Makerclub Helps You Learn 3D-Printed Robotics

 

Want to make a giant 3D-printed spider robot? A humanoid help-mate? A robotic scorpion with a powerful, electrified tail? Makerclub can probably help. Created as a place for makers to come together and discuss 3D printed robotics, the service is now part commerce site, part repository, and part educational resource. Interestingly, the service is also offering a hardware brain on Indiegogo to help build the creations.

“As far as we know, no-one else is creating a 3D printed library of parts such as ours, or building an educational platform to bring the technology to the mainstream,” said the founder Simon Riley.

Reilly has also created a board, called the MakerConnect, that makes it easy to build the creations on the site. Called the MakerConnect, it connects an Arduino board with on-board Bluetooth so you can wirelessly control the creations on the site. While you don’t need to use the MakerConnect, the $50 board makes it much easier to build many of the robots on the site.

 

“We create 3D printed robotics projects which teach invention and product design. Each project is powered by our Arduino based chip, and controlled by your smartphone,” said Rielly. Users can download plans and programs and then print all the parts needed for the robots. There are even lesson plans using the models so kids can learn how to create robotic projects with a minimum of fuss.

“I studied Electronic Engineering with Computing at Nottingham, with my 3rd year in UNSW, and then went into Software Development,” said Rielly. “I’ve worked for a number of companies, big and small, including Experian, eBay and Brandwatch and have become a relatively proficient programmer. However, it always niggled me that I came out of University with a 2:1 and almost no real understanding of or passion for my subject, and I had to spend the next 5 years catching up before and after work.”

“This all started from my frustrated efforts to make a remote controlled car 2 years ago. I could work out how to program everything but my woodwork and general craft skills are so below par, that everything I made would either fall apart or be so clunky that nothing would move. I was then lucky enough to meet up with my old boss at a Christmas party where we discussed the beginnings of my idea and get brought a 3D printer for my combined Christmas and Birthday Present two weeks later,” he said.

Reilly describes the project as “everything I would have wanted as a 15-year-old kid.” Throw in some Stephen King books and a Victoria’s Secret catalog and I think he might be right.

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Sub-$1 3D-printed microscope turns phones into science tools

This little device costs just pennies in plastic. Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

Smartphone cameras are great for a lot of things, but they're not designed for getting super-duper up close with tiny objects like salt crystals or blood cells. You can give your mobile device a helping hand, though, and open up a world of microscopic adventures. It's not going to cost you much, either. You just need a 3D printer, a glass bead and some free files from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The microscope consists of a 3D-printed clip and a glass sphere. Put them together, slide the gadget over the camera lens of your smartphone or tablet, and you get a cheap, but very functional microscope. The glass beads used in the project are the same kind used in reflective pavements markings at airports.

PNNL suggests starting your explorations with the 100x version of the microscope to familiarize yourself with the system. It takes more effort and practice to get good, clean images with the higher-magnification versions, so training wheels makes sense. If you master the entry-level microscope, you can then move up to 350x and even 1000x versions.

Printer files for multi-platform and iPhone 5S-specific applications are available to download. The PNNL researchers say they've gotten their best results with the 5S, but that the microscope works well with other devices, including tablets.

Among the cool things that can be identified with the 1000x microscope are plague cells and anthrax spores. The lower-power 350x version can peer into blood samples to see parasites. If you're not impressed, then you need to turn in your Bill Nye the Science Guy fan club card right now.

This cool scientific instrument was inspired by a need of the Department of Homeland Security for what PNNL describes as "rapid bio detection technologies." This includes first responders reporting to a scene to investigate things like mysterious white powders. The microscope had to be extremely inexpensive in case of contamination issues so it could be thrown away without tossing a chunk of a government budget with it.

The super-cheap microscope is bound to enable some pretty sweet school science projects, but it could just as easily find a home in the traveling kits of professional scientists or land in the hands of the science-curious public.

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