What has eight legs, a tail, and is powered by an Arduino Mega? The ClearWalker, of course!

This Strandbeest-style walker employs two motors, controlled by individual H-bridge relay modules to traverse forwards, backwards, and slowly rotate to one side or another via a hesitating leg motion. You can see how the electronics (including a bunch of LEDs) were integrated into this build in the video below.

If you’d like to try a similar control scheme for your ClearWalker/Strandbeest/treaded vehicle using an Arduino and smartphone, you can find it outlined in this Arduino Project Hub post. For the rest of the steps in this quite involved build, and more rather zany inventions, be sure to check out the “Jeremy Cook’s Projects” YouTube page.

Building robots can be (relatively) easy if you’d like something to wander around your room and avoid obstacles, but for complicated control tasks, like shooting pool, things need more development. Engineer “Bvarv” has been working on just such a robot, which currently exists as a one-sixth scale model.

Though it’s not currently capable of playing the game, the device uses some interesting tricks, including a frame supported by a pattern of increasing-diameter pieces of wood, a custom bearing made out of slingshot ammunition, and limit switches to control the billiard bot’s orientation.

For this project, Bvarv employed a pair of Arduino Unos and a PixyCam vision system, along with some servos, belts, and gears. While we may still be a few years away from a full-scale robotic opponent, you can check out the entire build over on Instructables and follow along with his progress in the videos below.

Make: did a live unboxing of Make: magazine Volume 57. Also, just a weekly reminder to buy a Mother's Day gift and your Maker Faire tickets.

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The post This Week in Making: A Robotic Painter, Unboxing Our Latest Issue, and More appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

This Week in Making saw the reveal of the Two Bit Circus Foundation, hand-made Dark Souls rings, some new crowd funding campaigns, and more.

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The post This Week in Making: ChickTech Meetup, Dark Souls Props, and Robotic Arms appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Big parties need a conversation piece, and what’s better than a drink-making robot? Not only is it a good conversation starter, it also frees up the party host who would normally be the bartender. It turned out that the drink robot was a really good idea. The Mai Tai recipe presented here […]

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The post Build a Simple Cocktail Drinkbot with Arduino appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

We’re excited to welcome Croatian startup Inovatic ICT and its EMoRo Kit to our AtHeart program!

EMoRo (Educational Mobile Robot) is an Arduino-compatible robot designed to encourage logical thinking and technical curiosity in a fun, engaging way. The solder-free DIY kit consists of a robust aluminum chassis along with easy-to-connect components like servos, sensors, and relays. It also supports other construction sets like LEGO Technic, Eitech, and Fischertechnik.

Based an ATmega250 board, EMoRo can be programmed using the Arduino IDE and upgraded with the addition of interchangeable modules, such as Bluetooth for Android device control, an LCD display, push buttons, and an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass for navigation. Built-in safety features include step-down regulators, thermal shutdowns, under-voltage lockouts, and cycle-by-cycle over-current protections–all of which make the EMoRo rugged enough for beginners, yet versatile enough for advanced Makers.

According to Boris Jakov Anic-Kurko, Inovatic ICT Managing Director: 

EMoRo originated as a result of our vision to create a tool that would introduce the world of robotics to children and spark their interest in technology and programming. With that vision in mind, we have decided to use the programming platform Arduino, as the world’s most used and popular programming platform when it comes to programming small educational robots.

Interested in EMoRo for your next robotics competitions or as a tool in your STEAM class? You can now buy a kit here! 

Using an Arduino Uno, Nano, and two Bluetooth modules, engineering student “Roboro” can now remotely control his sumo robot.

Like many hackers, Roboro had an old gaming controller that he wasn’t using, in this case an Xbox steering wheel and pedals. Naturally, he converted it into a controller for his sumo robot, which can now be driven manually. This involved wiring the wheel controls into an Uno; the smaller Nano was used onboard the bot.

Rewiring a controller is nothing new, but what is also quite interesting from a hack point of view is that the Arduinos communicate over Bluetooth. When initiated, the controller connects itself to the robot, which can then be driven around (as long as it doesn’t get stuck in the hardwood).

You can see more details of this build on Roboro’s project page.

animated GIFs work great and are very expressive

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The post The Peeqo Robot Communicates Using Only Animated GIFs appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Build an Arduino-powered, 3D-printed, moon-walking bot with preprogrammed and custom gaits.

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The post 3D Print and Program This Adorable Bipedal Arduino Bot appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

If you're looking for a robotic arm, you wouldn't do badly to et LittleArm.

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The post LittleArm Is a Little Robot with a Little Price Tag appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.