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

December 10, 2002
New BEP Application 2

We've got a new BEP application ready for you users of the Bicore Experimenters' PCB: The two motor Servocore Walker! Use two unmodified servos to set endstop and duration characteristics, slave them like regular bicores, add an IMx reverser, and you're trotting along!

August 26, 2004
Solarbotics workshop at the Robothon

Solarbotics will be back at the Seattle Robothon September 24 and 25, hosting a workshop building our Sumovore mini-sumo robot kit, and a beta kit - the Herbie Photovore! We had a lot of fun doing it last year, and many builders went on to compete the next day in the competition. And for the […]

February 5, 2014
Wednesday Links: Robot Light Painting, M...

Masking tape and storytelling! Calcium pills and Scandinavian gods! Stop signs and distant relatives. None of the above mentioned things are going to be featured in this post, although they are extremely noteworthy. But all the things in the universe are interconnected, so there's still a chance that this stuff will make sense for someone. […]

March 15, 2011
Zendulums for Japan

Effective immediately, all the proceeds from the sale of Zendulum kits will be going to the Red Cross efforts in Japan. We'll change up the Zendulum laser artwork to note it as such shortly, and post the new pic. (Done!) Fractured Hinomaru inspired by James White's "Help Japan" poster.

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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.

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