Here's a novel robot locomotion concept:

"This was created as a proto-type for the Swarm Burning Man Project. It consists of an 11" hamster ball from the pet store, a Tamiya worm gear 
power unit, and standard R/C radio, servo and speed controller."

Submitted by jason - 2008-01-02 17:53:53
Channels - mechamojo
Tags - robot robotics hamster locomotion

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Craig from the Twin Cities Robotics Group demonstrated his homemade R2-D2 droid at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry.

Here's a link to the video. Check out how it's able to transform to and from biped and 3 wheel mode.

Submitted by jason - 2007-11-07 12:16:38
Channels - blogcadre futuretech mechamojo
Tags - robot starwars robotics r2 droid

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"Google will award $20 million to the first private team to put a robot on the moon, the company and the X Prize Foundation announced at Wired NextFest in Los Angeles Thursday. Members of the public will also get the chance to send digital mementos to the moon."

See also, "How to Win $20 Million":
http://www.wired.com/special_mul...

Submitted by jason - 2007-09-13 12:03:05
Channels - blogcadre futuretech mechamojo
Tags - google robots space robotics nasa moon lunar x-prize

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One more example of how everything in tech is bound to get incredibly small. Tiny, cheap, smart and expendable -- what's not to love?

"A life-size, robotic fly has taken flight at Harvard University. Weighing only 60 milligrams, with a wingspan of three centimeters, the tiny robot's movements are modeled on those of a real fly. While much work remains to be done on the mechanical insect, the researchers say that such small flying machines could one day be used as spies, or for detecting harmful chemicals."

Submitted by jason - 2007-07-20 13:30:46
Channels - futuretech
Tags - technology robot micro robotics fly insect

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Mr. Woo makes incredible walking robots from recycled junk parts. Incredibly, he's doing this in rural China, with no formal education or training.

Submitted by jason - 2007-05-31 13:05:20
Channels - blogcadre makezine futuretech mechamojo
Tags - video china robot robotics walking junk junkbot

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Here's a cheap way to make a rangefinder with a laser and a webcam.

You adjust the laser to be parallel with the camera, but a few inches away. Then, you can measure how far the visible dot is from the camera's center to calculate the distance. Further from center = closer to object.

It's sort of like binocular distance estimation with a single camera!

Submitted by jason - 2007-05-07 13:31:27
Channels - makezine futuretech
Tags - laser hack robotics webcam rangefinder binocular

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