PopsicleBot. Yeah, it's woodworking :)

[Alex Franke]

I think forgot to share this recent creation with you all. I've had a lot of fun doing little projects with my son over the summer, and at one point we thought it would be fun to try to make a little wooden insect on the cheap. The result is probably the simplest woodworking project I've ever done, but I did still get to use a power tool! (I drilled three holes through four popsicle sticks.)

There are lots of pictures and even a video on my blog site here:

http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/?p=2459

The first version was a tethered proof of concept, before we added the analog circuitry (the eyes) to allow it to walk on its own. This version was much lighter weight and controlled with a digital microcontroller, so as a result its steps were much more reliably timed to the music. Here's the video of the original version just for kicks:

http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/?p=2414

Enjoy!

(Oh, and in case it comes up: I've been asked several times why we didn't just program a little MCU for the untethered version. The answer is that I wanted to draw a clear distinction between analog circuits and digital ones for the kids. The had to program the tethered one, but we only had to solder the final version.)

[RAV2]

How about a POPSICLE STICK BOMB

http://youtu.be/vh_MWEXlleE

[Pappy]

That was cool!

[herb fellows]

'Hello, Toys 'R Us? I have an idea to help keep kids faces from being planted in video games 24/7.....'

Totally cool!

[Stytooner]

Very cool.
Great to get them interested in this type thing. They will be leaps and bounds ahead of me when I first got into cnc stuff. Man! what a learning curve.

Next step is to design one that will hold a pen or marker and draw an image on a piece of paper.
I saw one quite a bit larger that actually held a dremel or engraver for moving across a sheet of something to draw or engrave. Robots are so cool. As you can tell, I may be easily amused though.

[Black wallnut]

That is just too cool!

[tommyt654]

Neat, Now just attach a camera and send it to the Pentagon.

[gerti]

Fun stuff! I rarely get to solder these days, but when I do I really enjoy it. Just seems that for each project I end up with a different micro controller because the ones from the previous project are EOL...

[Alex Franke]

Sorry I missed all the nice replies here! Thank you!

I've had a number of people ask if I have kits available for this, so I'm thinking I might actually give that a try. The soldering is a bit detailed, but it really is a fun project to do with the kids.

Next step is to design one that will hold a pen or marker and draw an image on a piece of paper.

We're actually working on a different one with a similar goal here http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/?p=2583 -- we have a ways to go still, though.

Fun stuff! I rarely get to solder these days, but when I do I really enjoy it. Just seems that for each project I end up with a different micro controller because the ones from the previous project are EOL...

This one uses 555 timers to avoid all programming. Regarding MCUs, have you checked out the Arduino platform yet? It uses the Atmel ATMegas and the platform has picked up a lot of steam in the last few years. It's not appropriate for a little project like this one, but it might be worth a look. That platform makes the whole MCU programming and integration process pretty darn simple...

[jgrobler]

Nice one Alex. Next one for inspiration could be this:

http://www.wimp.com/engineersdogs/

[SHADOWFOX]

That was cool! It reminded me of the toys I had growing called 'Zoids'.

Thank you for sharing!

regards,