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

May 15, 2003
WCRG Finished!

Thanks to all that came out to the robotgames last weekend, and our Solarbotics / APCircuits Mini-sumo workshop on Friday night! We kicked...erm...said good-bye to the last participants at about 2 in the morning! Fun was had by all! Expect pictures soon... Regards, Dave

September 11, 2002
Its a boy!

Congratulations go out to Dave and Cheryl for the birth of their new baby, Dason. Dason was born September 11, 2002 at 4:16 AM weighing in at 9 pounds 14 ounces.

December 6, 2001
LightStorm Circuit

Check out our circuits page for another neat one gleaned from our design notebooks. A dark-activated, chaotically activating, dual pummer. Ideal for lighting up...things!

July 5, 2005
Yoicks! Lotsa new stuff!

Well, the pile of stuff we've just got in finally fell on me, forcing me to deal with it. Got some neat new stuff!: GMTT Traction tires for our GMPW and SW wheels. Ideal for mini-sumo robots! GMWW02 Wheel Watcher Encoder kits for the GM2/3/8/9 series gear motors, and GMWWS spacers (needed for GM2 & […]

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