Singularity Hub

Singularity Hub: Robotics

Singularity Hub offers the latest news in science and technology: covering areas such as genetics, stem cells, robots, longevity, health, gadgets, the future, artificial intelligence, the singularity, body implants, and more.

BEAM Robotics

BEAM Robotics

BEAM is a type of robotics that stands for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics. BEAM robotics focus on simplicity and do not use any programming to accomplish their tasks. Many of the robots are either photophobic or phototropic and will react to their light source accordingly.

Twin-Engine Solar Roller

Zach DeBord and his amazing BEAM creations. A Chicago-based designer and Web developer who's done work for (among others) Comcast, Volvo and Yellow Tail (mmm...wine), Zach's bots put the "A" (as in "Aesthetics") back into BEAM, with gorgeous, meticulous designs that are as much objets d'art as autonomous robo-critters.

RoboticsCourseWare.org

Robotics Course Ware

RoboticsCourseWare.org is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world.

We created the site for the primary purpose of providing a resource to faculty at colleges and universities to facilitate the implementation of new robotics courses or the improvement of existing courses. We would particularly like to enable institutions without core expertise in robotics to begin to introduce these concepts into their curricula.

In developing and populating the site, we have prioritized the following:

Providing original, easily-modifiable curricular content, typically in .ppt and .doc formats

Covering the range of primary areas of robotics pedagogy, including robot mechanics, control, motion planning, vision, and localization, with less emphasis on secondary areas and courses in which robotics is used as platform to teach concepts in other academic areas

RoboticsCourseWare.org does not grant credits or degrees, and does not provide access to faculty. However, the site does give you open access to the materials used in a variety of robotics courses taught around the world.

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4 Beta

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4 Beta

Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio 4 Beta (Microsoft RDS) is a Windows®-based environment for academic, hobbyist, and commercial developers to help them easily create robotic applications across a wide variety of hardware.

Microsoft RDS includes a lightweight asynchronous services-oriented runtime, a set of visual authoring and simulation tools, as well as templates, tutorials, and sample code to help you get started.

Master of Science - Robotics Systems Development (MRSD) Program at Carnegie Mellon

MRSD Program Curriculum

The Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree in Robotic Systems Development (MRSD) is an advanced graduate degree program for beginning or early-entry practicing professionals that are already in, or seeking to enter into, the field of robotics and automation. This Masters degree program distinguishes itself from any other offered program by teaching the multidisciplinary know-how and skills needed to succeed in today’s industry.

16-722 – Sensors, Sensing and Perception

The EPFL jumpglider: A hybrid jumping and gliding robot

Laboratory of Intelligent Systems

Recent work suggests that wings can be used to prolong the jumps of miniature jumping robots. However, no functional miniature jumping robot has been presented so far that can successfully apply this hybrid locomotion principle. In this publication, we present the development and characterization of the 'EPFL jumpglider', a miniature robot that can prolong its jumps using steered hybrid jumping and gliding locomotion over varied terrain. For example, it can safely descend from elevated positions such as stairs and buildings and propagate on ground with small jumps. The publication presents a systematic evaluation of three biologically inspired wing folding mechanisms and a rigid wing design. Based on this evaluation, two wing designs are implemented and compared.

Alpha One Labs

Alpha One Labs

Alpha One Labs hackerspace was founded in July 2009. Promoting radical inclusivity, Alpha One Labs aims to provide a fun, tool rich space for users of all ages and interests to work on projects together.

i3Detroit - Imagine, Innovate & Inspire

i3Detroit

i3 Detroit is a collaborative environment for people to explore the balance between technology, art and culture. We feel the best way to create this environment is to bring like mind people together that share a common passion for technology, art and culture.

Robotics Open Platform

Robotic Open Platform (ROP) aims to make hardware designs of robots available under an Open Hardware license to the entire robotic community. It provides CAD drawings, electric schemes and the required documentation to build their own robot.

We Robot Conference on Robot Legality Scheduled for 2012

Robot Conference on Robot Legality

The first ever We Robot conference (on legal and policy issues relating to robotics) has been scheduled for April of next year. We spend a lot of time talking about the technical aspects of robotics around here, and a conference about legal and policy stuff may sound a little bit ho-hum. But, it's actually a Really Big Deal.

Microsoft Evangelist

Harold Wong's Blog Site

The frequent to infrequent rantings of a Geek that loves working at Microsoft!

Lucky Larry Robot Projects

Lucky Larry Robot Projects

Arduino projects, programming tutorials, robot projects, and other projects.

The Innovators

Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets

Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets

Want to build your own robots, turn your ideas into prototypes, control devices with a computer, or make your own cell phone applications? It’s a snap with this book and the Arduino open source electronic prototyping platform. Embedded systems are everywhere -- inside cars, children’s toys, robots, and mobile phones. With Arduino, building your own embedded gadgets is easy, even for beginners.

This book gets you started with six fun projects you can build for under $100 each: a stalker guard, robot insect, interactive painting, wireless smart home controller, boxing timer, and a cell phone controlled soccer robot. You’ll get impressive results quickly and gain the know-how and experience you need to invent your own gadgets.

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio

Microsoft Robotics Studio

Robotics Developer Studio 4 (RDS 4) beta is now available!

There has been tremendous excitement with Microsoft Kinect within the robotics space signaling the potential opportunities that exist in transforming robots to low-cost mainstream consumer devices. RDS4 beta, with support from the Kinect sensor, aims to make it easier for developers to build applications, including those directed at personal robotics and consumer scenarios, both in hardware and in simulation.

With RDS4 beta simulation tools, you don’t need physical hardware to develop a Kinect-based robot!

For hardware design, Microsoft has published the Robotics Developer Studio: Reference Platform Design specification for a standardized Kinect-based robot, to work with RDS4 beta. Parallax, Inc has manufactured a hardware kit based on the reference platform design specification which, is available for pre-order now.

RDS4 beta also adds support for Microsoft .NET Framework 4, XNA Game Studio 4.0, and Visual Studio 2010.

Robotics @ Home Competition

Robotics @ Home Competition

Do you have a cool idea for an @home robot? Here's your chance to show us what you've got.

Spherical Flying Machine

Maintaining a Laboratory Notebook

Maintaining a Laboratory Notebook

Why you might want to keep a laboratory notebook by Collin Purrington


Purrington, C.B. Maintaining a laboratory notebook. Retrieved ay’s 29 October, 2011, from http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/labnotebooks.

Open Design Engine

Open Design Engine is a web portal developed specifically to address the urgent need to publish not only the final plans but the entire design process for open source hardware projects. We like to think of it as the Source Forge for hardware. And while sites like Source Forge and LaunchPad are focusing on features to support software projects (such as demo web and database servers for web site projects), Open Design Engine is focused on the needs of hardware projects.

Bitcoin - P2P digital currency

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is an experimental new digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: managing transactions and issuing money are carried out collectively by the network.

Bitcoin is also the name of the open source software which enables the use of this currency.

The software is a community-driven open source project, released under the MIT license.

Discover Electronics

Discover Electronics

This course is an introduction to hobby electronics with a focus on building your own small projects.

Build your own Arduino Controlled Robot

This guide will teach you how to build an Arduino controlled robot from parts found in the Maker Shed!

• Author: Nick Brenn
• Time required: A weekend at most!
• Difficulty: Moderate

Arduino Mini Sumo Robot

Arduino Mini Sumo

Nor Cal Mars Rover Project

The Mars Society - Northern California Chapter

This group of enthusiasts is dedicated to furthering the cause of making manned missions to Mars with the possibility of colonization in the future. NASA approached the group to design and build a prototype for a future Mars mission.

Randy Sarafan

Randy Sarafan is an interstellar wrecking ball of immeasurable destruction.

Line Follower Simulator

Line Follower Simulator

The applet simulates a line following robot. It demonstrates how changes in robot's geometry and adjusting PID constants affect the line following performance.

Building Wireless Sensor Networks

Building Wireless Sensor Networks

Create distributed sensor systems and intelligent interactive devices using the XBee radios with ZigBee wireless networking protocol. With this fast-paced, hands-on guide, you’ll have built a series of useful projects by the time you’re halfway through the book, including a complete ZigBee wireless network that delivers remotely sensed data.

Radio networking is creating revolutions in volcano monitoring, performance art, clean energy, and consumer electronics. By following the examples in each chapter, you’ll learn how to tackle inspiring projects of your own. This resource- and reference-packed book is perfect for inventors, hackers, crafters, students, hobbyists, and scientists.

Investigate an assortment of practical and intriguing project ideas

Get an extensive shopping list for all the parts and programs you’ll need to prep your ZigBee toolbox

Create a simple, working ZigBee network using XBee radios in less than two hours and for under $100

Use the Arduino open source electronics prototyping platform to build a series of increasingly complex projects

Become familiar with XBee’s API mode for building sensor networks

Build full-scalable sensing and actuation systems with inexpensive components

Learn about power management, source routing and other XBee technical nuances.

Make gateways that connect with neighboring networks, including the Internet

Robert Faludi is an NYU Professor, SVA professor, and an expert consultant on commercial projects, including large-scale home energy monitoring. His work has appeared in The New York Times, and on CNet, Good Morning America, and elsewhere. Robert is a co-creator of the LilyPad XBee wearable radios and Botanicalls, a system that allows thirsty plants to place phone calls for human help.

Getting Started with the XBee Internet Gateway (XIG)

The XBee Internet Gateway (XIG) is a Python script for Digi’s ConnectPort wireless to ethernet gateway which lets you connect your XBee wireless modules to the internet fairly easily. Jordan Husney, lead programmer of the XIG project, has started releasing a series videos all about XIG and what you can do with it. In the first video, Jordan introduces XIG and walks through the process of setting up the gateway. The XIG is also discussed in Rob Faludi’s Building Wireless Sensor Networks and is a core component of my own Networked On Air Light project. If you’re looking for a way to put your project online using wireless mesh networking, be sure to check out XIG.

The first in a series of video tutorials by the XBee Internet Gateway (XIG) project showing you how to get started using the XIG to enable your XBee-based designs to access the Internet.

More info on the XIG can be found at http://code.google.com/p/xig/

This video demonstrates where to get the XIG, how to install it on your Digi ConnectPort X gateway, and how to use an XBee to fetch web pages and abort long requests.

Open Design Engine

Open Design Engine is a web portal developed specifically to address the urgent need to publish not only the final plans but the entire design process for open source hardware projects.

Solenoid Basics, Part 1

Jeri Ellsworth shows the basic construction of solenoid actuators and demonstrates the relationship between strength and hold power relative to current flow in the coil.

Commanding Your Robot Kitten Army

XBee Internet Gateway

From Robert Faludi's Blog

XIG 1.3.0 includes several groundbreaking features. First there’s a new I/O Sample mode. Starting today, an XBee radio can squirt sensor information directly into the cloud with no external microcontroller or special configuration needed. There’s also a push feature that feeds serial information down to a remote XBee from the cloud. Again, no special configuration is needed. The XIG takes care of all the complicated stuff!

Altera FPGA Designer Curriculum

FPGA Designer Curriculum

An FPGA designer is a hardware engineer who needs to create and verify a design on an FPGA. This engineer may or may not have prior experience with FPGAs. (see also FPGA Overview).

Before taking this curriculum, Altera recommends reviewing the Design and Support Resources Guide as a starting place to get an overview of all of the collateral, tools, training, resources, and support available to help you throughout your design cycle. If you are new to programmable logic, this guide will help you quickly get started with Altera.

Beatty Robotics

Mechatronic Tank by Robert Beatty



Spirit II Mars Rover by Robert Beatty

RoboGames Documentary

Robotics Fundamentals Series from National Instruments

Robotics Fundamentals Series

Autonomous mobile robots essentially perform three tasks: sense, think, and act. These three tasks include communication with sensors to obtain data from the robot's environment, execution of algorithms for localization and planning, and driving actuators to control the robot's motion. LabVIEW addresses each task by providing drivers for interfacing with sensors, tools for developing or reusing existing algorithms, and integration with NI hardware for driving motors.

Marine Advanced Technology Education Center

ROV Competitions

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center coordinates an international student underwater robotics (remotely operated vehicle or ROV) competition and a network of 20 regional ROV contests that take place across U.S. and in Canada, Hong Kong, Scotland, and Japan. Student teams from upper elementary, middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, universities, and community organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club and 4-H, participate. The competitions consists of three different "classes" that vary depending on the sophistication of the ROVs and the mission requirements.

In addition to technical skills, the events help students to develop the ability to problem solve, think critically, and work as part of a team. By connecting students with employers and professionals from the workplace, the competitions also expose students to ocean-related career opportunities and help them to see the pathways to those careers.

MATE Drifter Project

MATE Drifter Project

Community college faculty from around the country are partnering with MATE, NOAA and COSEE NOW to build and track their own drifters.

Academic Earth - Stanford University: Computer Science 1

Programming Methodology

Programming Methodology is the largest of the introductory programming courses and is one of the largest courses at Stanford. Topics focus on the introduction to the engineering of computer applications emphasizing modern software engineering principles: object-oriented design, decomposition, encapsulation, abstraction, and testing.

Programming Methodology teaches the widely-used Java programming language along with good software engineering principles. Emphasis is on good programming style and the built-in facilities of the Java language. The course is explicitly designed to appeal to humanists and social scientists as well as hard-core techies. In fact, most Programming Methodology graduates end up majoring outside of the School of Engineering.

Building a Simple Fritzing Component

Tales from the Evil Empire is Bertrand Le Roy's blog.

The Engineering Design Process (Student Version)

The engineering design process involves a series of steps that lead to the development of a new product or system.

STEP 1: Identify the Problem
Students should state the problem in their own words. Example: How can I design a __________ that will __________?

STEP 2: Identify Criteria and Constraints
Students should specify the design requirements (criteria) and should list the limits on the design due to available resources and the environment (constraints).

STEP 3: Brainstorm Possible Solutions
Each student in the group should sketch his or her own ideas as the group discusses ways to solve the problem. Labels and arrows should be included to identify parts and how they might move. These drawings should be quick and brief.

STEP 4: Generate Ideas
In this step, each student should develop two or three ideas more thoroughly. Students should create new drawings that are orthographic projections (multiple views showing the top, front and one side) and isometric drawings (three-dimensional depiction). These are to be drawn neatly, using rulers to draw straight lines and to make parts proportional. Parts and measurements should be labeled clearly.

STEP 5: Explore Possibilities
The developed ideas should be shared and discussed among the team members. Students should record pros and cons of each design idea directly on the paper next to the drawings.

STEP 6: Select an Approach
Students should work in teams and identify the design that appears to solve the problem the best. Students should write a statement that describes why they chose the solution. This should include some reference to the criteria and constraints identified above.

STEP 7: Build a Model or Prototype
Students will construct a full-size or scale model based on their drawings.

STEP 8: Refine the Design
Students will examine and evaluate their prototypes or designs based on the criteria and constraints. Groups may enlist students from other groups to review the solution and help identify changes that need to be made. Based on criteria and constraints, teams must identify any problems and proposed solutions.



Source: NASA

Swarmaniod - The Movie

At a San Francisco conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) this week, researchers from the Free University in Belgium won the best video award. The video is of their robot swarm called Swarmanoid. The task was for a swarm of three different robots to find and retrieve a book from a shelf. The robot swarm consists of a hand bot that can grab and climb, an eye bot that flies and can view the surroundings, and a foot bot that can rove and pick up the hand bot. The very colorful robots work together to accomplish the task and bring the book back to the starting point. The video is a wonderful visual display of robot swarm grace and beauty and you can easily appreciate why the video won.

Researchin'

You may think of research robots as tools (and even as simply a means to an end), but they think of you as a friend. This film by David Lu, which premiered at the Robot Film Festival last month, reminds us all: be nice to your robots. They love you.

PyroElectro - August is Robotics Month

PyroElectro

PyroElectro.com brings you cool projects that you can build at home, improve upon or just drool over.

PyroElectro projects & tutorials are released every Thursday and news everyday!

Animatronic Eyes Using Servos

Build it: Robotic Eyebrows

The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth

Connect a Million Minds introduces its audience to tomorrow's future leaders -- those who have a love of science, technology, engineering and math.

The Mighty Ohm

The Mighty Okm

Jeff Keyzer's blog on Electrical Engineering and his projects.

The ECSITE Project

Engaging Computer Science in Traditional Education

Computer Science is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses researchers with backgrounds in biology, physics, psychology, applied math and other disciplines; combined, they form the core for the development of the “cyberinfrastructure” that has contributed to the advancement of many fields. Computer science graduates must learn to articulate their contribution to science and appreciate their role in that process.

The GK-12 program is ideally situated to address this problem, by training a cadre of computer scientists who have learned how to communicate about what they do to intelligent students and teachers who are not insiders in their field.

Against this background, the goals of our project are:

To train future researchers in Computer Science who are able to communicate effectively with the public about their work, and who understand the connections between their work and other disciplines.

To inform K-12 students about the value of computing in fields they see as important to their further education.

To prepare teachers in other disciplines to communicate to their students the connections between computing and their fields of instruction.

To develop and distribute materials that can be used to replicate our program in other settings.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course from Stanford University

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

The class runs from October 10 through December 16, 2011. While this class is being offered online, it is also taught at Stanford University, where it continues to be a popular intro-level class on AI. For the online version, the instructors aim to offer identical materials, assignments, and exams, and to use the same grading criteria. Both instructors will be available for online discussions.

A high speed internet connection is recommended as most of the course content will be video based. Access to a copy of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach is also suggested.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

1. When does the class start?

Please note the class has a revised start date of October 10.

2. What edition of the textbook is required?

We support all editions. The third edition is preferred.

3. Will the text of the lectures be available?

We hope to transcribe the lectures into text to make them more accessible for those not fluent in English.

Microsoft .NET Micro Framework

Microsoft .NET Micro Framework

.NET Micro Framework is an open source platform that expands the power and versatility of .NET to the world of small embedded applications.

The typical .NET Micro-Framework device has a 32 bit processor with or without a memory management unit (MMU) and could have as little as 64K of random-access memory (RAM). The .NET Micro Framework supports rich user experience and deep connectivity with other devices.

Such devices include: consumer devices, consumer medical, home automation, industrial automation, automotive, sideshow devices / PC peripherals.

The Custom Geek

The Custom Geek

A site for Jeremy to share his electronics projects. I watched a couple of his videos and I am now a fan.

Arduino Labs

Arduino Labs

This website is an incubator for projects we are working on that haven’t reached an “official” status yet.

It’s also a place where we can create a more direct between Arduino and projects made by our users that we think are particularly valuable. This will, over time become a reference for popular Arduino libraries and tools we work on with our community.

Each project gets a section of the wiki and it’s edited in collaboration with the community members who created the project.

HeatSync Labs Hacker Space

HeatSync Labs

Established in 2009, HeatSync Labs is Arizona's first 501(c)3 hackerspace. We are a community workshop that makes workspace, tools, and other resources available to artists, engineers, students and hobbyists to build tomorrow’s innovations. We believe in creating a community of collaboration and learning-by-doing.

Gangplank

Gangplank HQ

Gangplank is a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in the Valley. We envision a new economic engine comprised of collaboration and community, where industries come together to transform our culture.

We’re not coworking – we’re a collaborative workspace.

Noisebridge Hacker Space

Noisebridge

Noisebridge is a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring, and of course, learning. Noisebridge is also more than a physical space, it's a community with roots extending around the world.

For we're excellent to each other here
We rarely ever block
We value tools over pre-emptive rules
And spurn the key and the lock.
— Danny O'Brien, 2010-11-09 general meeting notes

We make stuff. So can you.

The Ben Heck Show

The Ben Heck Show

The Ben Heck Show is presented by the amazing Benjamin J Heckendorn; a graphic artist turned internet celebrity famed in the world of electronics "modding". From hits like his Bill Paxton pinball machine to the in-demand XBOX 360 Laptop, Ben is known for hacking-in-to pop culture's biggest gadgets and giving them his own unique and playful spin. Ben fires-up his bi-weekly show this fall sponsored exclusively by element14.

Jeremy Blum's TechBits

TechBits Video Log

Tutorial Series for Arduino

Jeremy Blum's excellent Tutorial Series for Arduino.

This tutorial series is sponsored by Element14.
Check out their Arduino Group!

NI LabVIEW Interface for Arduino Toolkit

LabView for Arduino Toolkit Download

The NI LabVIEW Interface for Arduino Toolkit helps you easily interface with the Arduino microcontroller using LabVIEW.

With this toolkit and LabVIEW, you can control or acquire data from the Arduino microcontroller. Once the information is in LabVIEW, analyze it using the hundreds of built-in LabVIEW libraries, develop algorithms to control the Arduino hardware, and present your findings on a polished UI.

A sketch for the Arduino microcontroller acts as an I/O engine that interfaces with LabVIEW VIs through a serial connection. This helps you quickly move information from Arduino pins to LabVIEW without adjusting the communication, synchronization, or even a single line of C code. Using the common Open, Read/Write, Close convention in LabVIEW, you can access the digital, analog, pulse-width-modulated, I2C, and SPI signals of the Arduino microcontroller. To learn how the under-the-hood functionality works so you can modify or extend it, look inside the subVIs or open the Arduino sketch.

The Arduino microcontroller must be connected to the computer with LabVIEW through a USB, serial, Bluetooth, or XBee link. This toolkit does not provide for headless operation.

Requires LabVIEW 2009 or later.

Trust Your Technolust

Hak5

Put together by a band of IT ninjas, security professionals and hardcore gamers, Hak5 isn’t your typical tech show. We take on hacking in the old-school sense, covering everything from network security, open source and forensics, to DIY modding and the homebrew scene. Then we wrap it all up with a healthy dose of cocktails and geek comedy. Damn the warranties, it’s time to Trust your Technolust.

Tech United - TURTLE Robot

TECHNOLOGY
Are you interested to know how these robots work? At the TURTLE page you can see how it is build up, and how the different components of the robot work. For servicerobot AMIGO a similar page is available. The RoboCup project is fully open source so all information is available!

Arduino Servo Library

Servo library

This library allows an Arduino board to control RC (hobby) servo motors.

Send Data from Arduino to Google Spreadsheet

How to send data from an to a Google Docs spreadsheet.

Make: Live Episode 12 (Robots)

Catch up on video and notes from the show at Make: Live

RoboCup 2011 - Istanbul, Turkey

"There are few events that match the complexity of RoboCup. It is both a venue for artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics research and a display of the advancements in a format visible for people who are not experts, and allows them to share the enthusiasm of the researchers. Initially with a focus on robotic soccer and a goal of having a team of robots having a match with a human team in 2050 and winning, the competition now has leagues also for rescue, @home, and logistics. There are also competitions for junior students. Seeing the advancements in the leagues each year as 2050 becomes a closer date, our hope in meeting the challenge increases more." - Prof. H. Levent Akin

ECCE Robot

ECCEROBOT (Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot) is a three-year project funded by the 7th framework program of the EU (ICT-Challenge 2, "Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics"). It has three goals: to build the first truly anthropomimetic robot; to find out how to control it; and finally, to investigate its human-like cognitive features.

Standard humanoid robots mimic the human form, but the mechanisms used in such robots are very different from those in humans, and the characteristics of the robots reflect this. This places severe limitations on the kinds of interactions such robots can engage in, on the knowledge they can acquire of their environment, and therefore on the nature of their cognitive engagement with the environment.

However, a new kind of robot is being developed by this project consortium – an anthropomimetic robot. Instead of just copying the outward form of a human, it copies the inner structures and mechanisms – bones, joints, muscles, and tendons – and thus has the potential for human-like action and interaction in the world.

ECCE Robot Website

Robot & Creative IT Education

HelloApps.com provides a number of easy-to-follow free materials for the teachers and professors who are looking for a creative curriculum.

Robotics Education Quick Start

Trackuino - An Arduino APRS tracker

Trackuino was designed primarily to track high altitude balloons, so it has other handy features like reading temperature sensors and a cut-down mechanism. Trackuino is intended to be used by licensed radio amateurs. The project comprises both the firmware and the schematics/PCB to build your own stand-alone tracker. The tracker board includes the microcontroller, the GPS module and the radio transmitter. You can also run the firmware on an Arduino and wire up the GPS and radio modules externally.

Hemispherical Gimbaled Wheel Drive System

Designed by Curtis Boirum at Bradley University.

Engineering Education

"Engineering education is not just what goes on in the classroom. It’s very much what goes on in the laboratory, and blurring that boundary is very worthwhile."

- Edwin Thomas, Department Head, Materials Science and Engineering, MIT

MIT School of Engineering

Robot Operating System (ROS)

ROS (Robot Operating System) provides libraries and tools to help software developers create robot applications. It provides hardware abstraction, device drivers, libraries, visualizers, message-passing, package management, and more. ROS is a a completely open source (BSD) and free for others to use, change and commercialize upon.

Source: Willow Garage

Next Big Thing in Silicon Valley: Robotics?

Can Silicon Valley be the center for robotics too?
Posted by Norri Kageki on GetRobo

Silicon Valley is known for its software, semiconductor, and Internet companies. Can it become a high-tech nexus for robotics too?

Adept Technology

Founded in 1983, Adept Technology is the largest U.S.-based manufacturer of industrial robots. Adept intelligent automation product lines include industrial robots, configurable linear modules, machine controllers for robot mechanisms and other flexible automation equipment, machine vision, and systems and applications software.

Willow Garage

Willow Garage is a team of experts in robot design, control, perception, and machine learning, with both a strong theoretical background and a demonstrated drive to produce practical systems.

Mythbusters' Savage on Finding the Fun and the "Danger" in Science - PBS NewsHour

How Making Stuff Helps Make Science More Appealing to Kids - PBS NewsHour

STEM Education Award Winning Video

Our Next Robotic Hero

Dennis Hong: Virginia Tech Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory

The Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech is a facility for graduate and undergraduate robotics research and education with an emphasis on studying novel mobile robot locomotion strategies. Their research interests are in the area of Robot Locomotion and Manipulation, Kinematics and Mechanisms, and Autonomous Systems.

Robot Soccer Practice

All Terrain Robot

Everything is a Remix

Everything is a Remix is a four-part series on creativity and innovation by Kirby Ferguson.

Part 1: The Song Remains the same
Part 2: Remix Inc
Part 3: The Elements of Creativity
Part 4:

Self-Organizing Systems

The Termes Project
Biological systems, from multicellular organisms to social insects ("superorganisms"), get tremendous mileage from the cooperation of vast numbers of cheap, unreliable, and limited individuals. As we build embedded systems with similar characteristics --- modular robots, robot swarms, sensor networks, programmable materials --- can we achieve the kind of complexity and reliability that nature achieves?

Good-bye, Bob Pease

Analog engineering legend Bob Pease was killed in car crash, which occurred as he was leaving a memorial service for his friend and fellow analog expert Jim Williams.

Science Competitions Integrated Into Curriculum

Science Competitions Integrated Into Curriculum

Welcome to RdXRobotics