German engineer Jens Altenburg’s solar-powered hidden observing vehicle system (SOPHECLES) is an innovative gas-detecting mobile robot. When the Texas Instruments MSP430-based mobile robot detects noxious gas, it transmits a notification alert to a PC, Altenburg explains in his article, “SOPHOCLES: … Continue reading →

Guido Ottaviani designs and creates innovative microcontroller-based robot systems in the city from which remarkable innovations in science and art have originated for centuries. By day, the Rome-based designer is a technical manager for a large Italian editorial group. In … Continue reading →

When I first saw the Intel Industrial Control in Concert demonstration at Design West 2012 in San Jose, CA, I immediately thought of Kurt Vonnegut ‘s 1952 novel Player Piano. The connection, of course, is that the player piano in … Continue reading →

Roboticists and soccer fans from around the world converged on Eindhoven, The Netherlands, from April 25–29 for the Roboup Dutch Open. The event was an interesting combination of sports and electronics engineering. Since I have dozens of colleagues based in … Continue reading →

It wasn’t the Blue Man Group making music by shooting small rubber balls at pipes, xylophones, vibraphones, cymbals, and various other sound-making instruments at Design West in San Jose, CA, this week. It was Intel and its collaborator Sisu Devices. … Continue reading →