobby 2008! We got to meet a lot of new people, old friends, and new robots!
We were super busy keeping up with visitors at our booth, but we tried to snap a few pictures before the show started each day. We created a gallery of some of the better pictures we took. Farrell Robotics was also there, showing off their amazing new robots Zyn and Kai, which are based on the EX-106, RX-28, and DX-117 servos. They are quite literally the most advanced competition humanoids in the US, completely custom built and a real marvel of engineering.
These bots are literally as big as toddlers, in fact they had Kai dressed the part. Seeing how quick and strong these robots are was truly a sight, I’m pretty sure they could at least take our software guy Alex (not me though, I know their weakspots!)
Here are a few pictures (click to enlarge) but be sure to check out our iHobby 2008 Gallery!
