Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday, 2004

Wow, has it been that long already? The MAKEr Faire in Austin was beautiful, and interesting. Funny how we saw many Texans driving along with their windows up, while us two Canadians were wearing shorts with the top down on our rental. Interesting how people adjust to different climates! The MAKEr Faire wasn't quite as […]

Well, the last batch of Escap gearmotors went very fast. Let's hope this batch lasts a bit longer! Unlike the last set, this set has a higher reduction ratio of 663:1 instead of 362:1. This means it starts turning 0.46V (!) drawing only 3.3mA (!!) It's a 3V rated motor, but our tests show that […]

Howdy folks. I have some bad news. It has just become painfully apparent that the summer is a mere two weeks from its conclusion. Where did it all go? Can't we have a little bit longer? Please? Hrmph, I guess not. That means we need to make the best of the next dozen-or-so days by […]

The University of of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been running a BEAM-style mechatronics program (GE100) for the last few years. The purpose of the class is to build a self-powered device that can propel itself over both smooth and rough terrain, using a pair of servos and a BEAM-style servo-controller circuit (similar in function to […]