robotics
MIT Roughened Optical Fibers Sense 3D Shape in Soft Silicone
MIT embedded roughened rubber waveguides in silicone to track 3D shape with under 0.4 cm error. Here's how to try the same light-loss trick…
diy projects
PhoneBot: Turn an Old Android Phone into a $400 Humanoid Robot
UCLA's PhoneBot uses a $50 Android phone as the brain of a 13-joint humanoid. See how it works and how to try the same…
esp32 & esp8266
Q8botOne: A Palm-Sized Wire-Free Quadruped on an ESP32-C3
Q8botOne packs eight smart servos and an ESP32-C3 into a 250 g quadruped with no wiring harness. See how its single-PCB design works and…
arduino
Webcam Depth Camera: 20 FPS AI Depth Sensing on Arduino VENTUNO Q
A cheap USB webcam and Depth Anything V2 on the Arduino VENTUNO Q NPU make a 20 FPS depth sensor with heatmap, slicer, flood,…
esp32 & esp8266
ESP32-S3 vs Raspberry Pi 5: How Much Edge AI Is Enough?
A $20 ESP32-S3 camera board vs a $200 Raspberry Pi 5 AI kit on a robot mower. See which edge AI hardware your student…
arduino
Robodog V2.0: Arduino UNO Q Gives a DOGZILLA S2 an AI Brain
Robodog V2.0 adds an Arduino UNO Q to a DOGZILLA S2 quadruped, giving it onboard computer vision, a web control page, and an animated…
arduino
JBR-001: A Weekend Desk Robot With Vision on Arduino UNO Q
JBR-001 pairs an Arduino UNO Q with three servos, a camera, and a distance sensor to build a desk robot that recognizes objects and…
news & releases
DirectHop: A 1-Gram Robot That Jumps With a DC Motor
A gram-scale robot swaps its spring for a coreless DC motor, letting researchers dial the jump height with current instead of a fixed release.
microcontrollers
AiboJam Revives Sony’s Discontinued AIBO on a $40 Fruit Jam Board
Sony's discontinued AIBO comes back as a CircuitPython recreation on a $40 RP2350 board, complete with 49 motion clips and native 3D rendering.
arduino
XGO Duck: Build an Open-Source Robot Duck with Arduino UNO Q
Luwu Dynamics built XGO Duck, an open-source, 15-servo robot duck on Arduino UNO Q with a custom IMU-equipped PCB, ready to build before Microduck…
esp32 & esp8266
This ESP32 Reaction Wheel Cube Lands and Balances on One Edge
A five-inch cube launches itself off the table, stops mid-air, and lands balanced on one edge. The ESP32, IMU and reaction wheel inside explain…
diy projects
Robot Poker Chips and Heated Dice: Engineering a Casino Cheat
Mark Rober invited makers to beat his casino with hardware. A self-driving poker chip, wax-loaded dice and a wearable card counter were the result.