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

November 19, 2019
Hello...? Is this thing on....?

This is was just a Test. This is a test of the Dave broadcasting system. If this was a real Dave, you'd be notified what to do in the eventuality that you met a real Dave. This has been a test of the Dave broadcasting system. *Beeeeeep*     Ok, it seems like we've got […]

July 13, 2001
Solarcell Analysis - part 1

We've been working on testing our Sunceram Solarcells for real-world performance. Our first test is under direct sunlight, and we tried our best to get accurate data under ideal conditions - summer solstice, during the brightest hours of the day. As we're located in Calgary (lat:51.050N), Canada, you may get slightly different results due to […]

January 28, 2004
Ordering glitches

As part of our on-going website upgrades/patches, it seems that fixing one thing tends to ...botch... other aspects of the website. Right now, our shopping cart isn't cooperating. Trust us, if there was an aspect of the website we don't want going down, it's our order forms! We're on it right now, but in the […]

May 8, 2010
Moved In and Headin' Out

What a cah-razy week we've had. We're officially all moved in at our new location. There are still mounds of boxes to unpack and things to organize and some renovations to finish, but, all things considered, it went pretty well. If you happen to know where my USB extension cable went, though, I'd love to […]

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