NXT Hacks: Tanks And Heaters

January 20, 2010 by Mike Szczys 8 Comments

Here’s a double-dose of Lego NXT goodness; a robotic tank and an automatic aquarium heater.

The image to the left is a robotic tank powered by the popular Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. The brains rest inside of a tube, including the controller brick, ultrasonic range finder, a gyroscope, and a compass. Two sets of treads surround each edge of the tube making us wonder which end is up? We’ve embedded a video of this beast after the break. You’ll see that the tank is incredibly agile in this configuration.

To the right is an aquarium heater. [Dave’s] kid were growing some tiny water dwellers which we’ve always know as Sea-Monkeys. The problem is that the tank needs to be between 72-80 degrees Fahrenheit for the little shrimp to thrive. He dug out his NXT controller and paired it up with the Lego temperature sensor and a dSwitch relay. This setup monitors the Aquarium for temperatures between 72-78 degrees and switches a lamp on an off to regulate the temperature. This keeps his kids and the stagnant pool happy.

Now that we’ve whet your appetite for NXT check out the wiimote operated NXT Segway and the NXT Sudoku solver.

Continue reading “NXT Hacks: Tanks And Heaters” →

Robot Waits For No Man When Recharging

January 18, 2010 by Mike Szczys 49 Comments

Yikes, that power connector certainly wasn’t designed by Apple. Ugly as it may be, it’s the charging cable for a robot and acts as a sensor that allows the robot to properly align and plug into a power receptacle.

We’re going to go off on a tangent for just a second. We often think of the Rat Things from Snowcrash when considering robot power. They were nuclear powered (or something) and instead of recharging required constant cooling. Those day’s aren’t exactly around the corner but we think they’ve been realized in the lawn mowing robots that have a little nests to recharge in. Base stations work but they require the machine to return to the same place, or to have multiple charging stations.

The point is, this specialized cable makes base stations for robots obsolete. Now a robot can plug into any outlet it can get near, a great thing for robots roving large facilities. After the break you can see a video of this process. The robot arm zeros in by scanning horizontally and vertically and measuring the magnetic field put out by the AC in the wires of the outlet. Take a look, it’s a pretty neat piece of engineering.

Continue reading “Robot Waits For No Man When Recharging” →

LEGO Robot Lays Dominoes Not Eggs

January 11, 2010 by Mike Szczys 17 Comments

[Mattias] brings the awesome once more with his LEGO robot that sets up dominoes. You’ll remember his work from the wooden keyboard case and the mechanical binary adder. This time around he’s still exercising those woodworking skills by making his own domino tiles, but it’s the robot that makes this interesting. In the must-see video after the break the device lays perfectly straight, perfectly spaced dominoes just begging to be upset by a spoiled toddler. The robot is nothing more than handful of LEGO parts powered by a tape deck motor. The parts may be meager, but there’s an abundance of ingenuity tied up in the design.

Continue reading “LEGO Robot Lays Dominoes Not Eggs” →

TOBI The Tool Bot

January 4, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 10 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChmDJ7RSZYE]

[TheGrue] has put together this great writeup on how he built TOBI, the tool carrying robot. Inspired by a story he read about a robot that could follow people around, using heat sensors, he decided he wanted to do something similar. His robot would carry his tools, in this case, the tools of an IT professional. Not only would it carry his tools, but surely it would give him credit as a techno-guru to have a scratch built robot following him around.

His build process is documented quite well. He approached this in a fashion where he set several iterations. Each step would add a feature and carry the old features forward. It looks as if he’s currently working on step 3, which means that the chassis has already been built, the drive train is working, it can be remote controlled, and now has some level of autonomy thanks to a propeller controller. Up next are some range finders and an assortment of other sensors so that TOBI won’t drive off any steps, or into any walls.

[via hackedgadgets]

New Pet, Project 413

December 14, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 23 Comments

I wonder if anyone ever mouses over images anymore. Oh silly me, xkcd reference.

[Jacob] sent in his teams final project, Project 413. While sounding like something straight out of an action movie, don’t worry, it’s not the next terminator. Rather a combination of an eBox (in place of an EEE pc), omni wheels, motors, batteries, and the finishing touch – a hamster ferret ball. If this is sounding familiar to a certain web comic, then right you are, as XKCD was their main inspiration. Sadly, the web cam and ‘having a soul’ functions didn’t make it into their version, but being controlled via Wii remote is always a plus. Check out a video after the break. Continue reading “New Pet, Project 413” →

Saturday Afternoon Robot Cooking

December 5, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 13 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3VstJSxZlc&feature=player_embedded%5D

What happens when you combine an IR tracking PS3 Eyetoy, and a high-resolution projector? If you answered multi-touch display, you’re on the right track. Add a Wii Nunchuck controlled robot, a pinch of Community Core Vision tracking software combined with Processing, and the piece de resistance, a modified Memo TUIO particle system and you get the mesmerizing video above.

Check out this combination of crazy robotics and more with SparkFun’s free robot hobby builders meet-up on Saturday.

[Thanks Anon]

(Remote Controlled Robot) Car Vs (solar Charged) Tank

December 5, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 8 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKFECpQ8asI%5D

[Matthias] sent in his team’s iPhone Robot (CAR) project in response to yesterday’s iPhone controlled solar charged tank. Unlike the tank, the iPhone car is controlled via Bluetooth BTnode and BTstack, and also isn’t solar-powered. However, both projects utilize iPhones and readily available components. We particularly liked how it not only used a multi-touch input, but also the accelerometer within the iPhone. It seems some competition is stirring, lets see who wins out.