It's been a bit long in the coming, but it's finally here: The Sumovore PICAXE Brainboard for the Solarbotics Sumovore! One of the biggest tripping points we see from going from the pure digital/analog realm of BEAM to microcontrollers is learning the ins-and-outs of microcontrollers. The PICAXE nicely fills this void by offering a programming […]
Bulbdial on Steroids - the Chinook Shado...
Dave Hrynkiw
March 23, 2012
We've been working with the Chinook Mall since they did a retrofit a decade ago, where they really amped up the mall, making it the keynote shopping centre of Calgary. One of their features is the "Time Capsule Clock", which sits in the floor of the center court, where a 1000 year time capsule waits under a clock.
Time passes fine for the capsule, but time did not treat the clock too well at all. Since clocks are generally supposed to be wall-mounted affairs, the constant beating it took from floor cleaners and pedestrians finally make it die an early death. We were called in periodically to repair the clock hands and reset the time until they finally gave us the go-ahead to design them a replacement. A much better engineered replacement - a ShadowClock!
Inspired by the sheer sleekness and appeal of the Evil Mad Scientist's Bulbdial, we adapted the idea to a larger scale, with 2.5X the LEDs. We finally installed the project last Monday, and just finished putting up a Flickr roll detailing the project.
Want one of your own? Sorry - we only have the backup unit left for our own nefarious purposes, but we're working on a kit!
MORE POSTS
WIRED.COM and BIOBugs
Wired.com recently posted a very interesting comparison between the Wowwee/Hasbro BIO-Bugs, and the Sony Aibo. Interesting comparison! For those wanting more information, there's the BIO-Bug vivisection page at Solarbotics.net.
What can you do with a GM15?
...oh, just save the Republic! Just got this note in from Rob Meyer, who is using 3 of our GM15 pager gearmotors to drive his 1/18 scale R2-D2. Given that the real R2-D2 measures 108cm tall, that makes this cute cousin only 6cm (2.36") tall! There's a GM15 for each of the drive wheels, and […]
ScoutWalker III back in stock!
There's still time to get your Solarbotics order in time for Christmas if you select courier shipping (maybe even just airmail, if you get the order in today and you live closeby). We now have a solid inventory of ScoutWalker III kits in stock, so if you want to have one from "Santa" this year, […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.