Solarbotics and the Useless Box have been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article "Looking for Something Useful to Do With Your Time? Don't Try This"! It is dedicated to the historical overview of the uselessness starting with its invention in the 1950s to nowadays. The useless box can take many guises, names and materials […]
The 2004 Robotgames are over...
Dave Hrynkiw
May 17, 2004
...and it was fun! Solarbotics was busy, showing off our new kits and gear motors, and shaking hands with a large number of our customers.
Yeah, there weren't any "official" BEAM events, but we still had a good time running our Solarbotics-sponsored SolarSpeeder race, with the winner being 8(?) year old Devon Bateman (taking home a Sumovore kit), followed by Tom Gray (who loves HexPummers), and then Mike Ball (who gave his ScoutWalker 1 to 4th place winner Jessica Bateman).
Competition-wise, we did pretty good! Our own Grant McKee is the WCRG Advanced Mini-Sumo Champion with "Ender's Wraith" (which also won 2nd at Robolympics), with myself (Dave) taking 3rd with "2Strong2Bad" (hmmm... a repeat of Robolympics). Ah, at least I managed to FINALLY defeat Dave Hylands' "Marauder", although his new "Stinger" did manage 2nd. This time... It was worth noting that "Stinger" uses GM12's and K SMD motor drivers!
Sumovores did pretty well too. Our own stock "Sumovoracious" with an Atmel add-on board finished 5th at line-follower, followed by James Wilson's "The Hulk" (fully stock) Sumovore in 6th. "The Hulk" also won 1st at amateur mini-sumo!
For full event competition summaries, check here (don't blame me if the auto-page change goes to quick!). We'll see about pictures in the near future...
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GM10 Wheels
These motors are simply too cool not to have wheels for, and although you can screw on a wheel to the existing motor output arms, these GM10 wheels are much more convenient. We built a micro-sumo robot ("MicroVore" - yeah, we know it means "micro-eater") for the PDXBot competition last week, and came in third […]
New Product: Fosshape, Wonderflex and Bu...
Mini-360 DC-DC Buck converter $3.70 Super compact and capable, this DC-DC buck converter can knock down a voltage from 23V to as low as 1V with up to 95% efficiency. Wonderflex Heat-activated Composite Plastic Sheet $79.00 This is a heat-activated, formable polyester plastic sheet that is very popular in making prop armour and other rigid […]
WIRED.COM and BIOBugs
Wired.com recently posted a very interesting comparison between the Wowwee/Hasbro BIO-Bugs, and the Sony Aibo. Interesting comparison! For those wanting more information, there's the BIO-Bug vivisection page at Solarbotics.net.
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!
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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.