BentoBot is a robot designed to compete in a Mini Sumo competition. It uses a Zumo chassis, 100:1 micro gear motors, and a TB6612FNG motor controller. Here is a video of BentoBot competing at the 2012 Atlanta Hobby Robotics Club Robot Rally:

See this forum post for more pictures and information about BentoBot.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?p=29649#p29616

I sort of had a meeting with the governor of Nevada this morning. I’m posting some notes about it mostly for others at Pololu, but maybe it will be interesting to other small businesses in Las Vegas. I probably should have been more prepared for the meeting; I still don’t know much about who was there or what exactly happened or what the stakes were, so a lot of my descriptions are kind of vague. Continued…

This robot by Andrew Gray is a mobile platform that a parrot can use for transportation. When the parrot leaves the platform, it uses a vision system to autonomously dock with a base station. Bird Buggy uses Wild Thumper wheels, Pololu 25D mm metal gearmotors, and a Pololu TB6612FNG dual motor driver carrier.

Featured link: https://sites.google.com/site/birdbuggy109/

Robots in the “Robockey” tournament at Penn used Pololu motors, hardware, and wheels to build teams of fully-autonomous hockey-playing robots.

Featured link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7njq2hFbw14

Martin Sant posted some code that does web-based real time control of the Pololu Micro Maestro 6 channel servo controller using a Raspberry Pi and the Tornado web server.

Featured link: http://martinsant.net/?page_id=479

As we head into what is traditionally a week of heavy discounting, I want to give a little update about some new equipment that will be a foundation for our long-term commitment both to lowering prices and increasing the quality and sophistication of our products. Plus, I figure these kinds of machines are fun for our customers to look at. Continued…

This autonomous robot can also be controlled by an old remote control to choose different actions. It uses our compact Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S8V3A.

Featured link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgm9DhS7vS4

This solar tracking robot uses RC servos, light sensors, and a Mini Maestro to find the sun and point a solar panel directly at it.

Featured link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4abMkyPoGcs

This robot uses a Wixel as the controller and is driven by stepper motors. Its source code is available in a forum post.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?p=28678#p28678

This Arduino-controlled robot commands the Rover 5 chassis and uses a LSM303DLH 3D Compass and Accelerometer Carrier with Voltage Regulators to determine which direction to go. The caterpillar treads were replaced with the Wild Thumper wheels.

Featured link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zqBtQyBF0