The Heinz Automato

[Bill Fienup] and [Barry Kudrowitz]‘s robots, The Automatos, have been leaving a sticky path of destruction all over the internet. Their sole purpose: to crap ketchup. They accomplish this feat by dumping a CO2 cartridge into a ketchup bottle at the push of a button, leading to some pretty awesome results.  While the details are a little sparse it appears that they are using RC cars for the base and a small air gun CO2 cartridge to push the ketchup. The latest version aka the Atuomato 4 appears to be multi-actuated and can shoot more than once for maximum ketchup proliferation. See some videos of it in action after the break.

Kids type with their eyes, robot arm prints their words

F.A.T. took it to the next level, combining a couple of their projects for the Cinekid festival. This contraption lets kids write their names with their eyes for printing by a robot arm. The first part is a glasses-free version of the EyeWriter, originally developed as an assistive technology. The system uses some IR LEDs to generate a reflection on your eye that a PS3 camera can pick up and use to precisely track your gaze. Just look at each key on a virtual keyboard to spell out your message. From there, a robot arm used previously in the Robotagger project prints out the name on a big sheet of paper the kids can take home. This is cool, but more importantly it’s a great way to inspire the next generation of hackers and engineers. Check out the video after the break.

Next-Level Robotic Hijinx

Oberon is a wheeled remotely operated vehicle that [LucidScience] built based on an electric wheelchair. The detailed and helpful build log is valuable enough even before considering the vast potential of Oberon’s intended use: strutting around town, scaring the neighbours.
We’ve seen other ROVs before, of course, but none with the same kind of War of the Worlds “real-life invasion” kitch. Running down hapless pedestrians or raining hell upon your enemies are great and all, but once you’ve destroyed the surrounding population you’re out of laughs. Not so with Oberon, with which you can convince Mr. Nutcase down the road to go on wild quests for the glory of the new robot empire. The fun doesn’t stop there–enjoy the Hubbard side of life by starting a cult to worship the great Oberon and enjoy decades of financial payoff and moral depravity…all from the comfort of your own living room!
It would be wicked rad if we could move forward with this idea by combining the abilities of specialized ROVs like this camera-bot and this termite-killer-bot. Face it, who wouldn’t want a smooth-talking camera-snapping chemical-spraying avatar for christmas?

Harvesting ultrasonic sensors

With many modern cars coming equipped with an array of ultrasonic sensors mounted in the bumpers, it stands to reason that many junk yards have them too. [jimk3038] points out that, unless they’re crushed, they’re probably good. The list of features on these is pretty long, including being short proof, water proof,  EMF proof and fast. These tough little suckers can be used in a multitude of projects and can have a range of roughly 2 meters.  [jimk3038] documents in great detail how to use these things as well as offering some sample code to get you started. Why didn’t we think of this?

Evalbot nunchuck control

[Martin] got his evalbot recently and wanted to try controlling it with his Wii nunchuck. After some trial and error, he finally got it working. He’s shown that controlling the bot with the nunchuck was actually pretty simple, but there are some other tips that could be pretty helpful in the process. One was the fact that the point where he’s taking power for the nunchuck could easily be shorted on the motor. He wrapped his in tape, but we could see this little bug pestering us for a while before we figured out what it was.  You can download his code and see his build process on his site. Be sure to catch the video of it working in both accelerometer and joystick mode after the break.
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