Beam News Archive July 99




July 27
The contest deadline has been rescheduled for August 14th.

July 25
Jim has just posted another aquabot. This one is up there with his best looking bots.

Ivar posted a note from Working Ideas Co. about their pager motors. Here's the specs:
Diameter: 6mm
Length: 15mm
Rated voltage: 1.3V DC
Starting voltage: 0.7V DC
Rated current: 75mA
Max current: 130mA
Rated speed: 5,500rpm
Operating voltage range: 0.7V to 1.6V
Weight (approx.): 2.7g
Price for each motor is $5.00 CDN (Canadian dollars) plus taxes and shipping.
These are a tad larger than the TPM motors and almost double the Solarbotics motors current consumption.

Steve has a source for some pager motors that are about half the size of the pager motors at Solarbotics but the same diameter for $10 each. E-mail Steve if your interested.

Here's some homemade PCB links send in by Sparky.
Pcb Press-n-Peel manufacturer/supplyer: http://www.techniks.com/
and heres a page of self manufacturing PCB links: http://www.kent.net/~boucher/makepcbs.htm

July 20
11 days till the contest is over. Turn out, so far, is a bit better than pitiful. Let's get those bots online!

Jim just keeps pumping out those impressive little bots of his. Jim's BEAM Art has a new aquabot, carbot and a short essay on aesthetics. Take some time to read it and learn from the best.

Jason has posted his new SB style turbot. Take a look at BEAMLAND for some great pics of "Destroyer Bot mk1".

Neuromorphic Robots is Richard's new BEAM page. Love the air guitar pic! ;)

Here's an update on those Nihon gearmotors I use on my walkers from Steve.
Those "Auto Zoom/Auto Focus Lens" assemblies, part number TM98OPT3202, from Herbach and Rademan are back down to $29.95. The assembly includes 2 Nihon or BGMicro motors. For all those BEAMers out there trying to find some, $15 a piece is the best I can find right now.

Wilf shared a source for large value caps in the latest Newark Electronics Cat.117, page 83. 100F @ 2.5V $81.10 (just a tad pricey) and 2.2F @ 2.4V $3.12 (5/8" diameter by 1/16" thick).

Not sure if I've posted this before but here's the EntomopterProject site.
This link is for the Aerial Robotics Competition. It's good to see Simon Fraser University leading the pack.

Here's a link for a very BEAM-like underwater probe. Peter send in this link.

Zoz found this link to a LEGO lawnmower . Check the root directory for more images.

Here's some advanced solarcell research stuff.

July 15
A common site for contest entry uploads has been setup. You can post all pictures, movies and text files to:
ftp.BEAMzine.com
Username: beamcontest
Password: beam
Follow the directions in the readme file.
Entries can be downloaded and viewed from here.

July 12
Here's some new items from Craig Maynard of Cybug fame. The Chloroplast Solar Engine is his solution for a high power solar engine. Craig also has some new items on the product list including a solar Sun Flower and a solar/Sun Flower powered photovore named Scorpion.

There is an eBay auction for one of those cool little EMRoS micro robots.

July 7
How'd I miss this one?
James Taylor has found a source for some solarcells. Here's the specs:
4 Volt @ 50-150ma (was different in each cell)
5" leads, glass front, silicon backing, no frame.
4.5" x 2.625" x 0.180"
$10 each-- 6/ $51.00.

Judge list for my Most Innovative Form of Motion contest is official.
Mark Tilden, Mark Dalton, Rick Diaz, Dave Hrynkiw and yours truely.

Here's Eric Platts page detailing Ken Huntington's Micropower SE.

July 4
Nothing much to report from the BEAM community lately...so how are those contest entries doin'?

July 1
Happy Canada Day!!!

You've got exactly ONE MONTH until the due date for the Most Innovative Form of Motion BEAM competition. Hurry up you procrastinators!!!

Darrell has posted info on his Power Smart Head.




Beam Table of Contents