Frogbots! Solar-powered, at that!

Dave Hrynkiw
December 15, 2000

I missed the full segment of this story last weeks on "Discovery Channel's @discovery.ca" program, but fortunately, the've put the segment online at their website. I seems that JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories - NASA essentially) is working on a solar-powered, single-footed robot frog. This seems like a GREAT idea for extra-terrestrial planet-surface locomotion. Check out the videos and see for yourself. Additional information at Space.com Even more technical information is here and here, in these Adobe Acrobat files from one of the researchers, Paulo Fiorini. Here's his homepage. And this is his dedicated Frogbot hompage - lots of interesting info!

Oh, and if you scroll to the bottom of the Discovery Channel / EXN page, you'll find a nice video clip of our favorite Roboticist, Mark Tilden. They shot this a few years ago, and I'm glad to see they resurrected it to be on this page.

Read More...

MORE POSTS

March 8, 2007
GM19 Gearmotors in action!

We've had a great email come in from "Team Wazio", who are using our GM19 gear motors in their ant/fairyweight battlebots. Neat construction details - worth a look-see! (Yes, we know they're using the RW2 wheels and we're sold out, but we're taking care of that...)

August 26, 2004
Solarbotics workshop at the Robothon

Solarbotics will be back at the Seattle Robothon September 24 and 25, hosting a workshop building our Sumovore mini-sumo robot kit, and a beta kit - the Herbie Photovore! We had a lot of fun doing it last year, and many builders went on to compete the next day in the competition. And for the […]

June 4, 2012
Project Monday: Pingbot

Tom from our Facebook page recently showed us his latest project, the Pingbot. In Tom's words, it's "a very small (38mm diameter), usb rechargeable, programmable, musical, remote control robot designed for maximum fun and danceability." We don't know about you, but danceability should be a priority on every robot's feature list. Check out some video […]

October 31, 2012
Site Back Up; Cool Links Wednesday: Hall...

If you've noticed, our website had another slight weapons malfunction that happened last night. Our server in NYC is raising from the ashes as we speak and the hamsters are back to spinning their wheels. We're even able to process orders now! Please don’t hesitate to give us a shout if you have any concerns […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

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.

Copyright © 2024 Solarbotics Ltd. All Rights Reserved
cart