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

February 6, 2007
GM Motors used in humanoid arm

Here's a link to a neat project featuring our GM gear motors in several spots in a humanoid arm mechanism. Very cool! Read More...

March 23, 2016
Wednesday Links: New Materials, Music Ma...

Liquid Metal to Make Stretchable Electronics The elastic tech has huge potential for wearable tech, mobile devices, and even electronic "smart clothing." New Material Inspired by Geometric Patterns Inspired by the intricate geometries and repetitive patterns found in Islamic art, researchers at McGill University developed a material with new properties. (Via ZME Science) Kinematic Petals […]

May 4, 2006
Annual Solarbotics BBQ RSVP

Hi all. It's coming up time for the annual Western Canadian Robot Games on May 13th, and as per usual, Solarbotics will be hosting our post-event wind-down. Interested in coming? Let us know here!

September 14, 2000
Minor Additions and New Links

Boy, there's work to do on new websites. Link checking, spell checking, image links - all sorts of crap that doesn't have anything to do directly with robots! Even so, we've been able to put up a few new images of Mark Tilden's "Projectorbots" on the Photovores page. Yuck. Must do something about how hard […]

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.

cart