Wednesday Cool Links: Spiderbot, Solar S...

Dave Hrynkiw
October 17, 2012

It's Wednesday! Hooray! Huzzah! We're celebrating because... Well, ok, we have nothing big to celebrate right now. So we're going to celebrate having nothing to celebrate with the traditional and only appropriate way possible... BROWSING THE INTERNET! Indeed, we've been celebrating this time-honoured tradition with steadfast dedication, and it's our pleasure to share it with all of you.

Four-Legged Spiderbot
As the website puts it, this is "a walking machine, radially symmetrical, having four legs with two degrees of freedom each, controlled through a wireless link from a hand-held controller based on two Wii Nunchucks." Very impressive articulation and range of motion. Be sure to check out the video.
The Almost Useless Machine
A solar-powered... Reciprocating saw? Make sure you have lots of patience and a cold one to enjoy while you "work"! Seriously though, while this might not be too functional, it certainly has some great craftsmanship.
Solar "Death Ray": Power of 5000 suns!
Mirrors. Lots of mirrors. 5800 of them, to be precise. It's pretty cool (and a LOT scary) what kind of power can be harnessed by arranging mirrors onto a fiberglass satellite dish and aligning it to the sun.
6 Rubens Tubes Visualizer
Hrm, a flame visualization for music? SIGN ME UP. Turn it into a handy-dandy plug-in accessory for the iPod, for the best on-the-go pyrotechnics you can possibly imagine. Might want to make sure you turn it off before tucking it away in your pocket, though.
Solar Engineer Badge on DIY
So, you think you like DIY? Well, it's time to prove your chops by completing challenges over at diy.org. They even have a Solar Engineer Badge that features a bunch of project ideas, including our Instructable for the Solar Powered Miniball.

We were once hoping that we could instead celebrate by racing giraffes through obstacle courses, but that didn't pan out. Too bad. I was planning on decking mine out with some sweet black and white racing stripes, to make it look like a very oddly proportioned zebra.

MORE POSTS

September 13, 2013
Phone Support Unavailable

Due to a shortage of staff and the Calgary Mini Maker Faire this weekend, we will unfortunately be unable to take your calls at this time. Sales & support can still be reached at sales@solarbotics.com & support@solarbotics.com, however responses may be a bit delayed.

November 1, 2001
Having Online Order Difficulty?

If you've been having any problem whatsoever with our online orderform, would you be so kind to fire us a quick message about it? We're trying to isolate a problem we're hearing about, but cannot reproduce, especially with the final "submit" button. A copy/paste of the error message to us would be greatly appreciated...

July 28, 2016
New Product: Prototyping & Enclosur...

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March 19, 2001
Los Alamos BEAM Workshop

We're happy to announce that the 2001 Los Alamos BEAM Robotics Workshop is going ahead this May 3 to 6th! After much delay and threats of budget-cuts, funding has finally been secured. Thanks to Joe Vigal and Paul Argo of the Los Alamos National Laboratories for keeping this great event alive for this final year! […]

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