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.

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August 19, 2015
Cool Links Wednesday

Green 3D Printer 3D printing "filament" infused with living seeds: this is when "eat your greens" takes on a whole new meaning. (Via Colossal) Longitude and latitudeBeautiful CNC renders of wave patterns captured by drone, by David Bowen. (Via CreativeApplications) Light calligraphy Painting with light never gets old - especially if it is beautiful Arabic […]

October 31, 2008
Wot?!? New gear motors?

Hey, how about that! We've got some new gear motors to complement the popular Mini Metal Gear Motors (the GM11a, GM12a, GM13a, GM14a, GM18 and yes, even the mutant GM19). What's particularly new is that they have sealed cylindrical gearboxes! Same sort of gearing, but no funky rectangular shape - just a nice, sleek, clean […]

May 22, 2015
Friday New Product: Goggles and NeoPixel...

So when we created the Arc Reactor project to show off at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, we also quickly put together our version of NeoPixel Goggles. We now carry the goggles and NeoPixels that fit them, as well as two other sizes of these amazing addressable RGB LED  rings.

May 17, 2002
New Parts

We've added to our new parts listing the 8212 Maxim Voltage Monitor, the dual AA & AAA battery holder, and the new 1F 2.5V aerogel capacitor. Of them all, the new super-capacitor is pretty cool...

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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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