The Engadget Show 35: EVs in Portland, hacked bicycles and a Tesla Model S test drive

Posted on 28/08/2012 by Brian Heater

With a transportation themed episode, it only seemed natural to take the Engadget Show out of our traditional digs -- it was also a great excuse to visit one of our favorite cities in the world: Portland, Oregon. We drove Mitsubishi's i-MiEV EV around the Northwestern green mecca, stopping at some great PDX spots along the way, including the amazing Ground Kontrol arcade, Hand-Eye Supply and the hackerspace, Brain Silo. We also took the time to speak to some PDX residents, including Core77 co-founder Eric Ludlum and some local modders showing off their homebrew projects.

Also, Brian travels out to Boston to ride along with a gang of bike hackers, Myriam takes the Tesla Model S for a spin around the streets of San Francisco and Michael does his best not to fall off the DTV Shredder in the California desert. And, as always, we got a pile of the month's latest and greatest gadgets, including the Google Nexus 7, Hasbro's new Lazer Tag guns and a quick trip around OS X Mountain Lion. Also: comic books, donuts and plenty of EV road trip shenanigans. Click through the break to tune in!

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The Engadget Show 35: EVs in Portland, hacked bicycles and a Tesla Model S test drive originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stompy the giant hexapod gets hexafunded, one step closer to hexacrushing your car

Posted on 14/08/2012 by Brian Heater

So, just how many people want to see Stompy, the two-ton hexapod come to smashtastic life? Enough to fund the project in 11 days via its Kickstarter page. The folks at Artisan's Asylum dropped us a line to let us know that Sir Stompsalot has hit its $65,000 goal as of 7:30 AM this morning, with 18 days left to pledge. That list includes two backers at the $5,000 adopt-a-leg level and nine backers for the $1,000 drive Stompy mark, so unless you've got a giant insect of your own, you might want to avoid driving the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts for a while...

Stompy the giant hexapod gets hexafunded, one step closer to hexacrushing your car originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stompy the giant hexapod gets hexafunded, one step closer to hexacrushing your car

Posted on 14/08/2012 by Brian Heater

Stompy the giant hexapod gets hexafunded, one step closer to hexacrushing your car originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: industrial vending machines are a modder’s best friend

Posted on 06/08/2012 by Brian Heater

The perfect compliment to a massive hackerspace like Massachusetts's Artisan's Asylum? An industrial vending machine stocked with all the necessities for your average modder. Fastenal specializes in business industrial vending machines, stocking up units with things like office and first aid supplies. The company also provides cutting tools and materials for welders and metal fabricators, making it a bit of a godsend for hackerspace communities, where venturing out to a hardware store often means an annoying interruption of a project's workflow -- or, as a woman at the space told us: a lot of people order takeout because they don't want leave when they're working, so it sort of makes sense that the space would offering up such a solution. Members swipe their cards, applying the charges to their membership accounts. The thing stocks welding gloves, dust masks, screw drivers, tape measures, various adhesives and multi-tools, so modders never have to leave to safety of their hackerspace again.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Visualized: industrial vending machines are a modder's best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: industrial vending machines are a modder’s best friend

Posted on 06/08/2012 by Brian Heater

The perfect compliment to a massive hackerspace like Massachusetts's Artisan's Asylum? An industrial vending machine stocked with all the necessities for your average modder. Fastenal specializes in business industrial vending machines, stocking up units with things like office and first aid supplies. The company also provides cutting tools and materials for welders and metal fabricators, making it a bit of a godsend for hackerspace communities, where venturing out to a hardware store often means an annoying interruption of a project's workflow -- or, as a woman at the space told us: a lot of people order takeout because they don't want leave when they're working, so it sort of makes sense that the space would offer up such a solution. Members swipe their cards, applying the charges to their membership accounts. The thing stocks welding gloves, dust masks, screw drivers, tape measures, various adhesives and multi-tools, so modders never have to leave to safety of their hackerspace again.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Visualized: industrial vending machines are a modder's best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WiFi-Extending Robot is built like a tank — we talk to the people behind the project (video)

Posted on 06/08/2012 by Brian Heater

It's a fairly menacing sight, an aluminum robot sporting big tank treads -- that is, until you watch one of its creators do a handstand on top of the thing in a pair of cargo shorts. And really, while the 'bot wouldn't look too out of place with a small machine gun strapped to its front, its intentions are peaceful, seeking to extend the WiFi connections to hazardous places lacking in network infrastructure. We first heard about the project last week, when the team of computer and electrical engineers at Northeastern University that created it first revealed their work to the media. A visit this weekend to our favorite Somerville, Massachusetts-based hackerspace provided the opportunity to check out the beast in-person and discuss the project with a couple of its creators.

After the limited machining resources at Northeastern failed to meet their needs, the students found a home at Artisan's Asylum, where they learned the skills necessary to put together this ambitious project, utilizing classes and the metal shop provided by the space. The result is an impressive sight, a robot capable of climbing stairs and supporting the weight of two adult humans -- the latter of which they happily demonstrated for us in a yet-to-be-occupied new wing at Artisan's. The former, on the other hand, we were unable to see, sadly, as the internals were mostly gutted at the moment on the ever-evolving project. Team member Dan Landers, was more than happy to discuss the project, standing next to a pile of water jet-cut steel pieces that will form the first leg of giant hexapod Stompy, a project on which Landers is also a participant.

Gallery: NodeWiFi-Extending Robot is built like a tank, we talk to the people behind the project

Continue reading WiFi-Extending Robot is built like a tank -- we talk to the people behind the project (video)

Filed under: Robots, Wireless

WiFi-Extending Robot is built like a tank -- we talk to the people behind the project (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stompy gets off the ground with a Kickstarter: buy a ride on a 2-ton hexabot

Posted on 03/08/2012 by Terrence O'Brien

In June we were promised a Kickstarter for Project Hexapod's 10-foot tall, two-ton Stompy. We're happy to report that Gui Cavalcanti and his cohorts (James Whong and Dan Cody) at the Artisan's Asylum weren't kidding. This morning the page went live and you can officially pledge your support for rideable six-legged robots. Now that the chassis is 80 percent through the design phase, the half-scale prototype leg (Gimpy) has proven its mettle, and the full-size prototype leg has been designed and the necessary parts ordered, it's time to start lining up funding for the final project. You know how it works: you pledge a certain amount of money and in return you receive a particular level of reward. Don't have much to offer? For just $5 the team will scale the White Mountains and shout your name from the top, while $10 will get you get you something a bit more tangible -- a bumper sticker that reads "my other car has six legs."

Continue reading Stompy gets off the ground with a Kickstarter: buy a ride on a 2-ton hexabot

Filed under: Robots, Transportation

Stompy gets off the ground with a Kickstarter: buy a ride on a 2-ton hexabot originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WobbleWorks: flapping ears and robotic dinosaur dreams

Posted on 20/06/2012 by Brian Heater

Artisan's Asylum's 30,000-odd square feet were largely uninhabited when we arrived early Wednesday afternoon. No shocker there, really -- the space's president and co-founder Gui Cavalcanti warned us in advance that it wouldn't begin filling up until later that evening, seeing as how a big portion of renters hold down nine-to-fives. They occupy desk jobs during daytime hours in order to support their after-work passions, stopping by the space in the evening hours to produce works that might some day rise above the category of hobby.

The duo behind WobbleWorks are strange cases, however, not simply due to the moving rabbit and dog ears they donned during our interview -- their paying gigs hardly qualify them for the straight-laced, button-down world we've come to associate with the term "day job." In 2011, Max Bogue and Peter Dilworth founded the small toy company aiming to help fund their true passion: robotic dinosaurs.

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WobbleWorks: flapping ears and robotic dinosaur dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video)

Posted on 14/06/2012 by Terrence O'Brien

The Artisan's Asylum has a few guiding principles, one of which is anyone can "make." We assume one of the others is "you can never have too many hexapods." If Stompy, the giant rideable bot, is a bit much for you to handle (or store), then maybe Hexy is more your speed. He's got six legs and 20 servos, but at only $200, he's much cheaper than similar hexapod kits and, most importantly, more adorable. The bot is the brain child of Joseph Schlesinger, a resident at the Somerville hacker space who saw a need for a low-cost but serious robotics kit. Since hitting Kickstarter in May, his creation has raked in roughly $86,000 in pledges, far surpassing his original goal of thirteen grand. We swung by Joe's booth to get a taste of what exactly his hundreds of backers have bought into and to find out what's next for the budding bot entrepreneur.

Gallery: Hexy the hexabot hands-on

Continue reading Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video)

Hexy: hands-on with the adorable, affordable hexapod (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Solair Altius unmanned aerial vehicle, eyes-on (video)

Posted on 14/06/2012 by Brian Heater

It could just be us, but we tend to dwell on some fairly negative connotations when we hear the phrase "unmanned aerial vehicle" -- after all, the lion's share of media attention devoted to devices in that category tend to focus on military applications. Not surprisingly, the creators of the Solair Altius being strung from the rafters of the Artistan's Asylum hackerspace in Somerville, Massachusetts has far more peaceful intentions when they developed the plane.

Gallery: Solair hands-on