News Archives - 2008

This is just a subtle reminder that Solarbotics & HVW Technologies will both be closed January 1st and 2nd (Thursday and Friday), while we’re out fighting raging hangovers being productive members of society. We hope 2008 treated all of you well and that 2009 will be even better. And if it isn’t, well… Once we get our solar-powered time machine working we’ll take you for a spin to sort things out.

But don’t hold your breath - there’s still quite a bit of work left on that one. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a SolarSpeeder to reach 88MPH? If you happen to stumble across a capacitor to support 1.21GW and a solar cell to charge it, we’d love to know.)

Business will resume as usual on Monday, January 5th. In the mean time, all the best to you and yours from the team at Solarbotics/HVW Technologies!

For far too long we’ve toiled under the merciless grip of the Gear Motor. But no more! For behold, there appears a trio of defiant servos to overthrow the tyrannical rule!

*cough*

But seriously forks, we have three new units available from Grand-Wing Servo. The 22140 GWS Modified Servo is a useful continuous rotation, full-sized unit. There’s also the 22150 Sub Micro Servo - NARO HP BB and 22160 Pico Servo - PICO+ BB, which both feature a ball-bearing supported output shaft and Futaba connector. What’s really impressive about these last two units, though, is their size.  They are tiny, measuring less than 23×12x22mm. Check ‘em out yourself for pictures, stats and dimensions.

Long live the servo!

To make sure you get that special something for that special someone we recommend that you order on or before the following dates:

Country and/or Region	Delivery Method
	Postal Mail	Courier Ground	Courier Air
Canada
Atlantic & Territories	December 15	December 17	December 22
Ontario & Quebec	December 16	December 18	December 22
Manitoba	December 17	December 19	December 22
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan	December 18	December 19	December 22
United States
-	n/a	December 15	December 21
Europe
-	n/a	n/a	December 17
Worldwide (except Europe)
-	n/a	n/a	December 12

Please Note: As much as we wish we had “infinite cosmic power”…we don’t. The shipping times we provide are meant as estimated times only; Canada Customs, freak snow storms and the Grinch can get in the way of your package and therefore we can’t guarantee that your package will arrive if you ordered before any of these dates, but we will try our best!

If you absolutely need an item in time for Christmas, we recommend picking the fastest method possible, as they are the safest bets to making sure you have time to wrap your gift before it goes under the tree!

Here’s a great booklet to accompany any new Freeduino purchase - “Getting Started with Arduino”, written by Massimo Banzi (the co-founder of the Arduino Project).

This title is based on his free-download introduction PDF, but takes is much farther, guiding new electronics enthusiasts into how to use the Arduino / Freeduino in a project.

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 Also cool is this little link we just received the other day from a customer of ours, Gary Gipson. Our book “Junkbots” was put to good use with this project! Instead of stationary electronics, these electronics swing! (Plus, it’s darned cute!)

Just in time for the holidays we’ve come up with one more theme for the new HexPummer Lantern. Behold, the winter theme! It has a snowman, snow flake, a holiday tree and some holly to fulfill all your blinky festive needs. Better nab it quick - this design will only be around for a month or so before it gets put away in the closet for next year.

In other news, we’d like to welcome Robotev as our newest distributor - they’re the first dedicated robotics shop in Bulgaria. Check them out at www.robotev.com (you may want to brush up on your Bulgarian first!)

And we’d just like to send out a big “HAPPY THANKSGIVING!” to our fine American friends - may your belly fill with all the finest poultry your heart desires. While we will be open regular hours all this week and filling orders, please note that shipments into the US placed on Thursday the 27th will be delayed a day as couriers are also going to be eating a lot of turkey observing the holiday.

Monday! Monday! Monday!

Our shipment of Gear Motors and Solar Cells are both expected to arrive on Monday November, 24th. In anticipation of this joyous event, we have thrown the following back online:

• SCC2433B-MSE Gear Motor
• SCC3733 Gear Motor
• GM3 Gear Motor
• GM8 Gear Motor
• K TB Turbot Tumbling Robot Kit
• SCC2433B-MSE-1 Custom Parts Bundles (SCC2433b-MSE Fast Bundle 1)
• SCC2433B-MSE-2 Custom Parts Bundles (SCC2433b-MSE Power Bundle 2)
• JBBMS Custom Parts Bundle (JBB Mini-Sumo Bundle)
• JBBHB Custom Parts Bundle (JBB Headbot Bundle)

We will be clearing out all back orders and new orders for these items on both Monday (November 24th) and Tuesday (November 25th).

Our K HP HexPummer has always been a good, steady kit, but once we got our laser-cutter, we started experimenting… and was it ever neat to tuck one of these into a faux Japanese-style lantern! After upgrading two of the four LEDs with super-crazy-mega-bright LEDs, this solar-powered night-activated light show is quite a cool decoration, suitable for a window-sill or hanging from a tree branch.

The K HP-L HexPummer Lantern kit comes with:

• HexPummer kit featuring
  • SCC3733a-MSE 37×33mm 6.7V solar cell
  • 1000mAh NiMH batteries
  • 2 standard & 2 upgraded LEDs (upgrading all 4 draws too much power to last all night)
  • Extended solar cell wire for top or side-mounting
• Laser-cut Mattboard lantern kit
• Light-diffusing interior sleeve

But what about all the fine folks who already have the Hex Pummer, and want to add some of this awesome lantern goodness? Well, we have you covered - You’ll find just the lantern construction materials (along with two super-crazy-mega-bright LEDs) available in the K HP-LA HexPummer Lantern Addon kit.

The best part is that you get to personalize it by choosing the lantern colour and the artwork set. We sampled some of these new colors and (custom MAKE) themes at the 2008 Austin Maker Faire.

Take a look at the art-sets and colours on the product page, and if you are so inclined, we may even be able to do personalized artwork for a really custom Lantern (contact us if you’re interested!).

It’s been a bit long in the coming, but it’s finally here: The Sumovore PICAXE Brainboard for the Solarbotics Sumovore!

One of the biggest tripping points we see from going from the pure digital/analog  realm of BEAM to microcontrollers is learning the ins-and-outs of microcontrollers. The PICAXE nicely fills this void by offering a programming interface that is …just a flowchart! Draw your logic diagram, hit program, and you’re off and running!

We initially designed the PICAXE Brainboard to support both the 18X and 28X1 chips, but we’ve decided to simply package the kit with the PICAXE-28X1, which is a $10.50 chip itself. The 28X1 has enough I/O to support all the sensors (the 18X only supports 3 edge sensors), plus it has more memory and support for I2C (handy with several I2C-It sensors).

Here are the specifics:

• Support for the PICAXE-18X, 28X/28X1 microcontrollers
• Easy PICAXE 1/8” jack programmer interface
• 5 indicator LEDs
• Official PICAXE PWM Interface IC to drive motors
• Microprocessor reset switch
• Standard 0.1” expansion interface holes for breadboard add-ons
• Spot for optional resonator for more accurate timing

It’s another convenient way to expand the capabilities of your Sumovore!

Hey, how about that! We’ve got some new gear motors to complement the popular Mini Metal Gear Motors (the GM11a, GM12a, GM13a, GM14a, GM18 and yes, even the mutant GM19).

What’s particularly new is that they have sealed cylindrical gearboxes! Same sort of gearing, but no funky rectangular shape - just a nice, sleek, clean enclosed gearbox. And these new motors aren’t just sealed-versions of their brethren - they actually bring new performance characteristics to the party. Particularly torque. We’re talking some finger-breaking torque in a tiny package (ok - if they don’t break your finger, they’ll cause considerable discomfort…). Sooo, your actuating-enjoyment, we present to you the:

GM20 -  Sealed gear box, with performance between the GM11a and GM12a

GM21 - A longer, sealed gear motor, but a real torquemeister (yes, I said torquemeister), with over 100in*oz of torque @ 6V

GM22 - Another sealed gear motor, with more torque than a GM14. Good Turbot tumbling robot type motor!

We love little precision gear motors. They’re just so cool…

They make neat things. Like wheels that fit the 3mm “D” shafts on GM11a/12a/13a/15a/18 gear motors. And super-cool motor mounts. This stuff is so neat, that we’re selling it now.

Oh, did I mention that the MAKER Faire: Austin was cool? Yeah, it was. You must see one of these events if the opportunity presents itself…