The Hobby Guy » Robots

Live, Robots in Tokyo

TheHobbyGuy — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:13:44 +0000

One of my flying buddies, Wahgo, is working in Tokyo, Japan for a few months (yes, I am jealous!) and he sent me these pictures from his trip to The National Science Museum. The National Science Museum is running an exhibit on robots. The walking robot is Asimo built by Honda and the second robot is the rolling version of the Toyota partner robots.

Transformers Are Real and From Japan

TheHobbyGuy — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:31:00 +0000

On July 4, 2007 Transformers The Movie will open to summer movie audiences across the US and is set to be the summer blockbuster of summer blockbusters. Like many, I grew up with Transformers on TV and watched the original Tranformers Movie in 1986. The upcoming movie pulls out all the CGI and special effect stops and should delight an entire generation of people who have waited to see their Transformer heroes and villains on the big screen again.

While watching the movie trailer I recalled all the afternoons after school I spent watching Transformers on TV and rooting for the Autobots to destroy the Decepticons. Usually when the show was over I would wonder how could I build a robot like the Transformers. It was always more of a childhood fantasy, but the thought of building humanoid style transforming robots has been pursued for years by many people. In 2002 came along Robo-One from Japan and the dreams of many became reality and a whole world of hobby humanoid robotics was born in what seems to be life imitating art imitating life scenario.

If you never heard of Robo One, I suggest you check out sites like Robot-Dreams which does a great job of covering the Robo-One scene from Japan. If you want to build you own transforming robot, check out Trossen Robotics. On The Hobby Guy video section there is a whole playlist dedicated to Robo-One and you will be amazed at some of the robots that people have created.

In the Transformers Movie there is a scene in the trailer where Optimus Prime transforms in front of the main human characters and the guy explains it to his girlfriend as “Its a robot, you know like a super advanced robot. Its probably Japanese.” – Oh how right he is!

Weak Signal’s 53rd Toledo R/C Show – Quick Update

TheHobbyGuy — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:18:38 +0000

As always, the Weak Signal’s put on a fantastic show! New products, intense competition, fantastic models, and just the best in RC all around. Over the next few days and weeks I will be posting more from Toledo.

Pics are on Flickr – Click For More

I put a few quick clips from the ETOC as welland will be following up with more as well. You can see them all via RCUVideos.com

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4/21/07 – Update: I had incorrectly credited Weak Signals for holding the ETOC, actually TnT is the host and owner of ETOC. Visit the great people of TnT and check out there products.

Subway from Canal Street, NYC to Akihabara, Tokyo

TheHobbyGuy — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 18:57:30 +0000

Last October I posted about my shopping trip down Canal Street in New York City and recently Mathew from Nolebotic commented that Canal sounded like Akihabara in Tokyo. I had never thought of it like that and I think he is right. You can always find cool stuff in both places. The the question came up as th where to find the cool stuff. I checked Robot-Dreams.com, as I know he is in Tokyo, and sure enough he just published a map of Akihabara and the best places to find RC or Robot parts and supplies.

You can find that map here via Robo-Dreams

I like the map idea and I will follow this post up with a similar map of Canal Street. Any other hobby or specialty district related maps that you can think of would be great to link to as well. Post your ideas as comments here and lets make a list.
Now if we could just get a direct subway route from Canal Street, NYC to Akihabara, Tokyo.

Update: Here is the Google map I created, tell me what else to add.

Skateboarding Robot

TheHobbyGuy — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:34:46 +0000

Enjoy. Here is a Humanoid RoboOne style robot skateboarding.

Click here to view the embedded video.

MIT Team Creates Autonomous Flying Robotic UAVs

TheHobbyGuy — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:59:38 +0000

This appeared on Engadget today and it truly peaked my interest. Lets face it, robotics, flying vehicles, SWARM technology, and autonomous design are cool in their own rights, put them all together and you have an uber-geek dream. I’m lovin it!

The MIT Team is using DraganFlyer helicopters, Gentoo Linux, Gumstix, and Vicon Motion Capture Systems and has sponsorship from Boeing.

According to the project website, the team is “…investigating techniques that will enable the execution of continuous (24-7) mission operations using multiple autonomous vehicles (i.e., vehicle SWARMS) in a dynamic environment. We believe that a massively-distributed, intelligent airborne capability with little human supervision has the potential to provide many performance benefits in long-term mission operations. However, these benefits will not be easily achieved without a fully-integrated health management system.”

So how long before iRobot has these UAVs flying around with drink tray attachments, fetching the TV remote, and buzzing around the house to serve my every whim?

Microcontroller Kit For Kids

TheHobbyGuy — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 16:03:53 +0000

Chris Davies of SlashGear.com found an excellent item to add to the top of you kids Holiday list, a microcontroller experiment kit from Thames & Kosmos.
Chris writes, “The Microcontroller kit from Thames & Kosmos (I can’t help but think of a British/Russian design collaboration when I read that name) is intended to give young people (aka children) an opportunity to learn about the embedded chips that manage most electronic things they’ll come into contact with.”

[LINK]

Top 10 Robot Gifts For 2006

TheHobbyGuy — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:38:17 +0000

The holiday season is almost upon us, and you may be wondering what to get the hobby robot builder in your life, so here are some suggestions. The list is not in order of best to worst or anything, and there is no scientific reasoning for this list. This is just, in my opinion, the coolest robotic gifts, that I or any bot builder would like to receive. Please add your ideas and suggestions by leaving a comment. Hints for spouses, significant others, and parents are welcome!

10 – Vex Robotics Design System.

9 – Make Controller Kit, or anything from Make:

8 – Subscription to Robot Magazine so we can keep up with the MythBusters.

7 – The new Lego Mindstorms NXT.

6 – Anything from Parallax, especially the Propeller Starter Kit.

5 – Hitec Robotics’ ROBONOVA-1.

4 – A ticket to Japan to attend the RoboOne competition in 2007

3 - Futaba’s new humanoid robot.

2 – The RSMedia Robot from Wow Wee.

1 - Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. This is a just too fun gift for any age!

Supplies From Canal Street, NYC

TheHobbyGuy — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:29:28 +0000

Today I was in New York City for some business meetings and I had some time during lunch to stop on my favorite street, Canal Street. I decided to check out the plastic supply houses for some CoroPlast corogated plastic sheets. I was well rewarded, and picked up a clear 4×8 sheet and two 2×4 sheets cheap. I was also rewarded with finding some unique, stickable, vinyl sheets by the yard.

The CoroPlast is for a SPAD flying wing and a Robot RoBoSkin idea I have. I won’t spoil the ideas here, but, I wanted to just post how great Canal is for finding anything you need for your hobbies.

If you have never been to Canal Street, it is the best place to find anything. It is in Lower Manhattan and is where Little Italy and Chinatown meet. Besides the great food in the area, you can find wholesale shops, retail shops, and street vendors selling art supplies, jewelry, electronics, clothing, fabrics, plastics, office supplies, army surplus, brick brack, hardware, computers, car stereo equipment, toys, and just about anything you could imagine as new, used, or surplus. If you take all those items and put them into a blender and shake ‘em out, that’s the feel of Canal Street. WalMart has nothing on Canal Street.

I have been going to Canal Street all my life. I can recall going to Mott Street, just off Canal, to eat Chinese food since I was 2 years old. Afterwards, my dad and I would check out all the stores and street vendors along Canal. My mom would be ahead or behind us in another store looking for fresh vegetables, fish, or other groceries for the week. She also got a kick out of all the fashion knock offs you could find.

When my wife and I were first married, we spent three to four Sundays a month exploring Canal Street. We were newlyweds, had little to no money, but we could always find something to entertain us on Canal street.

Its a great place to get ideas for projects. Strolling through all the shops and seeing all this stuff just gets the creative juices flowing. The imagination kicks into overdrive. For a while surplus computer parts were a big item on Canal and I used to troll the bins of parts looking for parts that would be a good project or a good stock item for future project. My wife thought I was nuts, but she was happy it kept me happy. (P.S. She still thinks I am nuts)

Lately I have not been down Canal Street as often, but every time I do go, I find something that makes its way into my workshop and future project bin.

If you have not been to Canal Street, GO! Make a decision and go. I bet you will find something that is just amazing. Just be prepared for large crowds, stores packed from floor to ceiling and beyond belief, and the most unexpected things to inspire you.

RoboOne, meet JetJoe

TheHobbyGuy — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:18:38 +0000

I have always had a passion for bringing skills and ideas from one area to an other. For example, how my radio control hobbies cross over into my robot hobbies. Often I will speak with others in a particular hobby and they never look outside their hobby for inspiration or ideas.

I was recently speaking with a hobby shop owner and fellow model airplane enthusiast who has access to a lot of robotic products, but he never realized the potential. He knew that a lot of the manufacturers carried products for robotics, but never entertained the idea that these products could be relevant for his world. When we started discussing it, he was amzed at what was possible with the robotic use of servos from Futaba, JR, Hitec, and other Radio Control manufactures.

This is more than something that happens in hobbies, this happens in life. We are all guilty of it, we get focused on something and never look around to for new inspiration. How many times have you come across a product or an idea and thought; “gee, why did I not think of that?”

Look at RoboOne and biped robots. A few years ago, biped robots (think Honda’s ASIMO) were the realm of corporations with a lot of money, or the few enthusiasts with enough time, money, and passion to build one. Then one day a Japanese robot enthusiast puts together a few hobby servos and a micro-controller a builds a 1.5 foot tall biped robot that amazes the world.

Now everyone is building a RoboOne type robot. Companies like Hitec are releasing kits for RoboOnes. Hitec’s RoboNova is an excellent kit to start with.

All this thinking came from when I saw this video:

It may be a simple Gi-Joe doll with a few servos and a Parallax controller, but it is impressive. The creator seems to be a Radio Control Turbine Jet enthusiast (Yes Radio control planes can do over 200mph), and it seems he is into, or has some cross knowledge of the hobby robotics world. Nice! Or it could be old fashion stop frame animation and a hoax, but it is still a cool idea.
So, RoboOne, meet JetJoe.