Frogbots! Solar-powered, at that!

Dave Hrynkiw
December 15, 2000

I missed the full segment of this story last weeks on "Discovery Channel's @discovery.ca" program, but fortunately, the've put the segment online at their website. I seems that JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories - NASA essentially) is working on a solar-powered, single-footed robot frog. This seems like a GREAT idea for extra-terrestrial planet-surface locomotion. Check out the videos and see for yourself. Additional information at Space.com Even more technical information is here and here, in these Adobe Acrobat files from one of the researchers, Paulo Fiorini. Here's his homepage. And this is his dedicated Frogbot hompage - lots of interesting info!

Oh, and if you scroll to the bottom of the Discovery Channel / EXN page, you'll find a nice video clip of our favorite Roboticist, Mark Tilden. They shot this a few years ago, and I'm glad to see they resurrected it to be on this page.

Read More...

MORE POSTS

June 11, 2014
Wednesday Links: Marble Clock, Robot Arm...

It's the summer! Or something somewhat similar... And this is the summer issue of the new links. Not the last one, of course. Mechanical Ball Clock Wood? And marbles? And it's a clock?! This needs to be shown! (Via Dangerous Prototypes) Magnetic Sand Hourglass Don't we all love things to fidget with? This one will […]

December 29, 2011
Closed Fri/Mon, Cool Stuffs, Purchaser W...

Well, it's the end of the year apparently. 2011 has kinda withered up and died like some kinda... Food thing that tends to dry up if you leave it out for too long. Like jerky. Or raisins. Mm, especially raisins when they're in oatmeal cookies (shh, don't tell the boss. Anything but a strict chocolate […]

May 14, 2015
Make Something Useless Useful Update

We've been trying to Make Something Useless Useful since 2012. In order to do that we've been donating a percentage of past sales of the Useless Box to Plan Canada. In year 2013 $5,000 went to Plan Canada' Gift of Hope School Construction in Honduras.

August 21, 2017
Solar Eclipse at SB

Today August 21, 2017, we were treated to about 80% solar eclipse. In spite of the smoke, the weather cooperated so we couldn't miss this event. Pinhole projector boxes were made out of cereal and shipping boxes: Fancy ones were mounted onto a tripod, and a phone camera recording a time lapse video was taped to […]

1 2 3 253
Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.

cart