It's time once again for our annual countdown of the top 10 Christmas
gift ideas for robot geeks. With the growing popularity of robots,
everyone knows at least one person who spends all their time building
strange little machines. What do you get them for Christmas? Well, we're
here to help. The robots.net founding editors, steve, Rog-a-Matic, and
The Swirling Brain have made their lists and checked them twice. Then we
took those three lists and, using a carefully measured and computed
statistical comparison method that we call "close your eyes and poke
things randomly with your finger", we determined what the top 10 gift
ideas are. As usual, we've thrown in a few stocking stuffers and extras
that we thought were cool even if they didn't make the list. Read on and
have a Merry Robot Christmas!
10. Robotics Construction Kit ($156 - $400)
There are a surprising number of robot construction kits to choose from
this year. Here are three of the more popular ones for your
consideration. Most beginners will learn some useful skills from any of
these and advanced builders will enjoy scavenging for parts. While we'd
be happy to play with any of these, the growing number of kits makes
them seem a bit more mundane than in previous years. But they're still
enough fun to make the number ten spot on this year's list.
The VEX
Autonomous Robot Starter Bundle ($399.99) is good choice. It offers
a nice selection of drive train train and chassis components. You get a
choice of several development environments but all of them are
proprietary with the associated license restrictions and hardware
limitations. The Swirling Brain notes that the slightly older VEX
system, known Revell Vexplorer Robotics System ($156) is worth checking
out, "This is a good Vex starter kit. Or if you just want to jump in
go for the big kit!". The Revell version doesn't include a
microcontroller but, with a little ingenuity, you could probably use an
inexpensive Arduino (see gift idea #3) to do the job.
The Bioloid
Beginner Kit ($339) is another good choice. It's a collection of
modular, RC-servo type joints controlled by an Atmel AVR ATMega128
micro. Like the VEX kit, the included development software is
proprietary but it can be tossed and you can use the same AVR tool
chains that professional AVR developer use (AVR-GCC,
WinAVR, OSX-AVR;
all GPL'd free software).
The LEGO Mindstorms NXT ($224.99) is probably the most
widely used robot kit and integrates with the LEGOs. Nearly everyone has
some LEGOs lying around somewhere, making this kit that much more
useful. Like the others, it comes with proprietary software but you can
easily ditch it for any of several free software tools such as nxtOSEK (GPL), NXTAssembler
(GPL), NXTMOTE
TinyOS (BSD), even a complete gcc toolchain, NXTgcc (GPL).
Discover an often overlooked corner of robotic history with this
interesting book focused on the creations of Westinghouse from 1924
through the 50's. Rare photos and anecdotes from the original designers
can be found inside along with details about the famous "Elektro" built
for the New York World's Fair of 1939. - Rog-a-Matic
Every robot builder has seen photos of these mysterious mechanical men
built by Westinghouse in the 1920s and 1930s. Older roboticists have
even cited these primitive robots as inspirations that started them
thinking about robots. Here at robots.net, we've covered the restoration of Elektro
and the search for the
missing robot dog, Sparko. Scott Schaut has finally written a
definitive history of the Westinghouse robots in a book published by the
Mansfield
Memorial Museum, which houses the restored Elektro. - steve
It's inexpensive, useful, and easy. This was actually the number one
choice on the 2007 list of robot gifts. The only thing that prevented it
from placing higher this year is that most robot builders we know
already have subscriptions to one or two of these. But that's okay, they
need subscriptions to all of them! They're all a little different so
this isn't a case of picking the best - they're all good. Servo is the
longest running robot hobby magazine we're aware of and focuses mostly
on homebrew robots. Robot magazine is oriented more towards consumer
robots and robot kits, very much like traditional RC model magazines.
MAKE magazine is full of all sorts of strange and interesting DIY
projects, many of which are robots or at least robot-related. The last
two magazines focus on electronics rather than specifically on robots
but it's a focus that's common to homebrew robotics, so the robot
builder in your life will likely enjoy these two just as much as the
other three magazines. - steve
OK, I admit it, I have dirty floors and I'm too lazy to vacuum! I
purchased an iRobot a while back and I feel it's one of the best
purchases I've made. I haven't tried their latest model but I'm sure
it's much better than the one I have and the one I have works like a
dream! Some people complain that it doesn't clean well enough, but it
made my wife happy and that's worth many man-points! Do yourself a
favor! ;-) - The Swirling Brain
Another cool thing about the Roomba is if you don't want to use it as a
vacuum, you can turn it into a base for your next robot project. It has
everything you could want, a nice chassis, motors, sensors, rechargable
batteries. Even better, check out the Create. It's a Roomba-style base
with the vacuum cleaner components left out and replaced with a payload
area. The Create also includes a well documented interface protocol,
making your job as robot hacker easier. - steve
(Note: Cat not included. User must provide own cat.)
5. Robot Fashion ($5 - $55)
The market's growing for robot-related flare, so we've combined a few
interesting examples of this forward-looking art form including a wide
array of robo-jewelery along with time-tested T-Shirts. - Rog-a-Matic
If building robots isn't enough, how about if we all start wearing robot
fashions and accessories? - steve
4. Kikkerland Le Pinch and friends, Wind-Up robots ($10-$35)
You've seen wind-up robots before, but nothing quite like Le Pinch. Bend
it into the desired form, give it a wind, and watch its stainless steel
body with rotating rubberized feet climb over those ordinary wind-ups. -
Rog-a-Matic
When Rog-a-Matic first suggested Le Pinch wind-up robot toy, I thought
he was crazy. Then I looked it and thought, that's really pretty cool.
Then I noticed some of the other strange
mechanical robots made by Chico Bicalho for Kikkerland Design such
as Cranky and MXYKIKKER. These are really fascinating little machines.
What would be even more interesting is to see some robot builders making
larger, autonomous version of these things. How about a 1 meter tall
version of Cranky powered by an internal combustion engine. Get to work
folks and send me the video when you're done! - steve
The incredibly popular Arduino
open-source programmable controller annoys robot builders everywhere
with its debatable pronunciation, yet wows them with its flexibility,
power, and cost effectiveness. - Rog-a-Matic
It seems like everybody I know is playing with Arduinos lately. They're
cheap, useful, and fun. You can program them using Free Software / Open
Source tools on any OS including Linux, MacOS, and even Windows. The
Arduino is also a Free
Hardware / Open Source Hardware design, so you have a lot of options
to choose from when you want to buy one. And, you can even design a new
and improved version of the hardware if you feel the need. Here are a
few versions of the board from a few different vendors:
I love Godzilla stuff. My yougest daughter and I watch Godzilla movies
all the time.
One year she got a Mothra Larva
robot I found on eBay and was so happy - The Swirling Brain
Yes, it's too expensive. Yes, it's virtually unobtainable in the US.
Yes, it's impractical. And yes, though I don't know why, I still want
one. Good luck to you if you're crazy enough to really try to purchase
this one. We sighted one on eBay but even Amazon Japan is out of stock.
We keep hearing rumours it will be readily available in the US for
around $800 sometime this month but there's no sign of it yet. - steve
In our number one spot this year, is the Pololu 3pi robot.
Perhaps I'm biased because I've been playing with one the last several
weeks but it seems to be one of the best beginner robots I've come
across in several years. It's not perfect but it's very hard to beat for
the price. The 3pi is a small, self-contained robot with dual motors,
five reflectance sensors, an 8×2 character LCD, a buzzer, and three user
pushbuttons. Controlling it all is an Atmel ATmega168. To make things
even more interesting, the controller is compatible with the Adruino
microcontroller, offering the potential for some interesting
cross-pollination of software.
You can be up and running minutes after you take it out the box.
Programming is done using the Free Software and Open Source GNU gcc tool
chain. Advanced users can use the traditional command line version and
there are various gcc-based GUI environments available for the beginner.
Like the Arduino board, the 3pi seems to have a growing hoard of
supporters in local robot groups. Everyone who sees one wants to buy one
or two for themselves. The one downside is the lack of wheel encoders,
which means the robot is best suited for tasks like line-following where
there is an external navigational aide to keep the robot going in the
right direction.
While you can use most any AVR ISP to program the 3pi's ATmega168, we
highly recommend you buy one of Pololu's little Orangutan USB
programmers to go with your 3pi. Trust us, it will make life easier!
Oh, and did I mention these are speedy little things? They'll give any
line following robot a run for it's money. Robots.net will be posting a
detailed review of the Pololu 3pi robot in the near future, so stay
tuned for more details.
As always, we thought way more 10 ideas, so here are some stocking
stuffers and other random things that didn't make this year's list. Some
came close to making the list. Others were just personal favorites. And
few made The Swirling Brain yawn.
Tincan
Tools Hammer ARM/Linux Controller ($160) - The hammer CPU module by
startup Tin Can Tools
offers a 200Mhz ARM core, 32MB SDRAM and a host of standard I/O - all in
an prototyper's 40-pin dream package and preloaded with Linux. Carrier
boards, programmers and
prototyping platforms are also offered. - Rog-a-Matic
tinyCylon ($10 - $15) - This a cool
little kit (also available assembled) that blinks LEDs in the
traditional, back-and-forth, Cylon manner. Now you can turn any robot
into a Cylon. Or use it to make jewelery or just stare into it until
you're hypnotized. Whatever, it's really cool - go buy a few. - steve
Tomy Wind-up
Robot ($3) - These make great items to put on your desk to wind up
when you get bored. - The Swirling Brain
The Swirling Brain also notes, "My Robot Yawn list might be good for
little tykes and some adults but they're not really for me:"
Pleo
- ($280) - Pleo is cool because you can give it programs to make it
dance and such. Other than that it's near boring yawn material for me.
But that's just me.
del.icio.us
Digg
Google bookmark
reddit
Simpy
StumbleUpon
Furl
Newsvine
Technorati
Tailrank