PERSONAL ROBOTICS
■ PHOTO 10. Bob Comers robot made
from PVC pipe and recycled “kiddie car”
motors and wheels.
■ PHOTO 11. Sami Graner interacts
with a “Biomechanical” by “Professor
Conrad” (a.k.a., Marvin Niebuhr).
■ PHOTO 12. The Ping Pong Printer
with its new ball-feed hopper
by Rick Abbot.
version of “show and tell.” You would think this
free-form method of (non? dis?) organization would
lead to chaos, but every Dorkbot I’ve attended has run
surprisingly smooth.
If this sounds like something you’d like to do, but
there isn’t a Dorkbot scheduled in your city, you can start
your own Dorkbot. All you need to do is send an email
to Douglas Repetto (his email address is on the main
Dorkbot.org website). He’ll set you up with a mailing list
and a link on the main site, and you’re off! If there is a
Dorkbot near you, you should make a point of at least
attending if not signing up to present something. What
better way to meet folks than to stand up before a small
crowd of other tech geeks just like yourself and talk about
your project?
I’d like to close this month by thanking everyone who
has sent in an entry for the Workbench Design Challenge
(see the Resources section for a link to the contest details
on the Nuts & Volts web forum). I look forward to handing
out the prizes! And, if you happen to find yourself at
■ PHOTO 13. Edwin Wise
and his homebrew Tesla coil.
■ PHOTO 14. Gray Mack
with his balloon-based light
sequencing system.
Dorkbot Austin, look around for me there.
Otherwise, you can always reach me via email
at vern@txis.com if you have any questions or
comments. NV
I’d like to say a special thank you and goodbye to one of the
founders of Dorkbot Austin, David Nunez. A good friend and long
time collaborator with The Robot Group, we wish him Favorable
Chance and Deity Velocity in his endeavors out east!
Sidewinder
14V - 50V - Dual H-bridges - 150
Adjustable current limiting
Temperature limiting
Three R/C inputs - serial option
Many mixing options - Flipped Bot Input
Rugged extruded Aluminum case
4. 25" x 3. 23" x 1.1”
Dual (6A pk) H-bridges Dual H-bridge
(6A pk) H-bridge Plus fwd-only channel 5V - 24V
5V - 18V 5V - 18V 2.7“ x 1.6” x 0.5”
1.25“ x 0.5” x 0.25” 1.6“ x 1.6” x 0.5”
Closed-loop control of two motors
Full PID position/velocity loop
Trapezoidal path generator
Giant Servo Mode!
C source for routines provided
PIC18F6722 CPU See
H-bridges: Use with Dalf or with your Micro/Stamp
6-28V
2.25”x2.5”x0.5”
3 wire interface
current & temp
protection
Monster power!
14-50V
3. 15”x4.5”x1.5”
3 wire interface
MADE IN
www.robotpower.com THE USA
Phone: 253-843-2504 sales@robotpower.com
August 2008 73