Steam walker

The gold medal winner of kinetic artbots - RoboGames 2006 by I-Wei Huang.

NXT Cicala

I was looking for an easy way to build custom chassis for various robotic projects. So, I purchased recently the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit. I think that the NXT is an easy way for experiments or prototyping.

I started with the quick project suggested by LEGO in order to learn the shapes and combinations of the various pieces.
After a few days I decided to make my first NXT robot; the NXT Cicala (a two wheeled balancing robot).

I used the light sensor in order to measure the slope of the robot as in the original Cicala version. I wrote a little program in NXC (a simple PID controller - manually adjusted for my sensor and motors) and voila.

front view

rear view

Fab@Home

"Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides an open source kit that lets you make your own simple fabber, and use it to print three dimensional objects. You can download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself."
Evan Malone

Rapid prototyping for only US$2300!