The Christmas season is upon us, and it’s time to whip up your gift lists. Why not put a little robot love on there? Here’s some great suggestions for robotic gifts. We’ve featured 10 great products that will make excellent gift ideas for your robot loving friend or relative.

LEGO Mindstorms NXT

I wonder if LEGO fully understood what they were getting into when they first released their “Robotics Invention System”, or “RIS” in 1998? Now, two revisions later we have the LEGO Mindstorms NXT system, which is about as perfect of a product as you can imagine. Involving a tight-knit team of LEGO and robotics enthusiasts, LEGO developed NXT from the ground up and surprised the public with their new system in 2006. The NXT system supports over 40 different programming languages, and supports a wide range of additional sensors created by 3rd parties. The kit comes with 3 motors (with feedback), 4 different sensors, and 571 pieces. You can check out some of the fabulous NXT creations over at The NXT Step Blog.

Mindstorms NXT retails for $250 USD.

Buy LEGO Mindstorms NXT from Amazon or Trossen Robotics.

Wall-E RC Toy and DVD

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Pixar is known for creating beautiful, heartwarming, and sophisticated animated films that appeal to both children and adults. Their latest masterpiece is the story of Wall-E, a trash robot stranded and alone on Earth.

One of the more interesting product tie-ins is the U Command Wall-E “interactive robot” which uses an IR remote for control and can be programming with hundreds of different actions and combinations. This may be ripe for hardware hacking and is extremely cute, to boot.

Of course, if you’re looking for something a little less costly, the 3 disk Special Edition of Wall-E on DVD would make an excellent gift for your robot loving friends.

Buy U Command Wall-E from Amazon.com.

Buy 3 Disk Special Edition Wall-E from Amazon.com.

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Both Trossen Robotics and Hammacher Schlemmer are now offering the “World Smallest Humanoid Robot”, I-Sobot, for an astounding $99 price tag $95.99 price tag ($99 at Hammacher). This appears to be partly due to the fact that I-Sobot is being discontinued by Tomy. For $96 this would make an excellent Christmas gift for any robot lover in your family.

I-Sobot stands about 6.5″ tall and can perform all sorts of tricks, like somersaults, martial arts, push ups and is fully controlled via an IR remote control. Various movements can be sequend together to create complex motion patterns. I-Sobot also reponds to voice commands.

Times are tough, why not splurge a little? Video of I-Sobot in action after the break.

Trossen is out of stock right now, but they tell me they have a shipment coming in soon.

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David is probably going to hate me for this, but an email just popped up on the Robotics Society of America mailing list from David Calkins, saying:

So, The All-Japan 3kg Sumo Tournament is Dec 21st in Tokyo.

Fujisoft gave me 2 seats to go, all expenses, … [and] I’m giving away the tix.

Want ‘em?

You gotta win ‘em.

In order to win the tickets, you have to mail your completed Sumo robot to David, where he will compete them in a normal Sumo tournament on December 6th. The two best robots from the tournament will win tickets to Japan!

For more details contact David directly. If you don’t currently have a Sumo ‘bot, get to building! Or, buy a kit and soup it up!

Ok, so here’s the question: Is all the economic turmoil causing you to spend/build less on your robots? Vote, and let us know!

Trossen Robotics is sponsoring a robot building contest with some great prizes! The contest, which runs through the end of December, challenges entrants to building something cool. Something that will “wow” the judges. Other than that (and using electricity) the field is pretty wide open.

Projects will be judged on the “wow factor”, ingenuity, creativity, and on (the dreaded) documentation. Prizes are:

3rd Place: A Roboquad from WowWee Toys (~$60 value)

2nd Place: A Robosapien RS Media from WowWee Toys (~$180 value)

1st Place: A Pleo Dinosaur from Ugobe! ($350 value)

So, all you robot builders out there should get to work! When you’ve submitted your projects, how about leaving a comment and letting us know, and we’ll do a post about your projects.

The RoboBuilder robotics kits from a Korean company of the same name (or is it IRobou?) is now available for purchase from Trossen Robotics. The kits, which are similar to the Bioloid robotics kits from Robotis, employ modular components, like motors and sensors, to allow builders to quickly create a wide variety of robotic creations. RoboBuilder touts features such as metal ball bearings, PID motor control for precise motion, and reverse/over voltage protection. The kits also come with distance and sound sensors.

The basic RoboBuilder kit starts at $420 and goes all the way up to $1,500 for the Expert kit. Have any of our readers played with the kits yet? Let us know how they are by leaving a comment.

You can check out a video of the RoboBuilder humanoid model after the break.

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LEGO has recently come out with a new linear actuator piece as part of their new Power Function sets. The new actuators have a movement range of 5 studs, or about 1.6 in (4cm), which correspond to 26 full revolutions of the input shaft. The actuators also have a built in clutch mechanism to prevent damage from over-extension. Klocki has more pictures of the actuators. This may be a useful alternative to much more expensive linear actuators, like the ones from Firgelli.

Trossen Robotics is having a summer sale on some of their humanoid robots. You’ll find some pretty good prices on i-Sobot by Tomy, Kondo KHR-2HV, Kondo KHR-1HV, and the Futaba RBT-1.


The i-Sobot, which normally sells for close to $200.00 is being sold at a 20% discount for $159.99. That’s a pretty great price for a neat little robot. Robots-Dreams has more info on the little guy.

The Kondo KHR-2HV Starter Kit is being sold at 15% off, for $1,257. This kit comes with the full KHR-2HV robot, the GENEX suit (to make him look super spiffy), gyroscope, remote control, and a battery pack.

If you’ve been coveting some hot humanoid robot action, then now might be the perfect time to drop some G’s.

Have you ever wanted to see some hot combat robot action in slow motion? Here’s your chance. This footage was recorded at the Carolina Combat event this past weeked in North Carolina (how’d I miss it?!) by Robert Woodhead. The video is shot with a Casio Exilim EX-F1 camera, that can take video at up to 1200 fps (the video below is shot at 300fps). The quality and detail is absolutely stunning.



[Via BoingBoing ]



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  Chris Anderson, over at DIY Drones, has posted some great new information on his new, ultra-cheap, autopilot, the ArduPilot. This fully open source project allows an aerial vehicle to autonomous navigate GPS waypoints, maintain altitude, and can trigger a camera or other external device.

The autopilot, which is built around the Arduino architecture, will replace Chris’ other project, the Basic Stamp Autopilot, and forms the core of what Chris calls, 

… a $110 autopilot, thanks to the open source hardware. By comparison, the Basic Stamp version of this, with processor, development board and failsafe board, would run you $300, and it’s not as powerful.

Throw in a FMA Co-Pilot for stabilization, a Hobbico SuperStar plane, some servos, and a 6-Channel radio system, and you have all the parts for a $440 unmanned aerial vehicle. Way to go Chris!

 

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Instructables and RoboGames have teamed up to create a robot building contest. The task is to design and document one specific aspect of your robot.



The grand prize is a trip to the 2009 RoboGames, with the flight and hotel room included. 2nd place winner will receive a RoboPhilo Walking Android kit, and the 3rd place entry will get tons of cool robot schwag.

Entries are judged based on six categories: Locomotion, Manipulators, Brain, Sensors, Asthetics, and "Reuse and Recycling". The deadline for entries is June 29, 2008. Send us a link to your projects in the comments!



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Both Jawa Lunk and Scot Washburn have sent us some cool updates from the Wall-E builders group. For those not familiar with the Wall-E builder’s group, it’s an array of hobbiets that are building scale models of Wall-E, the star of the upcoming Pixar film about a robot named Wall-E.

The group currently has over 600 members who have, "grouped together to build a real working, 1:1 scale Wall-E from Disney / Pixar’s latest movie which isn’t even in theaters until the end of June 2008."

The group is making good progress with building several Wall-E models, including the "Game Cube" Wall-E model, by Jawa Lunk.

Reader Scot Washburn sent us some pictures from his Wall-E model:

 

You can find plenty more cool Wall-E models on the Wall-E Builder’s Group Flickr page.

 

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Today UGOBE has released initial details on the upcoming software development kit for Pleo. The Pleo Development Kit, or PDK, will allow users to create applications that will run on top of Pleo’s "Life OS". The applications will be written in PAWN, which is … 

The initial PDK release will focus on giving users access to Pleo’s motors, sensors, and other low-level OS features. Future PDK releases will expose all of Pleo’s Life OS to applications, creating a huge array of potential applications.

Applications will be allowed to override built-in Pleo behavior, which UGOBE calls "shadowing", to allow users to take total control of Pleo and his behavior.

Unfortuntely, it will still be a while before the PDK is released (no word on an exact date). In the meantime, UGOBE says to play around with the "My Skit" performance editor for Pleo, and to brush up on your PAWN skills. More information can be found on the PleoWorld website and the new developer section of the PleoWorld forums. If you’re getting excited about writing custom applications for Pleo, you can go ahead and purchase one from our buddies at TrossenRobotics.

 

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Last time we had a Design Goodness post, it was featuring the amazing Minimechadon creation of Mike Smyth, this time its the steampunkesc insect/clockwork creations of Mike Libby.

Libby takes insects and combines them with the insides of mechanical watches. The result is a strange, yet beautiful, piece of art. Libby sells his creations for $150 - $500 dollars. You can see the full gallery of his creations, from arachnids to bees on his website.

These would make perfect gifts for your creepy relatives who have everything else under the sun.

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Have you ever wanted to plumb the depths of your neighbors pond or swimming pool looking for lost treasure - cell phones, watches, … ? Well, thanks to the smart kids over at Carl Hayden High School (also check out their blog) you can now buy a ROV-in-a-Box Project Kit for a mere $250 USD.

The kit, which is being sold by !nventivity, LLC,  …


For all you skin-flints out there, you can also buy just the instructions and parts list for $50. Using the three thrusters and built-in underwater camera, you’ll be up and swimming in no time - just plug the RCA video-out cable in a TV monitor for hot ROV action. Note that you’ll need to provide your own, "PVC cement, soldering iron, wrenches, drill, scissors, battery charger, or TV monitor", ok?

The kit is being promoted by the Honeywell Hometown Solutions National Underwater Robotics Challenge (NURC) for use in their upcoming 2008 Underwater Challenge.

The NURC website also has some tutorials for up-and-coming teams, on topics like, "make an inexpensive water-tight thruster ", or "make an inexpensive water-tight light" - many of which were also put together by the folks at Carl Hayden High.

You can see some video of the ROV (complete with kickin’ tunes) after the jump.


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