This is halarious, if all SNL was this funny I’d watch it again.
[via Shiny Shiny]
Category: Robots
Our Sun in 3D
Another link sent to me by secret agent Greg a few days ago. Its a space mission to send two probes in an orbit around the sun that will enable us to see the surface of it in 3D. On Earth you can’t do this very well because you can only get so far apart and when your at that maximum distance you have a whole lot of distorting air between you and your object of observation. Once these satellites are in place it will allow CME (coronal mass ejections) and other particle emission events with depth. Why is this a good thing? Well it will give us a much better chance of preparing for the problems that often occur when the sun has a little ‘gas’ and we all get washed with extra radiation. That can cause communications blackouts, power failures in big cities, satellites to die. And if your living in space or just visiting (think airline crews) it can be a health hazard. I for one can’t wait until images from these guys start showing up on Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Spiders In Space
How cool, robot spiders that are designed to move along very thin fabric that future space based structures may be built out of.
Hayabusa Update
Looks as if there has been another setback in the mission of the little space probe that could, the craft has started to tumble and is not longer in a good position to receive communications from Earth. A small fuel leak caused it to spin in an unexpected way but the ground controllers have been able to calculate when it points in the right direction so communications could still continue. The new orientation still fulfils the com and power requirements but not by much. The overall mission has been extended by a few more years in a hope that they will be able to recover and head back to home with the sample of asteroid Itokawa
Robot Magazine On the Stands
I’ve been reading through the premiere issue of ‘Robot Magazine’ and have nothing but good things to say about it. Anyone that has an interest in the growing area of hobby robotics needs to read this publication. No matter if you have a LEGO Mindstorm kit and want to get some ideas, a new VEX robotics system, or are building a ‘Robo One‘ classed robot there is going to be something in this for you. The lead story of how the Mythbusters built their own PackBot out of the new VEX Robot System is a great read. First class stuff!
DIY Line Following Robot2
There you go, a fantastic DIY project that involved LEGOs, electronics, and robotics.
As any good engineering project goes, we will start out with a problem and a solution. The problem is going to be to build a Lego robot with sensors, a motor controller, and a microcontroller that 1. Follows a black tape. 2. Upon reaching the end of the tape will pause for three seconds. 3. After pausing for 3 seconds will return back to the starting point.
This reminds me of my first robot. I had just about the same setup as he does except I had touch and IR sensors connected to a Basic Stamp all on a LEGO body. I used a hand built H-Bridge to drive the motors and not a 2998. It worked OK except the motors were geared wrong and it went far too fast. After smacking into one too many walls I took it apart and started on another project.