EZ-B Wall-E, Even More New Stuff

So last week we put the EZ-B Robot Controller Suite up for sale, and what appears up on Hack A Day not long after that? This impressive modified Wall-E that has a built-in camera, voice recognition, and object tracking. And what does it use to control the whole show? That's right, an EZ-B. This would be where we assume complete and total credit for this awesome 'bot, and talk about how it wouldn't have been possible without us making the EZ-B module available, but... Turns out this project was done by DJ Sures. You know, the guy who invented EZ-B in the first place. I don't think there's any way we can even steal a bit of credit for that one. All jokes aside, this is a really great example of what's possible with the system. It can be about as powerful and flexible as your need it to be, and at the same time it has a pretty intuitive interface. Check out the video linked to from the Hack-a-Day article for a run-down of the build:

• PICkit 3 Development Programmer/Debugger - All-in-one solution for programming 18-40 pin PIC chips.
• 2002 Sumsung VFD Display Module - Vacuum Fluorecscent Display (VFD) technology provides superior visibility in high brightness and low temperature environments.
• Small 7-key Remote Control - Great for wirelessly controlling or communicating with all kinds of electronic projects
• Sabertooth Dual 12A Motor Driver - One of the most versatile, efficient and easy to use dual motor drivers on the market.
• USBHost v2.0 - This shield adds USB functionality to an Arduino, so you could even plug in your keyboard and mouse.
• AVR HV Rescue Shield 2 -  A high voltage parallel mode fuse programmer for Atmel AVR microcontrollers.
• Smoke Absorber - A great upgrade to your soldering toolkit.
• FX-888 Soldering Station - Replaces the venerable 936 soldering iron.
• Micro Bluetooth USB Adapter - Offers Bluetooth connectivity at a fraction of the size of normal Bluetooth USB adapters.
• MPTH LCD Serial/I2C-Parallel Backpack Kit - An LCD back-pack which makes it easy to connect an LCD to either your microcontroller project or your computer.

Once again folks, that about wraps things up for another week. Here's hoping that you can drive your own happy train of goodness through your weekend, using your cow catcher to fling aside those pesky responsibilities to the side to pursue something fun.

...yeah, that analogy sucked. Enjoy it while you can - I don't think I'll be breaking it out again.