Creative Stories | The Coolest Kickstarter Robots Part 2 - Past Results

This article is part 2 of a series on the coolest Kickstarter-funded robotics projects.

Welcome to click here to view the first part of this article:

Creative Stories | The Coolest Kickstarter Robots Part 1 – Past Results

1. Quadbot

©EngiMake

The QuadBot Maker Kit is an ideal tool for people who have 3D printers. The kit is a low-cost option for those who want to print their own parts and redesign the robot body. The QuadBot Full Kit provides everything you need to assemble the QuadBot. The Full Kit is a little more expensive, but comes with 3D printed mechanical body parts. The Full Kit + Bluetooth (including the EngiMake Bluetooth module) allows users to realize a QuadBot robot with wireless connectivity and remote control capabilities.

QuadBot is also an open source robot platform that is fully compatible with the Arduino IDE, while providing a simplified user interface and user library. Beginners can use graphical modules for programming, while advanced developers can delve into C++-based code to customize QuadBot's behavior. For example, QuadBot can be programmed to walk, dance, track, play songs, and more.

2. bots_alive

©bots_alive

The user's iOS or Android smartphone becomes the robot's "eyes and brains," while the robot itself becomes the "muscles controlled by the phone." Using computer vision features designed specifically for augmented reality, the app detects the robot's position and the position of its game objects using the phone's camera, and sends commands to the robot on how to interact with those objects in the environment.

The bots_alive Base Kit comes with a vision module for obstacle avoidance, an IR Blaster for wireless phone control, and an iOS and Android compatible app. This is a great option for those who already own a Hexbug Spider. The bots_alive Complete Kit comes with everything you need to bring these autonomous robots to life, except for the smartphone! This kit provides the Hexbug Spider along with the other components in the Base Kit. The bots_alive Double Bot Kit provides two Hexbug Spiders that can interact with each other and various objects in the game environment.

7. MeArm Pi

©Mime Industries

The Metal Gear servos are controlled directly via the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins, making them easily accessible to custom HATs. The arm is equipped with an I2C ADC for joystick control, and the Pi can communicate directly with it. The arm also has an onboard RGB LED to show status, which is also controlled via the GPIO pins. The MeArm Pi can be powered using a standard 2A Pi power supply (or a 2.5A power supply for heavy loads), or using the HAT's micro USB power input. The MeArm Pi also comes with a pre-written Node.js application. The application has a WebSocket-based API that allows users to remotely control the Pi over a home network or internet connection.

The robotic arm is available in two different kits: the first provides the necessary components to integrate your own Raspberry Pi with the kit; the other provides everything, including a Raspberry Pi 3.

8. Spirit Rover

© Plum Geek

Users can start with simple tasks, such as reading light sensors, and then implement more advanced robotic tasks. Spirit Rover's devices include: a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope to sense rotation and movement; 27 individually controllable NeoPixel RGB LED lights throughout the body (such as eyes, wings, etc.) to display any color or brightness. With the Raspberry Pi camera, Spirit Rover can observe the external environment and achieve intelligent cruising. The robot is also equipped with a gripper arm that can be used to drag or grab small objects. The Pi camera is responsible for displaying the object being dragged or grabbed. Another unique feature of Spirit Rover is that it can achieve long-distance networking between robots using XBee modules.

We hope you enjoy these Kickstarter robotics projects. Be sure to check out our robotics tutorials here!