Every year a group of my friends have an engineering Secret Santa. The rules are simple: make something cool for under $20 that requires engineering to complete. In years past we’ve seen Google cardboard VR headsets that are 6DOF, match stick rockets, 3D printed fans that explode when used, 3D printed rockets with cardboard launch […]
Wednesday Cool Links, Announcements and ...
Solar botics
September 11, 2013
We were at the San Mateo MakerFaire, and were representing for BPS breadboards. They've announced their winners, and the first place went to Elizabeth from Houston, Texas (age 11) (and we like unicorns too):
Now that we have established our stance towards robotic (roboCorns) and regular unicorns (unicornus vulgaris), here's some links. They are just as magical:
 |
Fletcher Tables This is definitely out of garage-duct tape-hot glue DIY range, but the craftsmanship is amazing, especially it's worth seeing it in motion, check out the video. |
 |
Robosans: Robot Made Digital Typography An intersection of typography and robotics, a font created by manipulating the controller on the OWI robotic arm. |
 |
Completely analog electronic music box An analog music box [Steven Dufresne], that uses 555 timer and can generate 13 different tones. Electronically simple and mechanically elegant solution. And it plays music! |
 |
NES: Nixie Entertainment System Tiny nixies are fun! Nintendo emulator combined with a nixie clock by [Bradley W. Lewis] is all kinds of retro-tastic. |
 |
Watch JPL's RoboSimian Do Pull-Ups We've seen lots of articulated robots, but this one eerily resembles a simian, with all four limbs capable of mobility and manipulation. |
Oh, do I ever wish I had a roboCorn to hold things, for example as my coat rack... But isn't that a waste of unicornal resources? Dear Elizabeth from Houston, Texas, please build one for me, I would find a good use for it.
And before I conclude, wanted to mention that Solarbotics will have a booth at the MakerFaire YYC at Alberta College of Art+Design on September 13 and 14, with the various electronic goodies and the Arduino workshop. Also noteworthy are our fellow Calgary manufacturers - BPS, the makers of prototyping boards, who I mentioned at the beginning of this post in relation to the unicorns. They (not unicorns, the BPS!) will also be doing a demo on using C Programming for AVRs/Arduinos and a demo on using breadboards.
See y'all (or some) there!
MORE POSTS
Vintage AMPEX VR1200B 2" Quadruplex VTR ...
I occupy a studio space in a building that is a former movie shooting facility turned into an artist hovel. The building itself is wonderfully old but the hallways are also full of ancient audio and video equipment from the movie days. One of the things that got the attention of our RnD and tech […]
Fireflies, Bundles, and Motors
Technically, winter starts with the Winter Solstice that occurs on December 21st. But we're pretty sure that whoever decided that is wrong, because it's starting to feel pretty darn cold out there. And to keep things warm, what do you need? Movement. And how do you make movement? Motors. So today we have range of […]
Expo Holiday Market snapshot
Although Calgary Expo Holiday Market that took place over this weekend was not exactly costume-abundant, it was nice to see the finished costume Solarbotics helped to bling up with our SuperFlex LED strings: Analeigh Cosplay's Who of Whoville!
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.