Latest from our Favourite BEAM Roboticis...

Unlike Sparkfun, who actually manage to find fake Atmel ICs, we just get strange batches. The Atmel ATMega328 is the power behind the Arduino/Freeduino/*duino, and we have to set up a programming system to burn the venerable Arduino Bootloader into these chips. We normally use an AVR STK500 in HVSP (high voltage serial programming) mode, […]

Electronic things come in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of different appendages. This week we have a few itty-bitty components that have legs/leads. They're like bugs, except made of metal. And, you know, completely inanimate. (Inanimate bugs? Those are the best kind...) LM1084 5V 5A LDO Voltage Regulator $3.94 The LM1084IT-5.0 is a […]

Sensors. They're FUN. So fun, in fact, we just added a metric crap-tonne (a completely legitimate scientific unit of measurement) of them to Solarbotics. What, you don't believe me? CHECK THIS ACTION OUT! We just added 4 categories, and we now have a total of 75 items available. Here's the full rundown of new stuff: […]

Keep warm! What else can I say... This is the season of thermosocks, spice chai, frozen windshields and many layers. For those who are not hibernating just yet, here's a weekly dose of entertainment: Bioluminescent Bacteria Lamp I want one! Hopefully no bacteria were hurt in this lighting experiment, and they were all paid accordingly […]