Vibrobots (and bristlebots) are simple robots that use a tiny pager / cellphone vibrator motor (with an eccentric weight) to randomly bounce around -- they are the subject of many Maker / DIY projects as well as some well-known commercial toys (such as the $7.00 Hexbug Nano).  Naghi Sotoudeh, a Hizook reader from Iran, contacted us about his latest project: a remote controlled micro-scale vibrobot (measuring just 18 x 12 x 10 mm) that uses two vibrator motors to achieve steerable motion without any wheels.  Naghi's design is similar to some previous steerable vibrobots (eg. the Harvard Kilobot project), but the vibrator motor arrangement gives his design a nice, distinctive faux-wheel look.  The hardware is fairly simple: a small PCB, two vibrator motors, a microcontroller, an infrared photodiode, and a very small battery.  In general, the software for this type of robot isn't too bad either.  In short, this could be a great DIY project and potentially a nice mass-market product.  What do you think...  Would you fork over your hard-earned money for a RC vibrobot kit or pre-built RC vibrobot? 

Robotis has just announced a new line of Dynamixel Servos: the MX-series, beginning with the release of the MX-28.  The MX-28 servo has some distinct improvements over its RX-28 brethren: 12-bit (0.088°) angular resolution (four times that of the RX), full 360° controlled rotation (rather than 300°), non-contact magnetic encoders (not subject to mechanical wear), etc. -- and all for about the same price (MX-28: $219.90 MSRP, RX-28: $200)!   Of note, the MX-28 is prominently featured as part of the new DARwin-OP humanoid -- the recent Nao competitor that Robotis created in collaboration with Virginia Tech's RoMeLa Lab.  Perhaps best of all... Hizook was selected as a beta tester for this new servo (probably owing to our  prominent coverage of the RX-series and our awesome cross-platform open-source Robotis software library).  We were impressed with the new MX-28 -- read on for details, including an exclusive look inside the new servo as well as a quick tutorial using the updated open-source drivers (in python, complete with ROS bindings).  

Perhaps you remember Garratt Gallagher -- he's the ROS / Kinect hacker responsible for 30% of all entries in the recent Kinect / ROS 3D competition, in which he  won first place for Impromptu Buttons (his other entries such as Finger Detection, People Follower, Kinect Minority Report Interface, etc. were also quite impressive).  However  I want to introduce you to his most exciting project to date:  Bilibot.  Started in December and funded with $5,500 through KickStarter, the Bilibot Project is an open source effort to create an affordable robotics platform based on the iRobot Create, Kinect, and a computer pre-installed and pre-configured with Ubuntu and ROS.   The goal is to create a platform for hackers, enthusiasts, and researchers that works right out of the box without the (often daunting) challenge of installing and configuring Ubuntu and ROS.  Frankly, the $150 Kinect may be popular in the gaming industry, but it will completely revolutionize robotics -- it is an amazing sensor, and the Bilibot project aims to make it even more accessible. 

Professional and hobbyist roboticists alike are snapping up Robotis Dynamixel Servos.  These "smart" servos serve an important niche between $30 hobby servos and super-expensive harmonic drive servos.  They sport torques ranging from 12 kg·cm to 106 kg·cm, and even more when doubled-up.  Most of my experience is with the RX-28 and RX-64 variants, which have 300° swing, 10-bit position sensing resolution, (roughly) 8-bit position control, force/torque sensing, available compliance mode, and can daisy-chain more than 250 servos.  At Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab, we use dozens of these servos.  I recently invested a decent amount of time overhauling our open-source (Python) control software, adding (among other things) thread-safe operation and ROS (Robot Operating System) compatibility.  In this post, I'll do a brief overview of the Robotis Dynamixel offerings, look at a number of impressive applications where they are utilized, share pictures of a servo's disassembly, and give a brief tutorial using the new (awesome) open-source software libraries.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are no longer relegated to military and police forces.  Amateurs and hobbyists, working in close-knit online communities, are fusing old RC airplane concepts with modern technology to create UAVs that rival commercial offerings.  Recent efforts suggest that an amateur UAV, complete with on-board cameras, wireless video downlinks, operator heads-up display, autonomous waypoint navigation / autopilot control, and ground tracking stations can all be had for less than $2,000 (read on for details)!  Unfortunately, the FAA (aviation regulatory body in the United States) already treats commercial UAVs as regular planes, requiring aircraft registration and 60 day pre-flight plans.  While the regulations for hobbyists seem to be more lax, I personally believe the FAA should embrace amateur UAV builders in the same way that the FCC embraced ham radio operators of yesteryear.

A commercially-available ultra low-cost laser rangefinder is finally set to hit department store shelves in February!  I'm speaking of the laser rangefinder presented at ICRA 2008 that costs $30 to build (commented on here at Hizook almost one year ago) that sits atop the recently announced Neato Robotics XV-11 vacuum cleaner.   Others have thoroughly discussed the XV-11's competitiveness with iRobot products, the possible patent infringement of iRobots square-front design, and its ability to perform SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).  But everyone has glossed over the coolest part:  Forget about Neato's $400 robot, $60 batteries, $30 wheels (etc.)... if made available, sub-$100 laser rangefinders would revolutionize hobby robotics!  Read on for a description of this compelling (future?) component.

Pico is an impressive hobbyist robot.  It measures in at 2 cm³ (12.5mm per side) and features a laser-cut chassis, two Didel motors (MK04S-24 driving worm gears), an A3901 stepper motor driver, and an ATtiny44 microcontroller. With a run-time of 15 minutes off a 10mAh Li-Poly battery (approx 3.7V), that equates to a power consumption of about 140 mW. I suppose the large power consumption is to be expected, given that the Didel motors employed can use as much as 100mA at 3V!