Although he has purchased from us, and used our products (the "Secret Motor Driver") in his prize-winning minisumo "Stinger", we, as Solarbotics officially declare Mr. Hylands only "marginal" friend. You see, Solarbotics sent a few of our robots to the University of Northern Idaho's mail-in minisumo contest, and again he's served our own tuckus back […]
Wednesday Cool Links: The Flying Stuff, ...
Solar botics
March 20, 2013
Solarbotics and the Useless Box have been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article "Looking for Something Useful to Do With Your Time? Don't Try This"! It is dedicated to the historical overview of the uselessness starting with its invention in the 1950s to nowadays. The useless box can take many guises, names and materials to be made of, but the initial impulse for pure purposelessness keeps on fascinating " tinkerers and thinkers alike". It's an interesting read, check it out if you haven't already. And now to our traditional portion of links:
 |
"Wings" by Dukno Yoon Not sure whether these would qualify as jewellery, mobile or art piece, I think - a little bit of everything, but definitely these look cool. By using this mechanical structure jeweler and metalsmith Dukno Yoon explores the nature of movement of the wing, and the interactive relationship with the body. |
|
This is What Happens When You Run Water Through a 24hz Sine Wave First it might seem that the water stream is vibrating only because the hose is doing the same, but when you get to about 1:43 in the video, it gets almost eerie, as if the water is running upwards. |
 |
A Hovering Magnetic Cloud and Other Kinetic Sculptures by Laurent Debraux Kinetic sculptures by artist Laurent Debraux using primarily magnets, ferrofluid and metal objects with a touch of vintage. More stuff on his youtube channel. |
 |
A million times (Time Dubai) by Humans since 1982 What happens if you orchestrate 288 clocks to wave their hands in a specific fashion? Pretty mesmerizing, I say... |
 |
Retrotechtacular: flying foot-soldiers are coming for you (sixty years ago) Here's a remarkable piece of the 1950s experimental military technology- a single-rider flying platform. Two rotors are mounted underneath and provide enough lifting power to hover the platform above the ground. |
Also, according to the Wall Street Journal Useless Box has also been called a "green machine" as one of its inherent attributes is energy efficiency. Our links are also very… green! They last only until you click them, leave minimal environmental footprint, with the exception of, maybe, brain. But, you know, that regenerates, so grow some more neurons by the next time we'll see you here!
MORE POSTS
B.I.O.Bug Contest coming to a close...
We're drawing to a close of the Mark Tilden/Solarbotics B.I.O.Bug contest. Due to close March 4 (the Monday after the weekend), this event is to see who can perform the best hack/reverse engineer on a Hasbro/Wowwee B.I.O.Bug. Two lucky winners get a full Quad of BIOBugs (one of each type) from Mr. Tilden, and if […]
Zendulums for Japan - results!
We've wrapped up our "Zendulums for Japan" support drive, and we're happy to announce we've sold 84 kits for a total of $2,396.07. A donation of $2400 is being processed to Red Cross Japan. Thanks to all for assisting in our little effort to give some help!
Solarbotics WCRG mini-sumo workshop
The night before WCRG, and all through the office, not a creature was stirring...except two dozen mini-sumo robots - AAAHH! Thanks to Alberta Printed Circuits, we were able to sponsor a mini-sumo workshop to build 24 robots to compete in the next day's Western Canadian Robot Games.
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.