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

September 22, 2017
The Solarbotics GraviTrack Marble Machin...

Our GraviTrack Marble Machine Kit is our newest addition to the Marble-Drop mechanism family. Elegant, swooping hands pass marbles to each other to the top of a sweeping multi-level track, available in either solar or battery configuration! Approximately twice as wide as our spiral Solar or Battery Marble machine kits, the GraviTrack is still desk-top compact but large enough for easy mechanical assembly. Pre-order yours […]

February 28, 2013
Phones Are Back Up

The maintenance was short and sweet, phone connection is restored, please feel free to call!

February 26, 2014
Wednesday Links: TV Tube Hack, Monofilam...

Today we let our staff robo-weasels pick the links. They really wanted to participate and said they will behave and promised not to drink all the antifreeze liquid from the cars again. So we let them, and here's the result. TV Screen Flag TV screen warps and waves like a flag when blown on with […]

March 12, 2002
Solarbotics Interview in Canada Computes

Solarbotics in Canada Computes! We were recently interviewed for an article in the widely-read (well, in Canada anyways) Computer Paper publication. Probably nothing you already know, but we like to toot our own horn. Read More...

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.