My Robot Nation - After My Own Heart

Not everyone has access to a 3D printer, and the people who do, rarely offer their services at reasonable prices. Now a company called ‘My Robot Nation’ is offering custom 3D prints of custom made robot figurines! And the prices are reasonable too! The prices are as follow; $17.99 for a 2” model, $24.99 for a 3” model, and $169.99 for a 6” model (alright, the 6” model isn't a great price, but is understandable why).

My Robot Nation offers a free online CAD program where users get to choose predefined shapes and body parts to design their own custom robot. The amount of available parts is actually quite impressive and some of the already-built robots are even more impressive. Robots like the one pictured below were all made using My Robot Nation’s WebGL based program and can be viewed/rated under the ‘The Nation’ tab at the top of the screen.

The concept of My Robot Nation is really interesting, and the implementation is absolutely extraordinary. The program has run completely smooth for me so far and I have yet to make a robot which I’m not tempted to buy. The coloring options are in-depth and very responsive. Now to just pool up some money and get a RoboTechEd robot look-a-like (RTE’s background); the last part I need is a one to replicate the antennae in some way and the model will look very close. If you’re able to replicate it shoot me a pic on Twitter and feel free to post any of your creations below and make sure you also follow @MyRobotNation for all updates to the service!

Check out My Robot Nation's photo gallery HERE.

Roboweek Day Three - Self Replicating Printers

RoboTechEd’s third #robotofnote for Roboweek isn’t a stereotypical robot. It doesn't walk, talk, or really have much user feedback. But what it lacks it makes up with it's ability to create. Makerbot is a stationary robot that is completely open platform, and arduino controlled - pretty sweet if you need a 3D printer (you guessed it, Makerbot is a 3D printer). A Makerbot kit costs a small price of $1,300 but is way cheaper than a commercial 3D printer. And the best part is that once you have one, the Makerbot can self replicate!

Also available online is a huge amount of CAD files that are known to work on the Makerbot, from coffee mugs, to nuts and bolts. The Makerbot is able to make these things by melting plastic into the desired shape - anything up to 4”x4”x6”. To find out more on the Makerbot, click HERE and make sure to check out the video below to see it in action. And if anyone makes or buys one of these let me know, selling copies of the original may be somewhat fruitful (no...for real, a self replicating 3D printer is pretty sweet)!

Are you celebrating Roboweek? If you're making something cool, would you use a Makerbot to help?less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyTaylor Niver
RoboTechEd

Are you celebrating #roboweek? What are you doing to celebrate? A good idea would be to download the RoboTechEd Chrome App! Check it out, and tweet @roboteched or @roboweek with any #robotofnote!

Star Wars Thought It, Sony Made It

“Help me Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope” has been a quote among geeks for years...in fact for over thirty years. Star Wars was such a successful movie because of the abundance of futuristic technology in it, able to excite all types of people. Flying cars, droids, and holograms, seemed so far off. But, in less than one lifetime; they exist. Sony released a new hologram machine (well...not technically, but still), that you could soon be seeing in your living room. They call it a “360-Degree Autostereoscopic Display”. This machine is able to take digital data, and convert it into a picture that can be seen from 360 degrees around.


The way that the Autostereoscopic Display is able to display these images, is through actually displaying 360 images, each with one degree of separation. The models appear to be 3D because your two eyes actually see two different images, giving the model the sense of depth. Sadly though, the machine is only able to display an image at an extremely low quality. But the technology is quickly growing. Sony names tons of uses for a device like this, ranging from gaming, to press conferences. I personally am only interested in the video game aspect of it; and am especially looking forwards to a Star-Wars remake, to hopefully, be released with the display. Because if it isn’t, then that day I'll be out to buy myself a Princess Leia costume...erm... maybe not.