Robots Hacks

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Roboexotica 2007

November 22, 2007 by 5 Comments


Tonight marks the kickoff of Roboexotica in Vienna. It’s the world’s leading festival for cocktail robotics. The event aims to explore the role of cocktail robotics as an index for the increasing integration of technological innovations into human lives. It also explores the explosion of radical hedonism in man-machine interaction.

…or it’s just an excuse for a bunch of smart people to get together, build robots, and drink.

The word ‘robotics’ seems to always imply ‘efficiency’, but that’s definitely a no-no at Roboexotica. Fine tuned manufacturer grade cocktail production is not the goal; personality, charm, character, all of these qualities are important in machinery destined for Roboexotica. You can already see some photos from the event setup on Flickr and we’ll be bringing you more posts on the individual machines as we get more information/drinks.

Real Robots From Movie Designs

November 21, 2007 by 12 Comments


Thanks to Star Wars, Plenty of people have built their own R2 units. Pixar’s next movie has been running trailers for a while, and there’s already a group(free membership required) devoted to building real versions of the SGI robot star: WALL-E. I guess I’ll have to call it reverse-forward engineering. WALL-E has some interesting design ideas – it compacts trash into cubes, but it can also retract its treads into the same compacting area. (Pictured is a WALL-E style waste cube, by [Jawa Lunk]) Thanks to [Shannon] deserves the credit for turning me onto this one.

DIY Servo Motor Controller

November 1, 2007 by 12 Comments


[Jim Fong] sent in this demo of his version of the UHU servo motor controller. [Uli Huber] has actually shipped over 2500 controllers for the servo. He doesn’t charge much for the chips, and only asks for something like a token beer in return for his work. I used [Jim]s boards in my mini mill controller, so I know he does good work. This servo controller really is a big deal. It can handle high power, and servo motors are *the* way to build a fast milling/robotics setup.

If you’re into Cons, you might be interested that the first round of Shmoocon tickets went up for sale today – looks like they’re already out, so keep your eyes open if you want to go. It’s a decent con that takes place in DC. I know that I’m planning to be there.

Breathing Walls With Shape Memory Alloy Wire

October 3, 2007 by 8 Comments

When you need something quietly bending or moving, don’t underestimate SMA’s (or Shape Memory Alloys). The Living Glass project by architects [David Benjamin] and [Soo-in Yang] catalogs an experiment in building interactive, flexible, “breathing”, walls out of SMA wire and microcontrollers. Although they use Basic Stamps, the project could easily be extended to more cost-effective microcontrollers for large surfaces. The project is well documented with videos (AVI) of each prototyping step and even includes the ideas that were ultimately scrapped. Even if you don’t build a wall of interactive gills, this project should give you plenty of ideas for uses of SMA wire embedded in semi-flexible materials.

Hybrid Robot

September 21, 2007 by 20 Comments


[Coley] sent in this port of jetpack for the propeller uc, but when I started poking around I discovered this sweet hybrid robot platform. A four stroke Robin/Subaru 35cc motor drives a car alternator, providing virtually unlimited (in the robot world) power on demand. Hit the video after the break for a quick R/C demo and an idea of how loud the engine is. Offhand, I recognize the lovejoy coupler that was used to connect the engine to the alternator.

By the way, this bot is featured in the latest Robot magazine, so you can get details there if you hate reading forums.

Continue reading “Hybrid Robot” →

PosterBot – Hack A Roomba Into Poster Printer

September 7, 2007 by 6 Comments


(I’m in a robot mood this week, ok?) [Wyatt] sent in his posterbot. Lacking the gift of girly handwriting, he grafted an inkjet printer onto his Roomba to make posters for him. There have been other bots to do this, my favorite being the graffitiwriter. Of course, [Wyatt]’s bot is less likely to get you arrested.

Want a shirt?
By the way, I’ve got a spare Hack-A-Day shirt sitting here. Send in a link picture of your Hackspace to the tips line. The best/worst will get some attention and the best one gets an official Hack-A-Day shirt.