Robot Inspiration Series #8: Bionic Apparatus

One interesting kind of robots is bionic robots, or robots that humans can wear to gain extra capabilities. Some examples of these robots are my A27 Bionic Glove and Bionic Helmet.

So this week's inspiration is to build some sort of bionic apparatus that you wear and that gives you one or more extra capabilities. Some examples include extending grabber arms, night vision (or object detection at night), weapons, and decoders (make your own code, like a color code, and a robot that can read and decipher it). Some places to wear a robot include on your arm/wrist, in your pocket, on your leg, and on your back as a backpack.

A couple issues to consider when making a bionic apparatus are fit and weight. With solid, blocky LEGO building pieces, it can be pretty hard to make a robot that fits securely and, especially, comfortably. And by the way, even if the robot seems to have a comfortable fit, wear it around for 10 minutes and you might change your mind! :-) When trying to get the fit right, it can be helpful to use soft, flexible pieces such as tires and other rubber parts. String might also come in handy.

If your robot weighs too much (or if the weight isn't spread evenly throughout the robot), it can be awkward and uncomfortable to wear. Try to keep motors and NXT Bricks to a minimum. You might even be able to wear the NXT Brick separately, such as in your pocket.

-Jonathan

P.S. You can see other posts in the Robot Inspiration blog series here.

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT...

ROBOTMAK3RS Review: LEGO River Steamboat

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Ghostbusters R.T.V Remix

Nino Guba is from Torrance, California, USA. He played with LEGO as a kid, but growing up in the Philippines, it wasn’t something he had easy access to. He only got reintroduced to LEGO when he moved to the US and had kids of his own. When his sons were younger, they received LEGO sets as gifts, but as they grew older, the sets got put into storage as their interest faded. Fast forward a few years, he started coming up with his own product ideas and thought about how he could quickly prototype them. That’s when he discovered LEGO MINDSTORMS—and was hooked! He raided his kids’ old collection, got everything organized, and now he's designing and building his own creations, blending his coding skills with LEGO robotics to bring ideas to life. Tell us about your Ghostbusters Remote Trap Vehicle (R.T.V) project. This project is a LEGO Technic adaptation of the Ghostbusters R.T.V.—a ghost trap converted into a remote-controlled vehicle. Its companion build is a prop replica of the Futaba...

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