Servo Magazine - Covering the world of personal robotics

Robots

Underwater Remote Operated Vehicles: The Next Big Thing in Robotics?

Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (UROVs) — the little brothers to the massive commercial underwater vehicles used to inspect hulls, ship wrecks, and pipe lines — are where quadcopters were five years ago. However, with time, prices will drop, parts will become more plentiful, and the Web will be full of videos of underwater sea life and perhaps even battling UROVs.

Building Blocks

Coils of War

After a tough match at the Franklin Institute combat robot event, the windings (or coils) had come loose and had been damaged and in some places cut. Get some tips on how to harden and make effective repairs on these kinds of parts.

Building Blocks

Analog Servos for Robotics

In some ways, analog servos are the “unsophisticated brutes” of the robotics world.Thoroughly understanding their strengths and limitations can help you identify which things are better handled in hardware vs. software.

Robots

Animatronics for the Do-It-Yourselfer

This new series of articles will explore the many methods, materials, and innovative new ideas to bring your robotic creations to life.

Building Blocks

Using Stepper Motors for Wheeled Robot Propulsion

Stepper motors have the ability to precisely turn a wheel at a calculated distance and also the ability to brake, which makes them an interesting choice for robot propulsion, but not without some some tradeoffs.

History

Robots - How We’ve Built Them Over The Years

We take for granted all the motors, sensors, high power density batteries, and microcontrollers that are contained within today’s experimental robots. But, back in the day, some of the very best parts came from jukeboxes and pinball machines. Anything with parts that moved usually had something that was useful to robot builders.