Maker Fun

Having challenged myself to make my first robot I placed an order for 15 circuit boards.  On the 29th of January I received my first batch of 15 'drink coasters'.  If you would like to buy one feel free to get in touch! How did my robots turn into coasters? Lesson Number 1:  When downloading open hardware files make sure that ALL the files are the latest version.  Check, double check and check again before you click on order, buy or get anywhere near the checkout. If you  the don't you may end up with circuit art.  It is not that I didn't look at the files before I ordered them it's just that I hadn't realised I could open all the files simultaneously in my gerber viewer.  Thankfully 3pcb.com have a hands on approach that goes beyond simply making what you ask for and extends to checking your files. When I asked them to print a stencil that didn't match the board they explained the problem.  Karen Lin got back to me with this picture showing

Just before Christmas I saw this article in Wired for a DIY  10 dollar robot  called AERobot. Not to be confused with an aerial robot this is an affordable educational robot, AERobot. It does all the cool things that you would want of a first robot like following edges, lines and light too. The robot can be programmed using a graphical programming language called Minibloqs  and it captured my imagination as being the perfect project for getting young children into robotics.  Michael Rubenstein and colleagues at Harvard Research give a really good overview of the AERobot:   Join me over the course of the next few weeks as my robot adventure evolves from bare boards to a world record attempt and lots of lessons learnt in between!