The Track Robot rises from the dead. Testing the new quad speed controller for the Track Robot on the tread motors. The ESC’s are rated for 150 amps @ 24VDC on the made in china scale so cut that in half. They seem ok for regular duty. However, I determined that if you operate at full throttle, forward /reverse as fast as you can move the stick about 30 times, they will literally explode! At SRL this is a feature, not a bug, and a great way to get around Pyro limitations!
BoingBoing’s David Pescovitz wonders what would happen in an encounter of OC Robotics Snake Robot vs SRL Spine Robot. What would SRL come up with with a few million $ – investors should find out!
SRL debuted the Spine Robot at the Explosion of Ungovernable Rage show in 2010.
Mark finished making new hard tires for the Spine Robot Mobile Platform. The originals were made using small Jet Aircraft tires. While these tires are almost 2″ thick and 16 ply, there was too much flex when making tight turns, leading to the tires folding inwards and stalling the turn.
The roller bearings were removed from the original hubs and installed in new aluminum hubs. Steel rings were rolled, machined, and press fitted to solid rubber forklift style tires after bolt circles were welded inside.
Three point turns are now a snap, and no further risk of flat tires during a show.
Here’s a video of the short but sweet kick off to The Lab’s 24 Hour Telethon to raise funds for their renovation and continued operations. It took about 5 minutes for SFPD to end it all but the telethon was a success and SF gets to keep The Lab and all the art, culture, music events it hosts!
UPDATE: Â Some images of the short but sweet Flame Whistle kick off of The Lab’s 24 hour Telethon -Â stay tuned for more images and video here
We’re bringing the jet whistle to kick off The Lab’s 24 Hour Telethon this Saturday Nov 15 at noon to fund their renovation and continue to bring exciting art, music, and performance to San Francisco. This is their Kickstarter. 3 Days and about $25k more to go! Please support them! The Lab is on 16th and Capp
This is a smoke test of the MotoMan Flamethrower. This lightweight Flamethrower will mount onto a Motoman UP50 arm and move around while generating a 20 ft flame.
A smoke test is useful for determining the flame length of a blower type flamethrower. The flame will be about 20% longer than the length of the smoke column before it goes non linear. In this case about 25′ long. The blower generates 17,000 CFM of air and can combust 9 gallons of diesel per minute.
More on the Motoman and its maintenance/update log here
SRL is looking for a location scout. This is a paid position.
Job description:
To locate a suitable site for a large scale SRL machine performance
in the bay area, (NOT San Francisco, as we’re banned from ever
performing there by the SFFD).
To get permission to use the site from the owners.
To procure the required permits for a show.
Prior production experience a must.
Please contact Mark Pauline Director of SRL markp [at] srl [dot] org for details.
Being Human in a World of Robots – with Ken Goldberg and Mark Pauline
Nov 18 – 7pm
A short edit of the video from the SRL at Extreme Futurist Fest Show from Dec 2012 at Center Studios in LA. Video edited by Steve Bage.
After fabricating the flamethrower attachment for the Motoman, Mark mounted the engine and tested the irritatingness of its sound effects. Next, 25 ft fire!
This is the first start of the 550CC Two Stroke powered Flamethrower for the SRL Motoman UP50 Robot Arm. This is a light weight unit with a mixed flow axial fan generating 15000CFM of air, mixed with 9 gallons per minute of diesel injected at 4000 PSI. The Motoman arm will be programmed to wave it around, making it the worlds first robotic flamethrower. (Note the Aluminum puck on the rear of the unit. Thats where it attaches to the Motoman UP50 Arm).