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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Tuesday, 28 June 2005 |
I got some news for ya'. Lots of it too:
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Articles -
Miscellaneous
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Written by William Cox
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Tuesday, 28 June 2005 |
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This is a little how-to guide on crimping connectors for various electronics projects. The art of crimping is sometimes a difficult one, but necessary for 1) reliable and 2) decent looking connections. Breadboards are nice for quick wiring projects but in the long run they are unreliable and look pretty nasty.
To crimp you will need:
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Read more...
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Saturday, 25 June 2005 |
 Everyone's favorite robots+art exhibit, Artbots, has announced it's exhibitors for this years show, to be held in Dublin, Ireland on July 15-17, 2005.
 22 exhibits were chosen which encompass 33 different artists from 10 different countries. You can view a full list of exhibitors here. The projects are definitely worth taking a look at. I found Grower and Curiously Strong
particularly interesting. One is a robot that draws green lines of
varying heights on a wall based on the CO2 levels in the room. The
other one is a long chain of altoids tins who's lids can be popped open
using a solenoids - the chain pops the lids in a domino-like fashion.
So, if you're in Ireland in the next few weeks, go and check it out!
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Wednesday, 22 June 2005 |
 I never could have imagined that circuit components could make such attractive jewelery.
Seriously. Not only do I (a male) find it really geeky and hot but I
have it from a reliable female source (my not too geeky girlfriend)
that it's also quite cute.
My favorite would have to be the diode choker or the 33 ohm "ringsistor". Oh my goodnes, I love it!
A word of caution though: buying such jewelery isn't cheap, so guys,
break out that surplus component drawer in your shop and start making
some oh-so-smooth jewelery for that girl you want to impress. I
guarantee it will 'induce' an 'electric' feel in her.
For those of you that do end up making some, how about send me a
picture? I'll be sure to put it up on the front page for all the world
to see. I will definitely be making some.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Tuesday, 21 June 2005 |
 Take a look at NASA's latest revision to it's Miniature
Autonomous Extravehicular Robotic Camera (Mini AERCam) designed to help
out spacecraft and ground crew see around and inside the spacecraft.
The latest prototype, "nanosatelite", is 7.5 inches in diameter and
weights around 10lbs.
"The Mini AERCam could provide beneficial on-orbit views that cannot be
obtained from fixed cameras, cameras on robotic manipulators, or
cameras carried by space-walking crewmembers." [Link].
Here's a good summary of the satellite's features. NASA itself also has a website devoted to the AERCam with an excellent overviews of the mechanical design, navigation, avionics, propulsion, vision, and power systems.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Tuesday, 21 June 2005 |
 The first time I heard about this guy, Theo Jansen, was in this news article. The video of one of his creations was amazing. Really amazing.
"Theo Jansen creates unique machines that collect wind with their wings,
and store the energy in bottles that he calls their stomachs."
'"It works with the wings in front, they pump up air in laminate
bottles. That you could see as the wind stomach. They eat wind, they
put it in the bottles and that's energy which they can use for walking
when the wind is gone," Jansen said.'
A quick Google image search of his name turns up quite a few contraptions.
Take a look at this one, from this page:
There's videos of the multi-ton beast here.
"[each] of his
beach beasts consists of thirty species, dispersed over seven
periods in which they originated. Each of these periods is marked by a specific
technique applied by the artist. A mutational jump ends the development
within each species and leads to more complex ones."
On Mr. Jansen's website, he writes:
"We start with
a little pump. Since electricity tubes are available in two sizes, they
quite easily fit into eachother. The smallest one is made a little bit
tighter by using silicion glue. By doing so we create a little piston
which is combined with the larger tube, thus creating a kind of pump."
...
" A futher stap (sic) is the
use of plastic mineral water bottles. In these bottles a considerable
pressure up to 10 Bar can be stored, without the risk of exploding."
...
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The plastic bottles could also be connected to the pump of electricity
tubes. The air squeezes the piston with force out, thus creating a kind
of muscle, a pressing muscle."
Wired News has a good piece on his artwork.
There's also quite a collection of movies on Jansen's website.
Update: Here's an interesting interview I found with Jansen.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Tuesday, 21 June 2005 |
So I go and get this nice news post all typed up and Firefox crashes on me.
Doh! Anyways, it should be obvious I've been pretty busy around here.
I'm teaching a three week long robotics summer camp and between that and
family stuff I don't have much robot time. So, here goes a big link
dump:
The robot display of park benches and trash cans at Cambridge got canceled
because the robots didn't work very well. "... The bins and benches
lasted just three hours before being recaptured
after running amok, slamming into everything in the vicinity." That
certainly was £110, 000 well wasted. There's also another story of a pill dispensing robot going crazy and busting in on a doctor doing an examination of a patient. Both humans fled the scene.
Here's an interesting High School invention competition that goes by the name, InvenTeams,
and is sponsored by none other than MIT. The teams are given $10,00 USD
and 9 months to solve a problem of their choice. " ... projects
included an automatic pill dispenser, a wind-powered
water-pump, a remotely operated vehicle for education and research,
a[nd a]
robotic tennis ball retriever."
Where was that when I was in highschool?
Look out Japan, but Korea wants to become the next robot superpower.
They're aiming for the number 3 slot by 2013 and are spending $29.5
billion to get there. They estimate $20 billion in exports and the
creation of 100,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, Kim Jong Il simply says, "we
don't need no stiiinking robots, comrade."
Robot surgical nurse.
And no, this isn't like the ones we've seen before. This one
independantly did the procedure by following commands given to it by
the doctor. I imagine this could have major implications for the
plastic surgery industry - robot surgery on the go. Punch the buttons
and let the robot do it's enlarging/lifting/tucking job.
And finally, a new robotvac is on the horizon,
but this one claims to be really smart. According to the article, the
robot navigates by reading RFID tages embedded into your carpet.
Doesn't work so well on the antique Persian rugs, but will the carpets
of the future be laced with silicon?
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