Robotics - Home Innovations 

By on

Image(10)
LEGO Mindstorms
We have a sister note to this (Robots - Interesting Video), in which I have posted some videos of interesting robots developed by commercial corporations and institutions.  While these are great in themselves, there is a whole range of innovation carried out by hobbyist and amateurs. In this note, I intend to post videos of interesting robotics projects I come across which have not been developed by big institutions.

LEGO Mindstorms

For anyone who doesn't know, Lego Mindstorms is a robotics kit comprising of a controller, various sensors, stepper motors and ... well Lego pieces.  In addition to being great for introducing robotics to children, people have used the system to build some unique things - domino layers, bridge builders, 3D printers, plant watering, etc.  Two particularly good ones are:

Rubik's Cube Solver

Called the CubeStormer II, this machine not only solves the puzzle, but it does in in a world record time.

 

 

Beer Delivery Machine

Besides the beer, the ingenuity of this machine is appealing.  It selects a bottle of beer, removes the top, chills it down to a drinkable 8°C and then delivers it to the consumer. 

 

 

In this instance the builder has also posted a series of learning videos which illustrate how each part of the machine work:

What to see more robots in action.  Visit our Robots - Interesting Videos note.



Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus



Maxwell's Equations - Gauss's Electric Field Law

Gauss's Electrical law defines the relation between charge ("Positive" & "Negative") and electric field.  The law was initially formulated by Carl Friedrich...

8 Steps to Low Voltage Power Cable Selection and Sizing

A recurring theme on our forums is cable sizing. Now many installations are unique and require special consideration. However, a lot of the time things...

How to Check a Circuit is Dead

If you want to check a circuit is dead (not live), you should always use the three point method. First check a known live circuit, then check the dead...

How to Size Power Cable Duct

Some colleagues had an issue earlier in the week on sizing conduits to be cast in concrete for some power cables . It became clear that none of us had...

Voltage Levels to IEC 60038

The standard aims to consolidate AC and traction voltages within the industry and defines the following bands: band 1 - A.C. systems 100 V to 1...

HTML Symbol Entities

HTML supports a variety of entity symbols which can be entered using either numbers or an entity name.  The number or name is preceded by the ‘&’ sign...

Fault Calculations - Introduction

Fault calculations are one of the most common types of calculation carried out during the design and analysis of electrical systems. These calculations...

Power Factor

Power factor is the ratio between the real power (P in kW) and apparent power (S in kVA) drawn by an electrical load. The reactive power (Q in kVAr)...

Voltage Drop in Installations - Concepts

Problems on achieving maximum voltage drop within an installation come up often. Depending where you live, local regulations will have different limits...

How to measure power supply quality

If your are ever called out to troubleshoot something on your electrical system, one of the first things consider is the supply voltage. You want to ensure...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note