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 22, 2016
Christmas/New Years Holiday Hours

  Happy holidays! This is a quick note to announce our holiday schedule, which is going to be as follows: Friday, December 23 - Offices open til 2pm Saturday, December 24 - Tuesday, December 27 -- Closed Wednesday, December 28 - Thursday, December 29 - Open Friday, December 30 -- Offices open til 4pm Saturday, […]

February 15, 2011
Hakko FA-400 Smoke Absorber

It's cool. Well, not quite. But it's smoking. Umm,  that's not right, either. It's anti-smoking. Whoever redesigned their 493 smoke absorber did a pretty good job - it's much better than it was before! And Hakko even posted a cool video showing how good it is (sorry, can't embed the video here).

March 11, 2011
The S.A.F.E.!

The Solarbotics Arduino / Freeduino Enclosure - That's what it is, and that's what it does! We love our laser, and part of the job is making things that make our job easier. We're finding enclosing our Arduino projects makes them... well, more survivable. Here's our first release of the S.A.F.E., with more variations coming!

May 18, 2012
Closed May 21, New Product Friday

Here in Canada, we think those plucky British monarchs are pretty swell. So swell that to this day we still celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday every year on the Monday before May 25th. The fact that Queen Victoria died waaaay back in 1901 doesn't seem to phase us at all. We're pretty hardcore that way. So […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
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.