Mimbo is a friendly robot who mimics your emotions/expressions. He has a cardboard box for a body and an iPhone for a face. See him in action here: youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=csYPpxBOBCA

The body is made from a single sheet of cardboard and is folded and hot-glued to form the 3D shape. It was designed in 3D in Solidworks and flattened using the sheet metal tools.

The iPhone display is controlled via a Processing script that controls a TouchOSC interface running on the phone. Face tracking is used to sense the user's emotional expression and mimic it.

Full instructions on how to go about the coding part are posted here: instructables.com/id/Mimbo-A-Friendly-Robot/

Markerbot is a low-cost robot designed to get young kids programming. The robot features an IR reader which allows kids to program the robot to do whatever they want by simply coloring in the appropriate arrows on a paper strip.

Four IR sensors are positioned along the circumference of the reader and pick up their respective column of tick marks on the strip of paper. The fourth column on the strip is pre-printed with a set of tick marks to indicate when the other sensors should check to see if tick marks are in their own column. The code running on the Arduino splits the strip into 3x3 chunks and extracts the various movement commands to be executed once the "Go!" button is pushed.

This was made for a robotics class. Check out a video of it in action as well as some of the other students' designs...
sites.google.com/site/me842010/home/markerbot

The infamous Unicorn Logo!

This is a great first print to test out your Makerbot Unicorn Pen Plotter ( thingiverse.com/thing:4185 )

Note: Not only does the logo look pretty awesome on just about anything (see the picture of my latest robotics project for school), but also the sound of the Makerbot drawing it is just phenomenal.

This ergonomic handle eliminates the problem of heavy plastic bags digging into your fingers and, instead, aims to evenly distribute the heavy load through your fingers and palm with its form fitting design.

I had thought of trying this idea a few months ago but never acted on it. Then, yesterday I was playing with clay and decided it would be cool to squeeze the clay in a fist and use it to create a handle that perfectly matches my hand.

It works amazingly well (and noticeably better for my right hand than for my left).

I was doing some Mendel research and discovered this great video about how it's axes work: vimeo.com/6982104

It inspired me to try to build my own, and naturally, I started with Makerbot's y-stage.

There are two versions of this design: (one for old-school makerbots and one for the new guys)
The makerbot who's axes I'm redesigning is super old school and has the original 8mm steel rods (instead of the current ~6.3mm). Luckily parametric modeling means changing the design to accommodate the new rods was as easy as changing two dimensions.

I've done a bunch of testing using the y-stage (both versions) and have found that it works amazingly well. A few benefits of this more complicated and arguably over-kill design:
1. It doesn't matter where the drive belt applies the force to move the stage. No torque will ever jam or stick the stage.
2. This means you can turn the power WAY down on the y-stage. My bot is now about as close as you can get to silent when it moves straight in the y-direction.
3. It handles variability in the rods much better than the current design. Even if the rods aren't perfectly parallel, it'll work just fine.

This design is only 90% complete however. Everything works awesomely except I'm stumped as to a good way to attach and arrange the drive belt. As it stands I'm just using a bolt and some washers to secure it and letting the other side of the belt (which moves in the opposite direction) rub against the inside of one of the printed parts. Far from perfect but it works.

I'm going to try to tackle the x-stage soon and maybe arrange the y-bars a bit differently to see if I can come up with a solution there. I'll keep you posted.

Also.... A video of some early testing:
flickr.com/photos/24375810@N06/4630595409/

I've felt a need for a way to very quickly and easily attach sensors and motors to an Arduino to prototype simple robots. I love ladyada's motor shield but was frustrated by it's inability to easily connect to sensors.

So far I've tested the board on my sumobots and a prototype fire-fighting robot and it works perfectly.

This is my first prototype and I'm in the process of iterating the design once more. I'm thinking I may use a NAND gate to free up an extra two digital lines and perhaps not include a built in potentiometer and speaker and instead have a mini prototyping area with .1" spaced pins. I'm open to suggestions... What do you think this board needs?

The eventual goal is to sell kits to help fund more robotics projects here at the Tufts Robotics Club (see: tuftsroboticsclub.com ) and hopefully help robotics enthusiasts turn their ideas into reality just a little more quickly and easily.

I have a few extra boards which I might be selling in the near future. Let me know if your interested in a board/kit at langfordw[at]gmail[dot]com

Kind of going with the same aesthetic as my bubble bracelet ( thingiverse.com/thing:851 ) I decided to use some lasercut scrap pieces to make a simple necklace.

I feel like there's something not quite perfect about it yet but maybe this will inspire other designs.

This is the next iteration of my original sumobot design.

A few changes:
* It's made from three pieces, not one
*It uses two solarbotics GM8 gear motors (actually the pololu 120:1 equivalent), instead of continuous servos
* It works.

I'm really happy with how it came out.

**UPDATE**
I've updated the files since I first posted this thing. They're pretty small tweaks but they really help when trying to wire up the whole thing and hold down the electronics.

I've posted a video of it in action. It still has no opponent sensing/detection but it's staying within the white space perfectly. See it here:
flickr.com/photos/24375810@N06/4281870587/in/set-72157622790238786/

Stay tuned for thorough instructions/code and possibly a chassis kit for sale at botmade.etsy.com

First thing of the new decade!

Inspired by my braille bracelet, this a pretty simple and comfortable bracelet.

It will soon be made available for purchase at botmade.etsy.com

I made this as a little present for someone.

I still had a few pieces of the lasercut scrap wood from my internship at Makerbot Industries over the summer and I liked the black/wood aesthetic of my wall clock thingiverse.com/thing:834 so I decided to make a box with the same stuff.

I said I would make this a long time ago...

Pretty self explanatory.... it's a bracelet with braille on it (the braille reads "makerbot")

I used 1/4" felt to make it nice and comfy and add some visual flare

This design can be adapted in so many ways (doesn't just have to be braille) and it's really easy to design/print/put-together.

EXTRA BONUS POINTS for whoever adapts this design for the makerbot watch :)

I was recently contacted by a blind man, Dave, who was interested in getting some samples of the braille I printed on the makerbot earlier this year. I took the opportunity to refine the design a bit more before shipping a few test pieces off to him early this week.

Just yesterday he received them and was immediately able to read them. To quote: "I am enormously impressed. With my fingernail I can feel where the filaments laid down. With my fingertips though, the dots are correct sized, smooth feeling and comfortable to read. I really think this is professional quality stuff."

The next step is to figure out if there's a need for this kind of braille production. I'm currently doing some research on traditional methods of creating braille and am talking with Dave about the feasibility of actually using the makerbot to produce braille.

So this is a project I've been thinking about trying out with my robotics club here at Tufts. I played with sumobots a while back in highschool but it turned out to be sort of boring because everyone was using the same kit robot and the same code. The Makerbot is a game changer here. The ability to totally customize a sumobot from the ground up with relatively little effort is awesome. I can't wait to see whole Makerbot sumobot tournaments.

Full disclosure.... this is a relatively difficult print and really pushes the limits of the build size. My makerbot was up to the challenge of the 2.5hr print and resulted in only minor warping but it was definitely a little stressful to watch.

I'm working on another (maybe better, maybe worse) version with multiple parts that slot together which would ensure more uniformity across makerbots.

Designed for an upcoming robotics competition at WPI in which the robots must "improve quality of life" in some way:

Bloombot is an open-source automated hydroponics system that aims to build community and increase the engagement of people with their food. Bloombot is capable of growing plants like lettuces and herbs throughout the year and, through use of Twitter integration hopes to build off the work of other products (like AeroGrow and Botanicalls) to integrate some of their functionality to produce a machine that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Still working on finishing up the parts list but it's almost complete.

I was organizing my room today and needed a place to hang my shorts near my bed. The hook just uses an elliptical hole in the side of the bed frame and rests naturally.

Total project time from idea to reality to the internets: 25 min.

It's never a bad idea to have spare parts for your MakerBot lying around.

I have an old batch 2 MakerBot with outdated z-guides which make removing the z-stage really difficult. Luckily the new version of the z-guide is super easy to print out.

Also interesting is the x-rod bracket. Upgrading to the newer, skinnier rods is a little easier now and you need four less lasercut parts.

Yay. Hardware upgrades over the internet!

If you want to make any of your own parts the dxf's are all online (or in the repository svn.makerbot.com/).

My mom needed a laptop stand so I decided to make this for her Birthday tomorrow.

I really like how it came out and I love the interaction of the wave and the wood grain.

My process went something like this:
My mom's always liked Japanese prints (she grew up in Japan) and so I knew I wanted to do a Hokusai wave.

I found a creative commons image (http://nickpoint.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/the_great_wave_off_kanagawa.jpg) and imported it into Gimp. I adjusted the levels and threshold-ed it to make it just black and white. From there I played with it a bit in Inkscape using the trace bitmap tool. Eventually I ended up with what you see there.

I actually made this a while ago right after todbot made his but I got lazy and procrastinated. Anyway here it is...

Out of everything I've printed this is definitely the thing I use most often.

I made two versions: a desktop one and a wall mounted one.

The desktop stand is composed of three parts: a square piece of scrap makerbot wood that I painted black on the bottom, a clip that is glued to the base, and the main housing that holds the cable and snaps in and out of the clip.

The wall mounted one is just two parts: the wall mount and the holder of the cable. Again, the holder can snap in and out of the wall mount.

I really like the snap fit and it's functionally perfect. It makes a very satisfying click and holds it really well. The snap clip allows the cable to be adjusted within the enclosure if needed and also adds some portability.

UPDATE:
I've found through repeated use that the snap fit slowly loosens and you have to readjust the position of the iPod charger within the housing. HOWEVER... I just added a new part called the ipodstopper which basically just plugs the bottom whole and keeps everything at the right level and totally eliminates this problem! yay!

I decided to start Awesome August off with an awesome bracelet.

This thing has a lot going on. It may look like an ordinary bracelet but you see all those holes? Yep.... exactly the size to pop and LED in. Where does the power come from you ask? How about a coin cell battery embedded within one of the modular pieces (a captive print!). Memory wire connects everything together giving it a perfect springy feel.

This thing was a lot harder to get together than I thought it would be and turned out to be a whole weekend project. The trickiest part to figure out was what material to connect them with. I tried everything from string, stranded wire, magnets and even conductive thread. The memory wire works great. Although I'm still not perfectly happy with the on/off functionality or the joining of the two ends, I hear you can buy endcaps that seem like they would solve the problem.

Now that I've iterated through a bunch of materials and ideas though they're pretty easy to build and work well.

I want to start seeing some people rock out with Makerbot made accessories!

This is a clock design made from scrap laser-cut wood from a bunch of the Makerbots I had to cut for batch 3 and 4. The good thing about laser-cutting is that even the scrap has a digital design file that can be shared.

I joined the pieces together with small clips I printed on my Makerbot. The clips are actually really great and I'm definitely going to do more with them in the future. They're designed to snap onto 5mm (.25") material and they do a good job of securing it in place.

I could have (and probably should have) printed the clips with the 30 degree angle needed built in to minimize trying to get everything aligned perfectly but I like the flexibility they have now.

TO DO: get a more aesthetically pleasing wall mounting. It looks okay and works well for now but I eventually want to print something to cover up the annoying metal hook on the back of the mechanism.

The makerbot finally printed me some glasses!

I decided to start out with some nice thick frames inspired primarily by Cory Doctorow and Bre Pettis, though I have plans for a lot more styles and shapes.

As for practicality...
I honestly wasn't expecting these to be comfortable but they actually are. They're really light and after a while I forget I'm even wearing them. I can even wear them over my normal glasses.
PLUS major geek bonus points for wearing GLASSES YOU PRINTED YOURSELF.

I know people have already experimented with this a bit but I thought it would be nice to have a slightly more elegant solution to the problem of mounting a pen or pencil or brush or whatever to the Makerbot (before I had just hot-glued a marker to my extruder).

*Just updated it with an extra piece that you can print and strap on with rubber bands that allows the pen/tool to travel slightly, allowing better contact with the surface. It does this while still allowing the pen to be picked up off of the surface when you need to start a new line.

I made these for fathers day a while back (printed out my dad's name) but they actually came out really well. They have a nice sound and feel to them. Since then I've just been printing out random letters and rediscovering the joy of playing with blocks.

**Just uploaded the whole alphabet. Enjoy :)
I've just been designing the letters as I need them but if you have a specific request just let me know. (I haven't quite worked out how to make parametric models easy to share)

*I think the renderer is still mirroring text.... the actual STL's have the text the right way around

I need teaspoons to dispense nutrients to my hydroponic gardening system but I don't like to use the one I use for cooking. Instead of going out and buying some I decided to print my own. I had seen that TMR had designed some earlier but I didn't need quite as long a handle and I also wanted to label them with their quantity. It's a really cool feeling to not be bound by the limits of store-bought measuring spoons so... just because I could I printed a 13/16 teaspoon. yay!

One thing I would have liked to do is to also label them with their metric equivalent (ie. 1 tsp = 5 ml and 1 tbs = 15 ml) as that stuff can be really helpful when your trying to convert between the two.

This is still a work in progress but the MakerBot actually seems to print braille rather well. I can't read braille so I can't judge for sure whether it's readable but it certainly seems like it. The trick is to get the G-code right to prevent warts on the front face (i'm still fiddling with this).

I think this might have a lot of potential. A braille bracelet will be next in my printing/designing queue.

The renderer might be down.... check out flickr.com/photos/24375810@N06/3605186452/ for some pics.

When my brother came to me with a proposition to make a lens hood for his old Yashica I honestly wasn't sure how well the Makerbot would be able to pull off a task that required such fine detail: I needed something that would twist and lock onto three flanges. After just a few design iterations though, I could see that it was going to work.

For me what was so awesome was that the Makerbot allowed a very natural and intuitive design process/flow. I quickly mocked up a rough design and printed it out. This allowed me to see where problems were going to come up. I thickened it in areas and adjusted some dimensions and printed another. I went through another two iterations to finally come to the perfect design. This all happened within five hours of my brother even suggesting the idea while still having time to watch a full movie and eat dinner.

Definitely one of the most satisfying designs/things I've made especially considering this is something that is very hard to buy these days.
Thank you Makerbot!

I know many of you, like me, have lots of little small parts that can be hard to organize sometimes. I thought that being able to print your own parts bin would be awesome because you could customize to fit the exact requirements. You can also emboss or engrave the part name or logo or whatever right on the front for easy finding.

The ridge at the top lines up with a cut in the bottom so that they will stack nicely and should be perfectly printable. I also implemented nice curved bottoms to make getting those small resistors a little easier.

I wish I could make it a little bit easier to customize for other people. I'm not sure if there's a format I can save it in that will allow you to edit features directly (instead of going through .stl).

This is an updated version of my previous medium format camera. I wanted to make a simple one that I was sure was going to print. The smaller size also means it'll be in better focus when used with a Holga lens and shutter assembly.

You can either just attach your own pinhole to the front or you can print out the holga attachment and mount a Holga lens and shutter assembly right on the front giving you a fully functional camera with a proper shutter.

The size of the images is going to be a little funky (3.6cm wide and 6cm tall) but it works.

This is still very much a work in progress but I thought I'd just get it out there.

Continuing on Bre's idea of printing a watch... I made a Dalí inspired melting watch. Of course it's not functional (at least not yet). I'm working on a way to attach it to your wrist. Maybe I can have it be more like a bracelet and have the "melted-ness" wrap almost all the way around the wrist.

I also need to add hands. I guess I'll have to make those separately because I can't figure out a way to make it printable if I integrate them into this piece.

The letters are about 1mm wide at their thinnest point so it shouldn't turn out too bad. Still, I'm a little worried about the general print-ability but I oriented it the way I think might have the most success.

I've been meaning to make a printable camera for a while now but I\'ve found it difficult to get all the dimensions nice and to have it be printable. Hopefully this one is both printable and just generally cool. Because the Makerbot, or any 3D printer for that matter, isn't the greatest at making pinholes, this design assumes you can make your own out of tinfoil or a soda can or whatever and attach it to the front. It uses a very simple/primitive shutter mechanism where you just lift up the front tab for however long you want to expose the film. The back is curved to give a cool distorted affect hopefully. Of course this could be fixed and made straight but where's the fun in that? The top just simply rests on top so you'll probably want to tape that down once you load your film.

It uses 120 (medium format film) and will probably be need to be loaded in the dark.

I'm sure it'll have some problems but the idea of being able to print your own camera was too cool to pass up.


**Holga Shutter and Lens Update**
I just now realized how awesome and easy it would be to attach the entire holga shutter and lens assembly to the front. For those of you unfamiliar with the Holga it is basically just a really hackable plastic camera. (http://www.lomography.com/holga/)

I attached an updated version of the bottom case with a mount for the assembly. All you need to do is grab an old Holga, take off the assembly with the two screws and re-screw it onto your newly printed custom camera. Now you have a pretty much fully functional camera with an actual shutter and lens.

I'm not sure about the new bottomcase's print-ablility. If it has problems I attached a flat holga attachment piece that can printed seperately and be screwed onto the front of the camera.

One thing to note... the optics might be a little funky because of the film's distance from the lens. should be interesting...