What do you do when you want your plants to grow but you lack a green thumb? Give them wheels and the ability to seek out sunny and shady spots on their own. This was media artist Kathleen McDermott has done. The aptly named Sunbot and Shadebot are robots that help houseplants tour the outside world. Sunbot uses photocell (light) […]

Being a dumb and clumsy robot has never been as fun as in the stupid robots competition Hebocon. This competition series is described as “robot contests for the technically ungifted” by its creator Daiju Ishikawa, and encourages anyone to join with no prior knowledge of robotics necessary. What’s neat is that unlike other awards, Hebocon’s are symbolic as they are usually made out of recycled […]

As its name would suggest, the LittleArm is a mini 3D-printed robot that began as a weekend project. Its creator Gabe Bentz wanted a small arm that was easy to work with, and one that wouldn’t require him to dig deep into his wallet. So, as any Maker would do, he decided to design his own low-cost device. After […]

Recently-graduated high school students Sam Baumgarten and Graham Hughes have developed a pretty rad robotic gripper with the help of Arduino and 3D printing. The gripper itself consists of three large hobby servos joined to the fingers with a linkage. The underactuated fingers have a force sensor under each contact point, while the control glove is equipped with tiny vibrating motors at the fingertips. […]

The da Vinci System is one of the most popular surgical robots around, which allows surgeons to perform operations through only a few small incisions. The device works by translating a doctor’s hand movements into smaller, precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body. As ubiquitous as they may be in hospitals, chances are it’s never been operated quite like this before. […]

A team from ETH Zurich has created an incredible submersible robot called Scubo as a way to scan entire coral reefs. Equipped with six onboard webcams, the omnidirectional device is capable of exploring the deep sea from every angle. What’s more, users can take a virtual dive by throwing on a pair of VR glasses to make it feel as if they’re […]

An entry in this year’s Hackaday Prize, Dtto is a snake-like robot designed to be modular and self-reconfigurable. Inspired by Bruce Lee’s famous water quote, Dtto can transform into various shapes by changing the position and connection of its 3D-printed modules. As Hackaday points out, each section of Dtto is a double-hinged joint. When two come together, magnets help them align. A […]

If you’ve always wanted a bot for a friend, personal assistant or butler, you’re in luck. John Choi, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science and arts student, has managed to build his own life-size robotics platform for about $2,000. Sure, a price tag like that may not seem “cheap” but in comparison to other research-grade platforms out there, it’s a bargain. Ideal […]

For his end of the year project at the University of Valencia, Maker Jorge Crespo built an Internet-connected, GPS-enabled rover using an Arduino Mega, an Adafruit FONA 808 module, and a PIC18F45K20 microcontroller. Other hardware includes IR sensors for obstacle avoidance, a dual H-bridge motor controller, an LCD screen, DC/DC converters, and an 11.1V, 5Ah LiPo battery. The bot is managed through a web-based […]

From getting out of bed to applying lipstick to eating breakfast, Simone Giertz has seemingly found every possible way to automate her morning routine. Next on that list? A hair-washing robot made up of a rubber hand, a bottle of shampoo and some basic electronics that allows her to lather, rinse and repeat, while leaving her hands free for other tasks […]