Vibrobots are pretty squirrelly little guys, easy to make by yourself and fun to watch. BrushBots are a sort of super-sized vibrobot, with multiple toothbrush “legs.” Stick them in a paper floor arena with some drops of paint, and watch them create a piece of artwork for you:

[Direct Link]

Designed by Christian Cerrito, BrushBots are simple, cheap, and do a much better job with abstract painting than I ever could. The paths they make aren’t purely random; as the bots cross over the drops of paint, the viscosity causes them to slow down and change direction, helping the piece evolve. Not bad for a hacked up toothbrush and a pager motor, I’d say.

[ Brush Bots ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]

It may not be the most talented poker dealer in the world, but hey, it’s a robot, and it was built as a school project by some anonymous YouTuber:

Introducing the “iDeal”. It’s the worlds best automatic poker dealer! Perfect for your home poker games and fits on the edge of a table. Features include:
- PIC microprocessor coded in C
- preprogrammable games such as texas holdem (shown in video), bridge, gin, omaha, etc
- IR player position sensing using bicycle reflectors as indicators
- ultrasonic player distance sensing which determines how far to shoot the cards

Doesn’t look like much of a flop there, but I’m still reasonably impressed.

VIA [ Coolest-Gadgets ]

Looks like we’ve got a few updates from last week to show you. First off, the CrabFu Swashbot has itself a bigger brother by the inspirational name of SwashBot2. He works generally the same way, just with a slightly different design and full size servos to move his legs. The video is worth watching through to the end, since the designer takes you through the movement principle and construction process:

[ CrabFu SwashBot2 ]

Since 1994, Carnegie Mellon has been running the Mobot Slalom competition, where home built autonomous robots follow a white line through a sequence of gates as fast as they can. To complicate matters, the lines diverge and converge at several points, requiring the bots to have some sort of built-in reasoning. They also have to deal with uneven terrain, inclement weather, and have to fit through the 18 inch square gates. There’s this rule about the design of the bots:

“Animals (except primates) may be used to assist with vehicle control as long as such use is humane (does not harm the animal in any way) and conforms with applicable University regulations.”

Intriguing… Too bad the website doesn’t elaborate.

[ Mobot Slalom ] VIA [ Communist Robot ]

SwashBot is what DIY robotics is all about… He may not be the most graceful little thing, but he sure is cute. He’s constructed out of spare R/C helicopter bits, including four servos, a receiver, a battery pack, some LEDs, and little exoskeleton bits. It looks like it takes some coordination on the controller to get SwashBot to go where you want him to, but there’s no denying his slightly spastic charm:

EPIC BATTLE: SwashBot v. KittyCat, after the jump. (Read more…)

We got a big kick out of Micromagic System’s wicked cool interactive hexapod last year. The thing just keeps getting better, and now it’s learned how to draw stuff. This artsy capability is really just a precursor to a hexapod mounted CNC router (!). Hacked Gadgets has the scoop from inventor Matt Denton:

“I still have to add a small routing head and test the cutting capabilities, but you get the idea. Resolution of the work area is pretty low, somewhere between 7 & 8 bit, with about 0.5mm repeatability, so it’s never going to make precision parts! Also I have only implemented straight lines within the p.Brain, so the utility converts arcs and circles into segments.

One obvious improvement to resolution & repeatability is to have a work surface (in this case paper) that doesn’t move around, in this video the only thing holding the paper in place.. is the hexapod’s feet. In order to keep the router out of the way while walking, I plan on attaching a servo to the router head to swing the head from a horizontal to vertical position. Or maybe I will have come to my senses by then!! If I’m really mad I could try some 3D milling.. as technically the hexapod Is a 6 axis CNC machine.”

[ Micromagic Systems ] VIA [ Hacked Gadgets ]

Hexapods are some of my favorite types of bots. Humaniods are great and all, but humans are so uncool looking… Why settle for two legs when you can have six? The Lynxmotion BH3-R hexapod uses 18 servos inside 3 DOF jointed legs to move in virtually any direction. It’s pretty robust, with the ability to clear 4″ obstacles and a top speed of just under 1 foot per second. The foot and a half wide body is made of custom cut Lexan panels and aluminum servo brackets, and the kit includes just about everything you need to get the bot up and running, even all 18 servos (but no batts). As far as the actual build process goes, it looks quite straightforward… No soldering necessary, you just need to know how to use a screwdriver. Wiring the servos to the controller board might take some care, and I’m sure there’s a learning curve for the programming, but it’s already set up to perform simple actions like walking and turning. You control it wirelessly with a PS2 controller.

All told, the kit will run you under $750, which is really not that bad for such a capable and easy to build six-legged bot. Be sure to check out the other hexapods offered by Lynxmotion, including versions that are bigger and meaner.

[ Lynxmotion BH3-R Hexapod ] VIA [ Gizmo Watch ]

It’s not happening until June 13, but RoboGames is still something to get excited about. Taking place in San Francisco, there are 70 (!) events at the 3 day competition including racing, navigation, fire fighting (cool!), sumo, hockey, soccer, and of course combat, from 150 grams all the way up to 340 pounds. I’ll be there for a day or two covering some of the events, but if you’re in the Bay area yourself, you can buy tickets or (even better) enter your own bots and be part of the fun.

[ RoboGames ] VIA [ Suicide Bots ]

I like cars, but I don’t get drifting. I don’t get NASCAR either, for that matter. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a computer controlled car that is able to drift around all by itself. The cool part about this project, though, is that what it boils down to is a DIY method for computer control of an R/C car. Not only can you control the car using a computer, you can also control the car using a computer script, which opens up all sorts of possibilities. There’s a good tutorial on the site, with lots of pics, but you’ll need to know how to build circuits and solder stuff. If you’re not quite at that level yet, you might want to check out this fun little guy to get you started with soldering.

[ Autonomous Drifter ] VIA [ Robots.net ]

Building your own robot doesn’t have to be complicated, as long as you’re not building a complicated robot. Sure, you might have to learn how to solder or something, but building a bot is a great excuse to get comfortable with the skill. Vibrobots are about as simple as it gets: these robots use unbalanced motors (the things that make your cellphone vibrate) to power them along. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a neat tutorial on how to make your own vibrobot with little more than a motor, a battery, a toothbrush, and some tape. Before you scoff at this little bot, at least take the time to watch the video below (or skip to the end of it, anyway) and see just how well it works… I guarantee you will be impressed:

If you like the idea but would rather fork over $60 for a pre-assembled, slightly fancier vibrobot, you can buy one at Etsy that runs on solar power rather than a battery. Check it out, after the jump. (Read more…)