Category Archives: robots

Serial port motor controller

Posted on February 13, 2014 by robertwilkie

Neat little hack to control motors via a serial port (without a board in-between).  Could be useful for robot projects in the future. http://hackaday.com/2014/02/10/controlling-motors-without-a-microcontroller/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29

Posted in robots, Tinkering | Comments Off on Serial port motor controller

Oh yeah, this is the way to plow the driveway

Posted on February 12, 2014 by robertwilkie

I love this robot, its a nice build to plow out the driveway.  And it seems to work pretty well. Down side, I think I could pay for a lifetime of snowplowing contracts for the cost of materials for this … Continue reading →

Posted in robots | Comments Off on Oh yeah, this is the way to plow the driveway

Vaccum Pump Muffler

Posted on January 31, 2014 by robertwilkie

The author was building a vaccum pump gripper and found it was a bit noisy, so he designed and printing out a muffler for it (looks like a spark arrest muffler, but a bit more fancy).  The goal was to … Continue reading →

Posted in CNC/3D-printing, robots | Comments Off on Vaccum Pump Muffler

Getting started guide for ROS

Posted on January 29, 2014 by robertwilkie

The Robot Operating System now has a starting guide.  It looks pretty good at first glance.  Myself, I haven’t tried using ROS yet so I can’t really tell. http://www.clearpathrobotics.com/blog/how-to-guide-ros-101/ http://hackaday.com/2014/01/29/the-robot-operating-system-ros-101/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29

Posted in robots | Comments Off on Getting started guide for ROS

A robot that can bury itself

Posted on January 28, 2014 by robertwilkie

All I can think of is tranformers for some reason, or the movie screamers(sp?). http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/self-burying-robot-could-be-hiding-in-your-backyard-right-now?utm_source=feedburner-robotics&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrumRobotics+%28IEEE+Spectrum%3A+Robotics%29

Posted in robots | Comments Off on A robot that can bury itself

Cool Beanbag Robot Hand

Posted on January 23, 2014 by robertwilkie

The Versaball looks pretty powerful in grabbing and moving stuff of odd shapes.  But at 4G’s, its out of my range. http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/empire-robotics-jamming-robot/

Posted in robots | Comments Off on Cool Beanbag Robot Hand

Hack a Remote Control Snowblower

Posted on January 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

I looked at this and went, meh….Its a nice start, but I can see turning problems, and well, things falling apart fast.  But its a start…. http://makezine.com/projects/remote-control-snowblower/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=%24%7Bfeed%7D&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+%24%7Bmakezineonline%7D+%28%24%7BMAKE%7D%29&utm_content=%24%7BGoogleReader%7D

Posted in robots, Tinkering, Tools | 3 Comments

Tunnel Robots for Border Patrol

Posted on January 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Nice article on a write-up on robots being used to explore drug tunnels (could be used for search and rescue too).  Only down side, they seem to cost about 34 G’s each.  They loop pretty rugged and seem to have … Continue reading →

Posted in robots | Comments Off on Tunnel Robots for Border Patrol

Robot can beat you at air hockey

Posted on January 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

I remember in college some a group did their senior project on something like this.  Thought this is allot more advanced. http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/japanese-air-hockey-robot?utm_source=feedburner-robotics&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrumRobotics+%28IEEE+Spectrum%3A+Robotics%29

Posted in robots, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Robot can beat you at air hockey

Neat little ornithopter with 3D printed

Posted on January 14, 2014 by robertwilkie

Cute little thing.  Nice write-up to build it too. http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Ornithopter-Micro-UAV-Drone/

Posted in CNC/3D-printing, robots | Comments Off on Neat little ornithopter with 3D printed