Make: Kit Reviews

Need miniature aluminum girders for your next robot? Look no further than the lightweight MicroRAX building system. Parts include 10mm aluminum beams and braces, plates, brackets, and other connectors. They’ve even developed adapter plates to attach your ’RAX to VEX and NXT constructs, allowing you to merge multiple building media. The beams are sold in 900mm […]

Tools & Workshop: building system, microrax, Tools, Workshop

Got a project to prototype? Freescale’s Tower system with its Real Time Communications Suite (RTCS) offers greater processing power and more programming resources than Arduino, although it takes longer to learn. The basic kit consists of the 32-bit microcontroller board with USB and RS-232 interfaces, accelerometer, four display LEDs, switches, and a potentiometer. Additional modules […]

Electronics and Controllers Microcontrollers: electronics, microcontrollers

You can find an endless number of cool microcontroller projects and tutorials online these days. The tricky part is finding one that matches the components you already have or sourcing what you need to tackle that awesome project you’re dying to sink your teeth into. So the MAKE staff designed this pack with everything they wanted […]

Electronics and Controllers Microcontrollers: Arduino, electronics, microcontrollers

The Voice Shield is an analog audio shield for Arduino and compatible boards that allows you to play audio files saved in WAV format, whether short sound bites or entire operas. It lets you easily add audio to your next micro-controller project, thanks to a unique and very user-friendly way to access different sound clips. […]

Electronics and Controllers Microcontrollers: Arduino, auidio, electronics, microcontrollers, WAV

When working with the Arduno Uno, I often find myself needing more output ports than it’s got. Instead of having to trade my Uno for an Arduino Mega, I just plug in an EZ-Expander Shield, which plugs into three I/O ports and furnishes 16 — instantly providing 13 more I/Os. While each added pin can […]

Electronics and Controllers Microcontrollers: Arduino, electronics, microcontrollers, Shield

The ProtoSnap Pro Mini is one of the more interesting Arduino kits. Manufactured on a single PCB, it includes a preassembled Arduino Pro Mini (0.7″×1.3″) and snap-off accessory boards like an FTDI Basic Breakout board, buzzer, RGB LED, light sensor, pushbutton, and a general-purpose protoboard for wiring up your own custom components. Snap off each piece, and […]

Electronics and Controllers Microcontrollers: Arduino, electronics, microcontrollers

This latest version of Lego’s popular Mindstorms robotics kit includes a new 3-in-1 color and light sensor with LEDs; a new ball shooter; and tank treads. On the software side, an image editor now lets you convert your own images to fit the LCD display, and a sound editor records and converts sound clips, to play […]

Robotics: kids, lego, mindstorms, robotics, robots, toys

This is one of the most satisfying kits I’ve ever built, and the Sumovore it creates will be eligible for official RoboGames Mini-Sumo competitions, in which robots vie to push each other out of the ring. This is not a project for beginners, but thanks to clear documentation and well-organized components, anyone with moderate soldering […]

Robotics: RoboGames, robot battle, robotics, robots

My living room looks like Darwin’s laboratory. A three-legged creature writhes on the floor. My daughter pulls off a leg and connects it to its face. My son teaches it to walk. It’s really moving now! This is how you play and learn with Topobo. Topobo is part construction toy, part kinetic memory robot. By […]

Robotics: kids, robotics, robots, set, toy, toys

Ready for a challenge? Try one of the robotic arms from Lynxmotion. I got their AL5B arm kit, which sports a 5oz lift capacity, five joints, and a reach of 7½ inches. I assembled it in one evening, and I’ve been having a blast with it ever since. All arms in the product line are […]

Robotics: robotics, robots