Short Pause...

Sorry for not posting, we have been really busy 'round here.  Gettin' ready for you know what!!

While you wait, check these out.

Making LEGO

A nice clip about how LEGO parts are made.

MisterFitzGibbon's Work

Whilst perusing MisterFitzGibbon's YouTube Channel, I found a really nice compilation of some of his work.  It's pretty impressive.

Brick Sorting Bird

Here's a great little project.  But this is different because this sorter doesn't have any brains, it simply uses an ingenious mechanism to to "measure" the length of the brick and then pick up and move the brick to the appropriate location.  According to MisterFitzGibbon..

"How does it work? When the beak can close no further, power is transferred to turning the bird. If the beak closes on a larger brick, it will begin turning earlier, and thus further, before dropping the brick."

Dice Throwing Robot

Ever get to lazy that you can't roll the dice while you are playing your favorite board game.  LotteGore has you covered....

A Day in the Life of a Kiva Robot

I really wish that I could explain this video, but I can't.  All I can say is that this Kiva robotic system is a really cool and complicated way to help pickers pack boxes for shipment.

I guess that wasn't so bad.

Treebot

A couple of people over at the Chinese University of Hong Kong are developing a tree climbing robot.  It surely has a novel way of climbing, that's for sure.

More information at IEEE Spectrum

Basketball Practice..On a Robot?

The French basketball team "Poitiers Basket 86" sometimes practices their "spatial orientation" skills while riding on an over-sized robotic arm.  Personally, I think they are only honing their ability to not vomit while handling the basketball.

Found on Engadget

Beautiful Periodic Motion

Pendulums are boring, right?  Nothing cool to see.  I submit to you an argument to your case.

Found on Make:

If you want to know more about why this happens this way, check out the Wikipedia page for pendulums

JPL Curiosity Mobility Platform

Robotic rock negotiator at the JPL Open House.

Moonbots

Short bit on the Moonbots Competition.

Super-8 Movie Projector

I think this is a great thing.  A LEGO Technic Super-8 Movie Projector.  Only a few of the obvious parts are not LEGO.  I found this on Make:

Lego Technic Super-8 Movie Projector from Friedemann Wachsmuth on Vimeo.

Cornell Ranger Walks Non-Stop 40.5 Mile Ultra-Marathon

The impressive part of this video is not the mechanism so much, but that the folks at Cornell designed a mechanism that uses so little energy that the machine could walk 40.5 miles in just under 31 hours...without stopping to charge up.



I would love to see this built with Mindstorms.

Robotic Light Saber Duel

Can't they just sit down and talk about their differences?  Why do they have to fight???



Found on Technabob

What's Going On?

Over at Boing Boing I found a great piece of kinetic art by Brett Dickins (MechanicalSculptor).  It gets better at about 1:10.


And by the way, I am that one guy who actually likes that song.

Again, Quadrotors, Is There Anything They Can't Do?

Prank Bot.

Here's a twist on this fun prank.  But you have to watch the video all the way to the end.

Quadrotors, Is There Anything They Can't Do?

Theft FAIL

We all wish we had more, but most of us do it the correct way.  I said MOST of us.

Found on Probably Bad News

ParalleMIC

From my interest in parallel and delta robots, I ran into an interesting site called www.parallemic.org.  They have all kinds a cool stuff.  Here's one of the images I found.  

I think that this device is used to wind watches.  It doesn't look too hard to build.

Corkscrew Drive

Here's an innovative way to achieve locomotion.  Not sure it's very useful, but it sure is thinking outside the box.  Found on New Scientist.

Amazing Toothpick Kinetic Sculpture.

Ya, ya, I know.  It's not LEGO, it's not robotic, but I think you can appreciate this.  Lots of sites are putting this incredible feat up as a static display, but I just learned that it actually is a kinetic display.  This is the result of 35 years of labor. Here you go.

Rollin’ Justin

Robots are now playing ball for you.  Watch this robot named Rollin’ Justin catch multiple balls as well as make coffee.  I found this everywhere.



I am tellin' you, we will soon look like this unless we make some changes...

Dale Dougherty: We are makers

Why do you build?  Dale Dougherty did a TED Talk and it explains perfectly why I build.  It's because I like to "play technology."  A very inspiring eleven minute video.