🤖 Diablo - Self-Balancing Wheeled-Leg Robot

The Diablo is a very interesting robot with a unique combination of agility and style. Powered by six powerful direct-drive motors, Diablo offers unparalleled power, smooth action, and energy efficiency.

Specifications of the robot:
➡️Stand Dimensions: 528 × 366 × 491 mm
➡️Maximum load while standing: 4 kg
➡️Working Voltage: 28-32V
➡️Rated Speed: 115 rpm

The robot boasts an open SDK and comprehensive ROS2 Foxy support. With an extensive documentation, Diablo fosters for collaboration and exploration in robotics.

Features of the robot:
➡️Standing, squatting, and creeping modes
➡️Less than 49 dB noise ensures minimal disruption
➡️Up to 4 hours in creeping mode

In conclusion, Diablo stands as a testament to innovation in robotics, offering a high level of agility, versatility, and performance. Whether for researchers, developers, or enthusiasts, Diablo opens doors to endless possibilities in robotics exploration and development.

⛓ More information...

#robots

🤖 Remote-Controlled 3D-Printed Rover

This project is an ambitious endeavor combining custom electronics, 3D printing, and programming to create a versatile and multifunctional remote-controlled vehicle.

Features of the robot:
➡️Dual ESP32 microcontrollers manage controls, sensors, and communication.
➡️Automatic tilt adjustment, emergency stop, and connection loss detection.
➡️Homemade PCBs and motor drivers, with easy-to-modify standard components.
➡️Motorized height and tilt adjustments with tilt compensation.
➡️Remote control displays battery, connection, and ammunition status.
➡️Operates with a reliable firing mechanism and safety features.

This project offers a rich platform for hobbyists interested in robotics, electronics, and mechanical design, providing a robust base for further experimentation and customization.

⛓ More information...

#projects #robots

🤖 Q8bot – Tiny Open-Source Robot with Big Potential

The Q8bot is a compact quadruped robot designed to minimize wiring complexity by integrating all components directly onto a custom PCB. The robot uses eight Dynamixel motors and a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3 microcontroller to achieve agile, wire-free movement.

Features of the robot:
➡️The robot's core structure integrates motor connections and power components directly onto a central PCB.
➡️Powered by eight powerful XL330-M077-T servos.
➡️The 3D-printed frames house 14500 batteries directly, providing a clean, compact design.
➡️Controlled remotely via an onboard ESP32 controller using the ESP-Now protocol.

The robot's open-source design and relatively low bill of materials (around $300) make it accessible for hobbyists looking to experiment with quadruped robot movement and control.

More information:
☠️ The Hackaday article
😹 The GitHub page

#projects #robots #esp32

🤖 Micro Wheel-Leg Balance Robot

This project introduces a compact, self-balancing two-wheeled robot capable of agile movement, including jumping and navigating small obstacles. It features a custom control system, wireless interface, and precision motion components, offering a hands-on way to explore modern robotics concepts.

Features of the robot:
➡️3D-printed, CNC-machined, and plate-cut mechanical parts
➡️ESP32-based mainboard with Wi-Fi interface (WebSocket + JSON)
➡️Brushless wheel motors with advanced FOC control
➡️AS5600 magnetic encoder + MPU6050 IMU for balance and motion sensing
➡️Custom servo control bus and complete PCB files
➡️Web interface for real-time remote control across multiple devices

As a fully open-source robot with firmware, electronics, and 3D-printable parts available on 😹 GitHub, it is a strong fit for makers, students, and robotics enthusiasts interested in studying self-balancing locomotion, experimenting with advanced motion control, and building a versatile robot from the ground up.

⛓ More information...

#projects #robots #esp32

🤖 Turret Upgrade for the 3D Printed Robot Platform

A few years ago, we presented a fully 3D printed, tracked robot platform designed as a versatile, remotely controlled base for experimentation and further development. This new project builds directly on that platform, introducing a complex NERF minigun–style turret that significantly expands its mechanical, electronic, and functional capabilities.

Key Features of the project:
➡️Modular upgrade for the previously released fully 3D printed tracked robot platform
➡️Pan-and-tilt turret driven by NEMA17 stepper motors for precise aiming
➡️Flywheel-based dart propulsion system with independently adjustable firing power and firing rate
➡️High-capacity 3D printed magazine holding approximately 200 NERF darts
➡️RC control using a commercial transmitter with full integration into the existing control system
➡️Arduino Mega (ATmega2560)–based control with custom PCB, MOSFETs, and stepper drivers
➡️Iterative mechanical redesigns to improve structural strength, reliability, and feeding performance

This project demonstrates how a modular 3D printed robot platform can be extended into a sophisticated mechatronics system that combines advanced mechanical design, custom electronics, embedded programming, and real-world problem solving.

⛓ More information...

#projects #robots #arduino

🤖 OpenQDD - 3D-printed open-source robotic actuator

The author designed this robotic actuator to be a powerful, easy-to-build, and relatively inexpensive solution to creating dynamic robots. Robots like Spot, Atlas, and the MIT mini cheetah easily impress the eye with their agility, speed, and overall ability to mimic natural motion. With OpenQDD, creating high-performing actuators at an affordable price is possible.

Specifications of the project:
➡️9:1 Planetary Gear Set
➡️Helical Gears: 25° Helix Angle, Low Backlash
➡️ODrive S1 FOC Controller with an Onboard Encoder
➡️Air Vents for Passive Cooling
➡️Peak Holding Torque: 16.36 Nm
➡️Total Mass: 935g
➡️13 3D-Printed Parts
➡️ Total Cost: $247

The actuator uses a 90KV Eagle Power BLDC Motor as well as an ODrive S1 FOC controller. In closed-loop control mode, the S1 allows you to control the position, velocity, and torque of a brushless motor.

More information...

#projects #robots

🫡 Building a DIY Robot Vacuum with OOMWOO

OOMWOO is an open-source robot vacuum that you can build yourself using affordable, off-the-shelf components. The project is currently in active development, with a working software simulation already available while the hardware design and documentation continue to evolve.

Features of the project:
➡️Fully open hardware, firmware, and software
➡️Local-first operation with no cloud dependency
➡️2D LiDAR navigation powered by ROS 2
➡️Native Home Assistant integration
➡️Modular, 3D-printable design

Designed as a build-in-public project, OOMWOO encourages community contributions through modular development and open collaboration. It is a promising project for makers, robotics enthusiasts, and ROS 2 developers interested in creating and customizing their own robot vacuum.

More information:
🔗 The main article
😹 The GitHub repository

#projects #robots #ros2

🤖 Impulse - Open-Source Two-Wheeled Bipedal Robot

Developed from the scratch, this project explores a compact robotic platform that combines two-legged articulation with wheeled locomotion. The design prioritizes stability, responsive movement, adjustable height, and portability.

Features of the project:
➡️Self-balancing PID control
➡️Automatic deployment and landing
➡️Variable-height legs
➡️Fully 3D-printed construction

The project combines mechanical design with a compact electronics and control system built around a Teensy 4.1, ODrive motor controllers, magnetic encoders, an IMU, and CAN bus communication. Its 6-DOF structure and multiple PID controllers enable stable balancing, velocity control, and dynamic leg adjustment.

Impulse is particularly interesting for robotics enthusiasts and makers exploring balancing robots, actuator control, and practical control theory. Its detailed hardware and control approach also make it a useful reference for people building their own wheeled robots.

More information:
🔗 The main article
📥 Source files

#projects #robots

🤖 Open-Source Humanoid Breaks 400m Record

Robot “Tiangong” made headlines at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing by completing the 400m race in 38.15 seconds, beating the previous human world record of 43.03 seconds. The robot is part of China’s state-backed X-Humanoid program and is built as a platform for advancing humanoid robotics, with its latest version featuring 43 degrees of freedom and high-dynamic movement control.

A notable part of Tiangong’s development is that some of its technology is open source. X-Humanoid has released components including 😹 locomotion-control software, robot models, training tools and large robotics datasets, allowing researchers and other developers to build on its technology.

⛓ More information...

#news #robots

🧠 Robots Get a Sense of Touch

Robots are getting better at complex tasks with vision-language-action (VLA) models, but they still struggle with precise manipulation such as inserting cables, turning keys, or handling deformable objects. Tactile sensing can provide information about force, grip, and slipping, but progress has been limited by the lack of large, diverse datasets. Recent research is addressing this gap by combining touch with vision and robot-action data.

Berkeley researchers created the T-Rex dataset with about 100 hours of tactile demonstrations involving more than 200 household objects. Another project aggregated over 3,000 hours of publicly available data covering 21 sensor types and different robot platforms. USC researchers also released a model that can infer tactile information from visual data, potentially helping researchers create more tactile training data from existing vision datasets.

Early results show that touch can significantly improve robot manipulation. In one study, tactile feedback produced a 65% average success rate across 12 tasks, nearly twice the performance of the best VLA baseline; another approach achieved 62.8% success compared with 28.2% without touch. The main challenges remain data diversity, sensor compatibility, and how robots process sparse tactile signals in real time.

⛓ More information...

#articles #robots #artificial_intelligence

🤖 Influencer Takes on Six-Foot Humanoid Robot

The 📺 video billed as the first human-versus-robot MMA fight shows influencer Frankie LaPenna facing a six-foot T800 humanoid robot developed by Chinese company. The event took place in 🇺🇸 San Francisco on 18th of September.

The dramatic footage quickly spread online, though questions were raised about how authentic the fight was. Developed by China-based EngineAI, the robot stands about 1.73 meters tall, weighs up to 85 kg and has 29 degrees of freedom.

The released video shows LaPenna lands several punches before the robot responds with powerful kicks that eventually knock him to the floor. REK later confirmed that the robot was controlled remotely by a human rather than fighting autonomously, and said LaPenna continued the match and ultimately defeated the robot. More footage is expected to be released.

⛓ More information...

#news #robots