BEAM Bot Of The Month Feeds Your Bot Obsession

Posted Oct 01, 2007 4:27 AM

If you like robots, and have always wanted to build your own robot, there's no easier way to get started than with BEAM bots. BEAM is an acronym for biology, electronics, aesthetics, and mechanics, and basically refers to a family of robots that use simple analog circuits and simple design to perform simple tasks robustly. Usually they're small, insect-like things, that can move around and react in a limited fashion to their environment. Thing Of The Month is offering a a 4 month BEAM bot subscription, which includes a different BEAM bot each month. The bots come in a kit from Solarbotics, and you do have to assemble them, but that's part of the fun. Part of the fun is also learning how to solder, which (I found out) is way easy, and lots of fun.

I do have to mention that while these bots are pretty neat, I'd have to recommend trying out the PhotoPopper 5.0 kit (my personal favorite), also from Solarbotics. It was the first robot I ever built and worked wonderfully; you can read my review of the PhotoPopper 5.0 (with video) here.

The 4 month, 4 bot subscription costs $170, which is about the same as buying the 4 bots separately.

[ BEAM Bot Club ] VIA [ Wired ]