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Well, it's been a long time coming, for which I appologise, but better late than never... hope you're going to find the new functionality usefull. Questions, suggestions and bug reports should be posted in the Site Feedback section of the forum.

Existing members should use the login link to synchronise their status on the site with their existing forum status. If you check the 'remember me' box when you login, this should be a one-time operation. I'm pretty sure that the merging of membership operation between the site code and the forum has gone OK, but in case anyone experiences any problems, the standard Snitz forum code will be running on http://www.robotbuilder.co.uk/oldforum

Although the site is up, it's still quite heavily a work in progress. Status reports, updates and other site related ramblings will be published in the Robot Builder News section of the forum.

Robot Builder Resources

This section contains various robot building related resources. Currently these are Articles, Tutorials and FAQs.

Robot Builder Links

Directory of robot building related links and contact information for other robot building related resources.

Robot Builder Events

Robot related events - competitions, exhibitions, seminars, get-togethers, conferences. If it's robot related and you know the date, put it in the calendar and let everyone else know about it.

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New Events

Four times a year, San Diego, California students showcase their electronic and robotics projects.

UK MICROMOUSE 2009

Event includes: Maze Solving, Wall Following, Sumo, Time Trials, Drag Race for Senior, Junior and Schools.

ROBOtic'08 will include competitions for:

Maze Solvers: follow UK Micromouse rules
Wall followers: follow Wall Follower rules
All-comers Drag Race
mini-SUMO knockout (dependent on number of competitors)

Latest posts on RobotBuilder
RobotBuilder

Recommended kit? (by: Bob)

Last Post by: Bob on 09 Mar 2010 @ 20:14:16

Robot Bartenders (by: stan)

Last Post by: stan on 05 Mar 2010 @ 20:37:57

Driver Circuit (by: Bob)

Last Post by: Bob on 05 Mar 2010 @ 08:20:20

Shapeways, rapid prototyping (by: slurp)

Last Post by: slurp on 03 Mar 2010 @ 22:31:34

Lockable Skeleton Joints (by: peter Lovell)

Last Post by: peter Lovell on 03 Mar 2010 @ 16:40:49

Last Refreshed 3/11/2010 2:09:13 PM

robots.net
Recent robots.net articles

Famous ABE AUV Lost at Sea

The ABE (Autonomous Benthic Explorer) has used its on-board acoustic transponders and five thrusters to scan the seafloor for over 15 years - locating, mapping, and photographing hydrothermal vents, volcanoes, and other features of the great deep. Marked with "NCC1701" due to its resemblance to Captain Kirk's ship, ABE has performed more than 200 missions collecting valuable data for researchers worldwide. But something went wrong last Friday on an expedition off the coast of Chile and ABE just stopped - nothing was ever heard again. No word yet on whether ABE can be located or recovered.

Hawking on Manned vs Robotic Space Missions

Steven Hawking chimes in on the debate about whether to spend valuable resources sending humans on planetary exploration missions, or to use robots. After all, it's a lot cheaper to send a machine that doesn't need oxygen, isn't sensitive to radiation, and doesn't need to be returned to their family at the end of the mission. But there are some legitimate scientific reasons to send humans including real-time tweaking of the chemistry experiments looking for life, and to initiate unplanned tests based on unexpected observation. Also, the tax-paying public gets more emotionally invested in human missions and would possibly be more willing to continue funding. The ultimate answer is likely a mixture of the two, but exactly what that mixture will be is still being hotly debated.

Popular Science Opens 137 Year Archive

Popular Science and Google have partnered to scan and published 137 years of magazines full of inventions, interviews, and science news from around the globe. Oh, and don't forget those cool ads!. I'm not sure the search feature is 100% yet but I did find a few older articles that might be of interest to robotics enthusiast:

Sept 85 - Robot Sentries Patrol Prisons and Factories
Sept 62 - Teachable Robot Can Remember 200 Commands
June 83 - Computerized Personal Robots

Robots: Swarming Satellites

The latest episode of the Robots podcast interviews Dr. Alvar Saenz-Otero from MIT on the SPHERES project. SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) are basketball-sized satellites able to fly in and maintain formation at nanometer precision. In the second part of this episode we continue our quest for a good definition of a robot by looking at a well-known definition dating back to 1979. Read on or tune in!

Black Eyed Peas vs Giant Dancing Robots

The Black Eyed Peas have released a new mash-up video for their songs, "Imma be" and "Rock that Body" featuring an assortment of robots; friendly robots, evil robots, big robots, small robots. You also get to see a robot junk yard, teleporting band members, a hover car, futuristic dance guns, Taboo missing the bottom half of his body and Fergie sporting futuristic silver Louboutin heels and some sort of sexy cyborg leotard. For more on the story behind the video, see the Imma Be Wikipedia article.

Last Refreshed 3/11/2010 2:09:14 PM

KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News
A collection of news articles and stories relating to the accelerating nature of technology

Rob Glaser Defines the Superphone and Predicts the Mobile Future

By 2013 the installed base of smart phones and "superphones" will exceed the installed base of PCs, and those web-surfing devices will be mobile, says Rob Glaser, chairman of RealNetworks. (Source: http://gigaom.com/2010/03/10/rob-glaser-defines-the-superphone-and-predicts-the-mobile-future/)

Disease Cause Is Pinpointed With Genome

Two research teams have independently decoded the entire genome of patients to find the exact genetic cause of their diseases. The approach may offer a new start in identifying the genetic roots of major killers like heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's. Geneticists said the new research showed it was now possible to sequence the entire genome of a patient at reasonable cost and with sufficient accuracy to be of practical use to medical researchers. One subject's genome cost just $50,000 to decode. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/health/research/11gene.html)

The scientific brain

The brain's main job, like that of a scientist, is to generate hypotheses about what is going on in the outside world, a Max Planck Institute for Brain Research study suggests.

It takes less effort for the brain to register predictable than unpredictable images. (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research) More info: Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Source: )

Solar power could provide 10% of US energy: report

The U.S. could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, up from just 0.1 percent in 2008, according to a report produced by the independent environmental group Environment America. (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news187445269.html)

Bottled Wind Could Be as Constant as Coal

The Electric Power Research Institute and the Department of Energy have identified grid-scale storage as a key need for the rapidly diversifying electricity system, and compressed-air energy storage looks like the cheapest option available.

In the last four months, four compressed-air projects have gotten new funding. (Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/compressed-air-plants/)

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