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Check out the new learn.marginallyclever.com

2014-01-08 Dan
Delta Robot v7 Delta Robot v8

I love getting feedback. It’s a road sign that tells me which way to go. Recently someone at the VHS pointed out that our lesson plans and assembly guides are all over the place. Too true! So to start 2014 off right we’ve launched a new, mobile-friendly wiki to house all our assembly guides, tutorials, and lesson plans for teachers. Please let us know if you spot a tutorial, blog post, or other that we haven’t moved yet. Collectively you have more eyes than I do. I mean… I have this jar full here but I don’t think they count. Yet.

Speaking of feedback and learning, I’ve been flooded with emails asking about the Delta Robots. Above is a picture of versions 7 and 8. These are getting a lot closer to what I want. v7 is that size because it fits in my shipping boxes. v8 makes things easier to assemble and adds the same electronics and limit switches that I use in the Stewart Platforms. It has just enough range of movement to work as an R2B2 phone-password-cracking robot. I’m especially pleased that I was able to get rid of all the 3D printed parts, which means I can make a kit faster and more reliably with less effort. Of course when this is released all the assembly guides will be on learn.marginallyclever.com and the code will be on github.

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2014 is going to be awesome!

2013-12-31 Dan

2013 was great! Marginally Clever Robots did 7.5 times more sales than 2012 and grossed 384% more revenue. That’s not counting the laser cutting or the 3d printing businesses. We released the Makelangelo 2, the Stewart Platform 2, and the Malcolm Pan/Tilt. We invested every penny back into R&D, QA, and manufacturing to get us ready for the future. The vending machine at the VHS finally paid off and tonight I get to bring the first fruits of the profits back to the group, which gives me the warm fuzzies.

2014 is going to be even better. We’re starting the year off with a bang by running the Quadcopter build weekends at VHS and it’s going to keep getting better from there. I’ve set a number of ambitious goals: we’re going to launch a new website that’s mobile friendly, we’re going to release two totally new robots, and we’re going to bring back some of our older products with all the tweaks and improvements that you suggested.

Because, at the end of the day, we couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve your needs and help make the world a more interesting place.

Sincerely,
Dan

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Five tricks for a cleaner hackspace

2013-12-24 Dan

bench 2013-12

Keeping a hackspace clean is a bit like herding cats – you’ve got to convince them it’s their idea. Here are a few tricks that I’ve picked up that seem to help. (more…)

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How To Store a Portable Maklangelo in the Classroom

2013-12-16 Dan

Portable Makelangelo

edmondslibrarian has posted a tutorial on Instructables about how to make a cart for moving and storing a makelangelo in the classroom. We can’t say it any better than he did:

“While the Makelangelo is easy enough for anyone to use,it will most likely appeal to STEM teachers, Arduino fans, or as an entry into technology for anyone.

Having a designated desk makes it so much easier to include Makeangelo in your daily routine, especially a school routine. It always feels like I am working harder when the machine is also at work at the same time. If I choose not to use it, then the space is easily available as a regular computer station.

Make some art! Take it on a road trip!
You will likely have to make a schedule of when the Drawing machine can run. It will be popular with very good reason. You can feel good about teaching students about the coordinate system- X and Y.”

Read the full Instructable here. Show edmondslibrarian some love by clicking the “favorite” button!