This is a nice video from a while ago describing how to quickly and cheaply put together a robot by using an old RC toy, an Arduino (actually a Seeeduino), a Ping distance sensor and a couple of other components.
More in-depth videos of the construction below.
We are eager to see our readers go crazy and build their own robots from old toys.
Via DinoFab.
The Neato XV-11 has been hacked! Hooray!
Now, every hobbyist has access to a (relatively) cheap and fairly accurate LiDAR. This kind of technology usually sells for several thousands of dollar and now is available for the price of a robotic vacuum cleaner (and it includes the vacuum cleaner in the price 
)
Hash79 successfully hacked the Neato XV-11 by adapting the code produce by Xevel and chenglung and was able to get useful readouts from the LiDAR. Kudos to you guys, we hope you enjoy your bounty and the free vacuum.
For those of you wanting to get your hands on the code and hack the XV-11, simply visit the gitHub project page.
Via RobotShop Blog.
As launched by our friend William Cox, the Open LiDAR Project aims to reward the first to be able to successfully hack the Neato XV-11 LiDAR.
More precisely, the first person to get useful readings out of the Neato XV-11 LiDAR and published his code and procedure under an open license, will get a 400$ cash bounty and a full refund for the Neato XV-11 cost if it was bought at RobotShop. In In total, you could potentially win a bounty of 800$!
In order to hack the Neato XV-11, a good start point would be the thorough disassembly guide below:
We are confident that the GoRobotics community will be able to successfully hack the XV-11 in no time!.
In this article, Jean-Christophe shows you how to maximize the utility you get out of a Sharp GPD12 rangefinder.
Craig Gardner shows you how to build an infrared remote decoder – control your robot with a TV remote!
