Walyou

Stubby Is a Stargate SG-1-Inspired Hexabot You Can Build at Home

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 01:45 PM PDT

The Stargate SG-1 replicators inspired Wyatt Olson to create a hexapod robot for a competition hosted by Hackaday back in April. Stubby, as this hexapod is called, is a fine example of what kind of complex robots people can build at home.

Ever since Olson submitted Stubby for that competition, he and his fellow (enthusiast) roboticists have been trying to improve the hexapod. I admire people who ever strive for progress and for doing things better, even though perfectionists have a few faults of their own.

In the following video, which was uploaded by Olson last week, you get to see the third version of Stubby. It’s easy to assume that the developer of the Stargate SG-1 inspired hexapod robot enjoys documenting his progress so that his fans are aware with the changes made from one version to another.

Stubby is omnidirectional, as exemplified in the video. Olson showed how easy it is for the robot to walk, turn and rotate its body along the three axes. Best of all, the hexapod robot can be controlled with a modified PlayStation 2 controller.

For a first-timer, Olson did quite well: “This project is my first experience with walking robots. The concept is loosely based off of the SG-1 universe’s replicators, although there are definitely differences. Stubby version 3 has six legs with three DOF per leg, whereas the replicators have four legs with four DOF per leg. Then there is the whole thing of Stubby not being able to consume raw resources to construct copies of itself… I figure I will add that feature in the next version.”

As you might have noticed, he’s determined not to stop here, so there will definitely be more versions in the future. Should the changes be dramatical, I will provide a follow-up to this story, just to see how a hexabot can be improved.

Lazy geeks might want to buy Stubby, but they should know that it is not commercially available. The others will be happy to know that all the tools and the components needed for building this robot from scratch are available on Stubby’s project page. Everything needed for making a hexabot such as this one shouldn’t cost more than $150, provided that you already have the necessary tools.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the hexapod hexacopter robot that comes in a nightmarish design and this hexapod robot with servo-legs.

DIY Minibuilder Robots Will 3D Print Large-Scale Constructions

Posted: 04 Jul 2014 01:30 PM PDT

Minibuilder Robots 3D Printing a Construction

There’s a bright future for 3D printing, and it looks like nothing will escape this technology. From various organs to complex constructions, everything will be manufactured this way.

Enrio Dini of dshape, DUS Architects, UCLA, USC/Contour Crafting, in collaboration with Emerging Objects, has developed construction 3D printing robots that take a different approach to creating buildings from scratch. If until now, such robots 3D printed constructions by adding layers in the same way a cake would be made, the Minibuilder developed by Dini and Sasa Joki? employs two tubes to deploy a toothpaste-resembling synthetic marble.

The creators of these robots explained how compressed air is used for forcing out the marble through the tubes. Sasa Joki?, one of the head researchers mentioned that “It’s about any construction robots capable of working in teams to create structures much bigger than themselves. We chose to make these three robots because they are all essential to fabricate the most important building elements like walls and ceilings, but the family of Minibuilders can be endlessly extended adding robots with diverse functionalities, from painting to insulation and beyond.”

Petr Novikov, another contributor to the project, expressed his enthusiasm regarding the role the Minibuilder robots will play in the construction of future buildings: “We’re sure that Minibuilders will play a big and important role in the future of robotic construction. We also encourage other researchers to explore this field. For that reason we shared papers with technical details of our robots.”

One of the best things about the Minibuilder robot is that it theoretically can be made at home. Most of the parts used for building it are open source and can be purchased at any proper hobby store.

With that in mind, it looks like in the not so distant future 3D printed buildings might become the norm. Of course, it depends on how fast such robots can do their work. If it takes longer to 3D print a building rather than raising it using classic methods, the whole technology might not have the best adoption rate ever. Portable, modular approaches such as this one could be replaced by large-scale robots, especially if we’re talking about building extremely complex structures. The resistance of the used materials is yet another factor that needs to be assessed prior to making these robots commercially available.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the 3D printed human kidney replacement and the liquid metals that give 3D printing a twist.