Robotic Sensors - Part 2
Project:
April 2013, Page 46
Part 2: Their Use With Robotic Arms. Using the principles of identification discussed last month, we’ll have our mobile robot find and retrieve objects with an arm and gripper.

Robotic Sensors
March 2013, Page 58
By giving your robot just a rudimentary ability to identify objects, you can increase its ability to cope with more complex situations.

Power Beyond the Shield
December 2012, Page 38
If you are willing to accept a few limitations, there are expansion options that can provide both convenience and power beyond what standard Arduino shields offer.

A Robot Operating System On a Chip
September 2012, Page 60
Building a robot from scratch can be a daunting task for both beginning and advanced hobbyists. The newly available RobotBASIC ROS on a Chip makes the whole process easier and faster by providing a physical interface from simulations to the real deal.

Virtual Sensors — Part 2
Project:
August 2012, Page 67
Last time, we looked at how virtual sensor techniques work. This time, we do the same for virtual motor interfaces.

Virtual Sensors — Part 1
July 2012, Page 54
In order for your robot to perform properly, it needs as much sensory data as possible. Unfortunately, physically increasing the number of sensors on your bot has potential problems. So, go virtual before completing your design.

Experimenting With Unconventional Wheels
December 2011, Page 41
Put a new spin on your robot base with omni or mecanum style wheels.

Adding Vision: Interfacing With RoboRealm
July 2011, Page 56
For many hobbyists, giving their robot the gift of sight is one of their ultimate goals. RoboRealm is an application that can make adding vision painless by providing easy-to-use modules.

Programming the LEGO NXT: An Alternative Approach Suitable For Developing Tomorrow’s Engineers
June 2011, Page 60
LEGO makes building robots easier, and now programming a LEGO NXT can be just as easy. Learn about the open-source LegoLibrary.bas.

Intelligent Vacuum leaner Systems
February 2011, Page 37
Explore advanced behaviors in robotic commercial products through simulation.

A New Paradigm in Hobby Robotics
January 2011, Page 44
Many industries successfully use the “simulate then deploy” principle. Apply it to your next robot build and you’ll soon see the advantages to this technique.

Propelled by the Propeller Chip
December 2010, Page 70
This article is an excellent demonstration for how the parallel processing abilities of the Propeller chip from Parallax can be utilized in conjunction with RobotBASIC to achieve robotics projects that involve diverse and multifaceted elements that require simultaneous use of numerous microcontrollers along with a PC.

Show Your Robot How To Walk This Way
Project:
November 2009, Page 38
This realistic simulator lets you experiment with walking algorithms without destroying your bot in the process.

A Virtual Laboratory
June 2009, Page 47
Simulate mechanical systems to streamline the designing process.

A More Versatile Robotic Controller Using RobotBASIC
March 2008, Page 58
Today’s hobbyists can purchase robotic platforms with a wide variety of electronic sensors, mechanical actuators, and programmable microcontrollers. This means that constructing a powerful robot is within the capacity of almost everyone, even those with a minimal background in electronics. This availability of hardware is progressively forcing robot enthusiasts to change their focus from building robots to programming robots. As this emphasis on software grows, the number of people interested...

A Robotic Puppet
November 2008, Page 36
My interest in robotics has always been very diversified and I too have always been fascinated with the idea of creating the illusion of life. Perhaps that was a motivating factor that pushed me towards another of my hobbies — ventriloquism. It occurred to me that the techniques used in puppet construction might be of interest to many hobbyists interested in animatronics. A typical ventriloquist puppet is carved from wood or molded from some form of composite material such as plastic wood...

Prototyping Autonomous Robots
January 2009, Page 38
Building an autonomous robot is a goal of many robot enthusiasts. If you look up autonomous in the dictionary, you will see terms like “self directed” and “self sufficient.” If you apply the first term to a robot, it simply means that the robot is capable of accomplishing a task without human intervention. The second term suggests a deeper commitment. A self sufficient robot might be one that is capable of repairing itself, or at the very least, capable of recharging its own battery so that...

A Practical Quadrature Encoder
Project:
February 2009, Page 59
Building projects involving electronics and robotics is much easier today than in the past because many of the commonly needed subsystems are available as ready-to-use modules (we will call them HMs [helper modules]). For example, there are HMs for controlling nearly any type of motor (DC, stepper, servo) and HMs to collect environmental data (humidity, temperature, distance to objects). You can find switching power supplies, battery chargers, Bluetooth modems, and dozens more just by looking...

Robot Vision for Everyone
Project:
April 2009, Page 42
If you have ever tried to add vision to one of your robotic projects, you probably appreciate why you seldom see articles exploring the subject at the hobbyist level. The ability to experiment with vision — especially in the past — has generally only been accessible to university researchers or the rare hobbyists with advanced tools and capabilities...

Robotic Arm Fundamentals
May 2009, Page 40
Programming a robotic arm is very different from programming a mobile robot. This article will examine some fundamental requirements and principles associated with this unique task. Furthermore, it will provide a 3D robot arm simulation that can be programmed just like a real world arm so that you can experiment with the concepts discussed here without the time and expense of a physical arm...