Classical Indian dance is teaching robots how to move and use their hands

Hands move constantly during conversation. They signal emotion, stress a point, and form full languages such as American Sign Language. Behind this everyday motion lies a complex challenge. Each human hand has more than 20 degrees of freedom. Yet the nervous system controls these movements with speed and ease. Researchers at the University of Maryland, […]

Use Bottango to Build a Creepy Halloween Animatronic

It may be easier than you think to build complex animatronic characters! For Halloween last year, I built Dead E. Ruxpin. While I’m still proud of it, the impressive part was the unique cassette tape control. The actual animatronics were pretty simple. This year, I wanted to build something a bit more animated—and ideally something […]