I would very much like to own one of these machines. Pretty much anything you can cut out with a knife, copeing saw, or scissors you can zap out with this. Wood, plastic, metal, evern rubber! Desgn it on your computer, load the hopper and in a while you get cut parts. Custom gears, your own puzzles, stand up photos, rubber stamps… Too cool! All for about $10,000. (Humm… Can I get a small business loan?) What do you know, they have an office in Scottsdale, maybe I can get a tour of their plant. That would be sooo cool! Now that would me a great blog entry. Lots of photos, interviews, the works! Hey, if anyone has used one of these leave a comment, I’d like to get a real world opinion of one of these in action. Can you actualy etch a drill bit? VersaLaser laser, DIY, prototype
Category: Robots
Carry Your Own Robotic Plane
The craft is only 12 inches tall and weighs in at 13 pounds so I wonder what kind of loiter time could be expected from it. Still, pretty cool. One question about all this cool high tech gear the fighter of the future will will be in charge of, will they be able to use it all? With all this nifty intel gear there may be an issue of info overload or better yet what if conflict of intel. What if an attack is planned using info from a high altitude UAV and then at the last moment new photos from a backpack sized UAV shows something totally different behind the hill? If all the info doesn’t get back to the commanders in time there could be quite a mess…
The objective of the MAV ACTD is to demonstrate a backpackable, affordable, easy-to-operate, and responsive reconnaissance and surveillance system. The system will provide the small unit with militarily useful real-time combat information of difficult to observe and/or distant areas or objects.
The system will also be employable in a variety of warfighting environments (for example: in complex topologies such as mountainous terrain; heavily forested areas; confined spaces; and high concentrations of civilians).
Robo Urinal
Art Interface Device
This looks to be a useful project. You take an input device (keyboard, lightpen, rocker switch, salty water) and use that to trigger whatever is attached to the AIM (motor, speaker, servo, arc welder, hammer drill…) thus giving the artist an easy way to create output in an art install or what have you. Oh yeah, its DIY and Open Source too!
The Art Interface Device (AID) is a microprocessor platform for building electronic installation art. It can also be used as an interface between such artworks and computers. It can enable artworks to respond to people and the physical environment.
7th ROBO-ONE
Some very nice photos from the ROBO-ONE event in Japan. The walking robots are amazing, I can’t wait until someone builds one using R/C sailboat servos. That would give the little guy some pretty good power to do something like run an obstacle course.
7th ROBO-ONE opening and the Korean spirit sweeping over higher rank
WASP Drone
I remember some guys at ASU working on these. I doubt these will be ending up at the army surplus store any time soon, but maybe someone will take some off the shelf parts and build up a nice little toy for under the Christmas tree. It would be a nifty tool for finding a good place to set up the tent or to find someone if they have wondered off.
“The Wasp has two cameras — one forward and one aft — that collect and feed live video or other information. It’s designed to follow a programmed or relayed route using Global Positioning System waypoints or other navigational systems,” C4ISR Journal says.
Defense Tech: ITSY-BITSY DRONE