This week on Kickstarter Tuesdays, I am talking about two cool projects! One is about robots, and the other is about plants!
MyArmBot: Open Source, Wireless, Arduino-Android Fit Robot
They envision an inexpensive personal robot design that anyone can use as a programmable arm in schools, hobbies, and many untold applications. It should be open source so that anyone can modify the design – not just the software but the hardware too! Low cost 3D printers make this idea possible. This will be the first of a new kind of robot – The MyArmBot. The idea of open source hardware and software is bigger than anything they can think of. They want future generations to take these robot designs, improve them, and evolve them into things they can only imagine right now. The idea is to make it easy for anyone to take these designs way beyond what they can do and evolve things out of other’s imaginations.
This type of arm design is modular and can be combined to build multi-armed or multi-legged machines, or scaled down to make fingers and hands. It is wireless, uses advanced battery technology, runs for hours on a charge and can go anywhere. Open SCAD and STL files will ship with all the MyArmBots. This project will produce a reliable design so that all these files will also be out on the internet for anyone to use and modify for free. This has the potential to change personal robotics in a powerful and interesting way. This project targets final development with an aim towards injection molding of the 3D parts. Thus producing low cost, easy to assemble, kits and plug and play robots. The goal is to make a reliable, affordable design so that robot arms can be put anywhere.
All the MyArmBot designs will be put out as open source projects a few months after they begin shipping injection molded kits. This way, anyone with a 3D printer and a soldering iron can build one, modify it, or print spare parts. And, best of all, as open source this design can branch out and evolve into who knows what? Of course, supporters will have early access to the MyArmBot 3D files and will also receive a custom Arduino BlueTooth breakout board and parts list, Arduino sketches and Android control app source codes, etc. This Kickstarter project will help with related tooling costs and enable them to complete the remaining steps from here on towards a clean design and mass-produced product. These tasks include refining the Arduino and Android software, sourcing all the Arduino Bluetooth electronic parts, getting some great rewards into backer`s hands, refining the current servo design, adding a USB connector to the MyArmBot, developing a ‘professional’ stepper version, and deriving an inverse kinematics library, etc.
Their current design uses servos, however, this project enables them to develop more advanced models that use stepper motors for better accuracy. And … if this project catapults them into a dedicated business … they will add endpoint location sensors and adaptive processing for astonishing accuracy – based on my previous insect vision work. Imagine multiple MyArmBots using a ‘bug-eye’ monitored, shared work-space to accomplish all kinds of complex assembly tasks – including advanced 3D printing! All designs will use Arduino compatible devices and code for the robot operating system so you will be able to use the open source development environments to make it do whatever you want. All the Bluetooth controller software will initially be on Android (an Apple IOS version will launch as an open source project) and all the source code for these apps will be open. Software and source code for using a PC connection and control via Bluetooth will also be made open – and lots of example code of course.
As of March 25th, this Kickstarter project has raised around $984 of the $6,000 goal they need to be funded. And as you know in Kickstarter, a project is not funded until the fundraising goal is reached! This project only has 28 days left to reach the $6,000 goal. For a pledge of $59, you will get a completely functional set of robot ‘DNA’. This includes the SCAD and STL files, the Arduino sketches, the Android App Java sources and instructions, tips, email links for help, support, etc. For a pledge of $189, you will get MyArmBot 3D Printed Parts Kit. This kit includes 3D printed parts, servos and electrical parts, BT Arduino, PC board, etc. plus the code and files listed in the Robo DNA Kit – everything needed to build a complete MyArmBot. To learn more about My Arm Bot and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/257808239/myarmbot-open-source-wireless-arduino-android-fit
Window Pods – The Perfect Indoor Garden
Window Pods are flower pots – totally re-imagined for modern, urban apartments. Each Pod is a vertical garden mounted right on your window – where the sun is. Sun + plants is a good combination.
Window Pods are:
Beautiful – Perfectly frame a unique, living, green work of art on your window.
Convenient – Pods install in just seconds, take up no floor or shelf space, and are a breeze to water and maintain.
Healthy – Fresh-grown herbs provide delicious phytonutrients – straight from window-to-table.
Between urban apartments, chilly climates, and a busy schedule, it can be difficult to find the time or space to buy your own fresh edibles, let alone grow them. Window Pods change the game by transforming any sunny window into a beautiful vertical garden. A Window Pod can grow fresh wheatgrass in as little as one week, from planting to harvest (growing herbs takes longer). Window Pods are a vast improvement over conventional growing pots. By putting plants on the window – they receive the perfect amount of sunlight each day. Not only does this create ideal growing conditions for plants – the vertical orientation of the garden also saves space for people in an urban dwelling.
Each Window Pod is made of lightweight, durable, and eco-friendly polypropylene – with an iconic, white minimalist design. Mount just one Window Pod, or fill your entire window with an ever-changing green centerpiece. Window Pods are designed to be modular, easy to install, and easy to water. Just press the suction cup onto the window – and slip the pod down onto it. Lift up to remove the plant and water. The pods’ ease of installation means that you can completely re-configure the layout of your window pods in a matter of minutes – allowing you to design a totally unique urban garden. Greater happiness, fulfillment, and productivity are some of the benefits of keeping indoor plants. The visual experience of vegetation offers “micro-restoration” — the chance for our brains to recharge and rest throughout the day.
Fresh herbs have the highest phytonutrient content of any category of greens – by far. Window Pods enable you to grow and keep delicious organic herbs on a sunny window near the kitchen – ready to be cooked, or mixed into a fresh salad. NASA researchers suggest efficient air cleaning is accomplished with at least one plant per 100 square feet. Having good indoor air quality is very important, especially since many of us spend so much time inside. Getting the final design produced was not easy, but the completed Window Pods are straight-up amazing. At this point, they have attempted to take product photos of the Window Pods that make them look as beautiful as they do in real-life. Now they are here on Kickstarter to fund a bigger order, and hopefully bring to market the best indoor-gardening product that has ever been created!
As of March 25th, this Kickstarter project has raised around $10,616 of the $5,000 goal they need to be funded. And as you know in Kickstarter, a project is not funded until the fundraising goal is reached! This project only has 28 days left to raise as much as it can! For a pledge of $29, you will get 3 Designer Window Pods + Soil + Wheatgrass Seeds – ready-to-grow. For a pledge of $49, you will get 6 Designer Window Pods + Soil + Wheatgrass and Herb Seeds. To learn more about Window Pods, and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/255689443/window-pods-the-perfect-indoor-garden
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Filed under: Kickstarter Projects Tagged: Arduino Bluetooth, Gardening, Growing Pots, Indoor Garden, Kickstarter, My Arm Bot, MyArmBot, Open source, Plants, Robot Arms, Window Pods