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

April 3, 2002
Robots Rising re-run

Did you miss the award-winning documentary "Robots Rising" the first time? A very good documentary on the present state of robotics, including a few clips of our own Mr. Tilden. Worth investigating (Airing April 11 to 19). Read More...

March 1, 2018
Product Feature: Bare Conductive Project...

We are always on the search of cool technology, so when we came across Bare Conductive, we thought: pizza! what a great find! Bare Conductive is a design and technology company from the UK that makes sensing tools for engineers, designers, and makers. They produce a line of electrically conductive paint, capacitive sensor hardware and a […]

August 7, 2013
Wednesday Cool Links: Bagels, Algorhithm...

Well, we survived the skeleton Tuesday, now it's time for Cool Links Wednesday: Mathematically Correct Breakfast: How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves Never thought math and bagels went together so well! While I am no mathematician at any rate, the intellectual stimualtion of creating a two-twist moebius strip, you can get slightly […]

April 26, 2010
Sumovore with Bad Attitude?

Has anyone else have reports of attitude problems with the Sumovore?

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