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One of the problems future engineers spend a lot of class time solving is the issue of odometry for robots. It’s actually kind of hard to tell how far a robot has traveled after applying power to its wheels, but [John] has a pretty nifty solution to this problem. He converted an optical mouse into [...]

Tags:  odometry robotic mouse john nifty-solution optical-mouse peripherals hacks  

While I was at Heatsync Labs in Mesa Arizona, [Nate] mentioned that he was really proud of helping someone build a robotic hand. I have tracked down that project because it looked pretty cool. [Macguyver603] built this robotic hand that is controlled by a glove with flex sensors. He was originally going to 3d print [...]

Tags:  robotic feedback hand nate arizona flex-sensors robotic-hand mesa-arizona robots hacks  

The Robotic Manta Ray codenamed MantaBot created by the Bio-Inspired Engineering Research Laboratory (BIER Lab) is set to make a splash. The next evolution in underwater Robotics is here. We have seen the likes of robotic fish and Jelly fish now to be added to the school is the MantaBot which has been designed to mimic [...]

Tags:  manta robotic mantabot ray underwater-robotics robotic-fish jelly-fish robots hacks  

So robots kick our butts at tic-tac-toe, chess, Jeopardy, and now they’re the dominant species at rock-paper-scissors too. This robot arm will outmatch your at the game every single time. It’s not just fast enough to keep up, but it figures out what you’re planning to do and reacts according. All of this happens way [...]

Tags:  chess robotic jeopardy rock-paper-scissors robot-arm dominant-species robots hacks  

It doesn’t have four rotors, but this advanced-glider is every bit as impressive as the most complicated of quadrotor offerings. It’s the first glider that can successfully perch on your arm. We can’t help but think back to the owl in the original Clash of the Titans movie. The team at the Aerospace Robotics and Control [...]

Tags:  falconry robotic unit clash-of-the-titans clash-of-the-titans-movie glider robots hacks  

[Dave's] drawbot writes his Facebook wall messages on a whiteboard. The setup is pretty simple, depending on a pair of stepper motors and common household goods. As you can see in the image, the stylus is a plain old dry-erase marker held by a big spring clip (the kind that holds a stack of papers [...]

Tags:  wall robotic whiteboard dave dry-erase-marker household-goods spring-clip robots hacks  

Seeing this device help a man get up out of his wheelchair makes us wonder why this hasn’t been around for ages. The design principles behind the Tek RMD greatly benefit those without use of their legs. But it’s not just to help him stand, it also serves as motorized transport that makes bulky electric [...]

Tags:  device robotic stand design-principles wheelchair tek robots hacks  

This clock has a robotic twist to it. It will show you the time by drawing it in dry-erase marker. There’s a bit of play in the arm joints and some loose motor precision which results in a wavy font that prompted [Ekaggrat] to name his project the Doodle Clock. The shape and building material [...]

Tags:  robotic doodle clock dry-erase-marker building-material joints hacks  

[Patrick] decided to make a computer controlled etch-a-sketch. While the idea is not that new, there is always a different way to accomplish a goal. An Arduino is used to control a pair of stepper motors which were sourced for pretty cheap, and even came with their own driver. Next a stand was mocked up [...]

Tags:  sketch etch-a robotic patrick stepper-motors grayscale-images arduino hacks  

You know we’re all going to starve, right? If the world’s population keeps growing exponentially and food production grows linearly, we’re eventually going to find out what Soylent Green is made of. This is where [David Dorhout]‘s Prospero robot farmer comes in. [David] has come up with the idea of using small autonomous robots to [...]

Tags:  corn everyone robotic david-dorhout david soylent-green autonomous-robots prospero robots hacks  

[Alejandro] and his friends recently finished a first prototype of scratch-built robotic arm. They’ve got some nice electronics bench equipment for use with a project like this, but for the actual fabrication work it’s off to the kitchen. As you can see in the video after the break, they’re using PVC as the stock material [...]

Tags:  prototype ARM robotic alejandro stock-material fabrication-work robotic-arm robots hacks  

[Alexey] wrote in to share a mechanical claw (Google Translation) he has been hard at work on for quite some time. While a lot of people will turn to some sort of 3D plastic printer such as the MakerBot if they need plastic parts built, [Alexey] didn’t have access to one. Instead, he carefully crafted the [...]

Tags:  claw robotic plastic vladimir mechanical-claw plastic-printer google arduino hacks  

[Ben Grosser] built an interactive painting robot that’s pretty far removed from the LED and Arduino builds we usually see. The robot is adapted from one of the many CNC routers we’ve featured over the years. The control system is written in Python and uses genetic algorithms and a microphone to decide what to paint [...]

Tags:  artist robot robotic ben-grosser cnc-routers genetic-algorithms cnc hacks  

This electric turtle bot instructable describes a fairly simple turtle-style robot meant to be laser cut out of acrylic (although other materials such as aluminum, MDF, or polycarbonate should work just as well). This frame is also optionally for sale, which should appeal to those that would like a mechanical robotics platform to play with, [...]

Tags:  turtle platform robotic electric-turtle instructable polycarbonate robots hacks  

[Dave] posted some pictures and videos of his ‘Nuntius’ robot on the Propeller forums. From the pictures it’s an impressive build, but to really appreciate [Dave]‘s skill, check out the Youtube demo. The controller is a Propeller protoboard with bits of angle aluminum fastened together. Pots are positioned at the joints of the remote’s arm [...]

Tags:  propeller robotic gardener dave angle-aluminum bomb-disposal protoboard robots hacks  

While quadrotors might just become the killing machines of choice some time in the future, we’re pretty sure it will be awhile before they run amok and wipe humans off the face of the planet, if the following video is any indication. The team over at UPenn’s GRASP Lab film everything they do when it [...]

Tags:  quadrotor schadenfreude robotic grasp-lab blooper-reel robots hacks  

This really gives a lifelike look to the eye in the sky. In case you were worried that every part of your life wasn’t being recorded by a surveillance camera, the Festo Bionic Learning Network has come up with a drone that will be hard to discern from the wildlife. Watch the video after the [...]

Tags:  privacy robotic bird bird-flaps eye-in-the-sky surveillance-camera robots hacks  

Oberon is a wheeled remotely operated vehicle that [LucidScience] built based on an electric wheelchair. The detailed and helpful build log is valuable enough even before considering the vast potential of Oberon’s intended use: strutting around town, scaring the neighbours. We’ve seen other ROVs before, of course, but none with the same kind of War [...]

Tags:  level robotic next oberon electric-wheelchair rovs robots hacks  

Researchers at the University of Delaware are helping disabled kids by designing robot transportation for them. Exploring one’s environment is an important part of early development. Disabilities that limit mobility can prevent young children from experiencing this. Typically children are not offered a powered wheelchair until they are five or six years old, but adding [...]

Tags:  university mobility robotic development-disabilities disabled-kids university-of-delaware robots hacks  

If you’re in need of eye surgery you might just find yourself strapped into this contraption. It’s a magnetic field generator used to manipulate a tiny, untethered probe. It’s called OctoMag and the idea is that a robot less than half a millimeter in size is injected into your vascular system and, through the use of those [...]

Tags:  eye surgery robotic vascular-system contraption eye-surgery medical hacks  

Like the Grand Theft Auto RC missions come to life, this helicopter can grasp objects for transport. They don’t have to be a special size or shape, and it can lift them even if they are not centered. This is thanks to a load-balancing hand (originally developed as a prosthesis) that relies on flexible joints [...]

Tags:  payload robotic helicopter robotic-helicopter flexible-joints grand-theft-auto robots hacks