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

November 18, 2004
Book Project Parts Bundles

We've had many requests to sell the parts needed to build the robots described in the books that we carry. You are now able to purchase the individual components needed to build your bot, but you're not required to take them all(Sorry, no instructions -- that's what the book is for!). If you've got resistors […]

January 30, 2014
Wednesday Links: Pulse Jacket, Wassilisc...

Today I wanted to share a how-to of one of my projects with you. So once I had some cats. And an extra apple tree. And I wanted to be noticed in the dark. So I made some fruit batteries out of apples and attached them to the running jacket. This way I could burn […]

September 7, 2012
New Product: Adapters, OLEDs and Financi...

In my recent wanderings in the world of overly-cheerful financial advise, I stumbled upon this budgeting theory that says that to feel comfortable about your moneys, or lack thereof, you gotta be living on your last month's earnings. Let's leave out the question of how anyone would pull it off, and just say that I […]

August 1, 2001
Push Pin Videos

We've had some requests on exactly what do the pushpins do. So, we added videos for two of them. Push Pin 1 (Masher Point) Push Pin 3 (Chisel Point)

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.