RobotShop

The Neato XV-11 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Gets Unboxed

Friday, August 27th, 2010

We are lucky enough to have received one of the early Neato XV-11 engineering samples. We took this chance to take a few pictures and shoot an unboxing video in order to share with everyone this awesome experience. The only difference between this sample unit and the regular XV-11 is the former sports a nice army green colour while the latter features a more elegant silver colour.

It is important to note that the first few XV-11s went out a few days ago and that we will get new stock coming in shortly (and probably going out equally as fast).

See the video below.

And do not forget to take a look at the high-res pictures!

: Neato-XV-11 Box

: Neato-XV-11 Accessories Box

: Neato-XV-11 Front

: Neato-XV-11 Front with Bust Bin Being Lifted

: Neato-XV-11 Front Without Dust Bin

: Neato-XV-11 Dust Bin

: Neato-XV-11 Brush

: Neato-XV-11 Bottom

: Neato-XV-11 Wheel Close-up

: Neato-XV-11 As Seen From the Back

: Neato-XV-11 Display Messages

: Neato-XV-11 Charging Station and Magnetic Boundary

: Neato-XV-11 Magnetic Boundary

: Neato-XV-11 Charging Station

: Neato-XV-11 Stand Alone Charger

: Neato-XV-11 at RobotShop

Tags: Neato, Unboxing, XV-11
Posted in Domestic Robot, RobotShop | 2 Comments »

Servo Motors Family, From Tiny to Giant

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

At RobotShop, we carry a wide variety of servo motors but it only becomes apparent once all the major kinds are put side by side.

Family of Servo Motors

From left to right, the picture above shows the Dagu Micro, the HS-85MG (Mighty Micro), the HS-422 (one of the most popular servos), the HS-785HB Winch, the Servocity Heavy Duty Pan System, and the ridiculously powerful Torxis i00600.

Servos are evolving, especially lately when they started being used in robotic projects that go far beyond the more traditional R/C.

A notable absent in this picture is the diminutive HS-35D Nano which is smaller than even the smallest one in the picture.

Hitec HS-35D Micro Servo Motor

Tags: Motors, Parts, Servo
Posted in RobotShop | No Comments »

4D Systems Arduino Full Colour Display Shields

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

4S Systems Display Shields for Arduino

4D Systems has recently released four new Arduino Shields that allow their displays to be easily interfaced with the Arduino (or other shield-compatible microcontrollers). These shields allow the Arduino to display all sorts of full colour images (including cuddly hearts) trough their OLED displays .

The 4Display shields are available in 0.96″, 1.5″, 1.44″ and 1.7″.

Tags: 4DSystems, Arduino
Posted in Robot Kits, RobotShop | 1 Comment »

Kondo Turtle Now Available at RobotShop

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Behold, the cutest robot made out of servos and brackets in a long while: the Kondo Robot Turtle. This cute turtle is now available for purchase at RobotShop

Kondo Animal Series: Turtle Robot

Kondo, the manufacturer behind the very popular KHR-2HV and KHR-3HV humanoid robots is working on a series of animal robots, starting with the turtle. This robot uses the KRS-4024SHV servo motors and the RCB-3HV controller.

See the demo video below for more cuteness.

We are very eager so see what other animals Kondo comes up with!

Tags: Animal, Kondo, Servo
Posted in Fun Robotics , RobotShop | No Comments »

Become a Roboticist and Make a Robot

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

RobotShop Grand Tutorial Series: How To Make a Robot

Nowadays everybody is making robots, if you do not want to be left out we suggest you have a look at a new series of tutorials that will be released on the GoRobotics Blog. The first out of ten lessons has been published today. The remaining nine lessons will be published one per week for the next nine weeks.

This tutorial is accessible to anyone willing to make a robot and has a basic grasp of the technology involved in such a project. In ten weeks, we would love to see your robots showcased in our forum.

Tags: DIY, Make a Robot, Tutorial
Posted in Education, Prototypes, RobotShop | No Comments »

The RoBoard Gains an LCD, Robots Show Their True Colours

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

The RoBoard has been controlling robots for some time now. It is a single board computer featuring a Vortex86DX, a 32bit x86 CPU running at 1 GHz with 256MB DRAM, lots of PWM IO for controlling servos, and more.

RoBoard RB-110 Single Board Computer

A recurring feature that was always asked was to have a small native display for the RoBoard in order to have an easy and convenient way to interact with the robot without requiring a full sized computer screen. Now every robotic wish has been fulfilled since RobotShop now carries the 8.9″ LCD Panel for RoBoard.

8.9" LCD Panel for RoBoard Single Board Computer

Below, you can see the RoBoard in action running two very popular operating systems.

RoBoard + Display Running Ubuntu Linux

RoBoard + Display Running Windows XP

Tags: LCD, RoBoard, Single Board Computer
Posted in Microcontrollers, RobotShop | No Comments »

The DFRobotShop Rover is Here, Arduino Goes Mobile

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

DFRobotShop Rover - Mobile Tracked Arduino Based

We are proud to announce that the DFRobotShop Rover, an Arduino-compatible robotic tracked platform, is available for immediate purchase right now. The Rover has been available for pre-order for some time on the RobotShop website but it is only today that we got the last shipment for the remaining parts.

What is the DFRobotShop Rover?

The DFRobotShop Rover is a versatile mobile robot tank based on the popular Arduino Duemilanove. It incorporates all the Duemilanove features (since it uses a surface mount ATMega328), including shield compatibility, and is supplemented with (1) an on-board DC step-up that allows it to be easily powered from small power sources such as AA batteries, (2) a dual H-bridge DC-motor controller (L293B), and (3) an APC220 and Bluetooth serial interface connector for telemetry and radio control. As an addition it also features a temperature and light sensors that can be readily connected to analog inputs on the ATMega328 for immediate use.

This Arduino-compatible platform rides on the popular Tamiya twin motor gearbox and the Tamiya track and wheel set. This created a low-cost traction system that has been tested to carry over 2 kg without issues.

DFRobotShop Rover - Back

What can it do?

The DFRobotShop Rover can be programmed using the Arduino IDE to perform any robotic action you can imagine and is versatile enough to accommodate various electronics and mechanical accessories such as various Arduino shields, a breadboard, a standard servo motor through its servo mounting point, etc. The user is free to choose what task this little robot should accomplish; we are eager to see it in the outside world doing crazy things.

Who is it for?

This robot is intended for geeks (obviously!), anybody wanting to get started in robotics, schools (elementary, high-school, college…), people who need to give a cool gift (to that special geek in their lives). In short anyone curious about the world of robotics.

DFRobotShop Rover and Accessories

Tags: Arduino, DFRobot, DFRobotShop Rover, News, Tamiya, Tank, Tracked
Posted in Education, RobotShop | 6 Comments »

GoRobotics.net Goes RobotShop

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

GoRobotics.net goes RobotShop

Today is a great day in the history of GoRobotics.net. This year (which also marks the 10 year anniversary of GoRobotics.net), RobotShop has taken on the mission of continuing the legacy or Mr. William Cox, the founding father of GoRobotics.net, by maintaining and further expanding the community by continuing to post interesting robotics projects, news and by sharing our experience for everyone to enjoy.

Just like William, we at RobotShop are truly passionate about robots and happy to be part of a community that is equally enthusiastic and interested in everything robotic. We are happy to join GoRobotics.net, and to tackle the challenge of bringing you the latest and greatest developments in this rapidly expanding field.

Besides reporting on cool robotic projects selectively chosen from around the internet, we will initially publish the How to Make a Robot, Grand Tutorial Series. These are going to be a series of detailed tutorials on how to get started with robotics by guiding you through the process of making a simple, general purpose mobile robot. It’s our way of thanking you for your sustained interest and enthusiasm.

What does it mean for the RobotShop Blog?

It means that the RobotShop Blog has now a partner site that will focus mainly on robotic projects and DIY robots. It is like having a technically inclined brother or cousin who fixes your computer (or your robot) once in a while, and brags about his new tools or hacks.

Tags: News
Posted in RobotShop | No Comments »

Motion Capture Exoskeleton, Johnny 5 Style

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Some time ago, the RobotShop team decided to build a telepresence system. Usually, these kinds of systems are sadly limited to a web-cam and a screen on wheels, and are simply a glorified videophone. This is not the case at RobotShop since we love robots and are all for crazy projects. This is why, a full motion controlled system was put together in order to provide a truly immersive experience to the user. This is very similar to the Justin control haptic suit by DLR featured in the past days, but a few tens of millions of dollars cheaper.

The team did this mainly inspired by one of the coolest robots of all Hollywood history: Johnny 5 (from the Short Circuit movie).

Johnny 5

The Lynxmotion Johnny 5 robotic platform was used, and a motion-capture exoskeleton was put together using mainly potentiometers and wooden sticks. The video below shows further details about the project, its motivations and the end result.