THIS
MONTH:
Nice
STEMs!
www.servomagazine.com/index.php?/magazine/
article/january2013_TwinTweaks
THE STEM KIT FROM ROBOTIS.
One of the things we love about robots is that hey are such perfect teaching tools. It is no accident
that robots have become essential in curricula ranging
from high school to top engineering universities — robots
are the ultimate interdisciplinary project that can bring
everything from basic formulas to sophisticated
programming to vivid life. There have been many impressive
entries into the educational robotics field, and this month
we have the pleasure of presenting one more: the Bioloid
STEM kit from Robotis.
The STEM kit promises to blend Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics — all part of a balanced
academic diet. We were particularly intrigued by the kit’s
promise of a comprehensive robotics curriculum. Did the
STEM kit blend all of the disciplines it boasted? What fresh
and new ideas did it have to offer to the educational
robotics arena? Can you really make a well-balanced robotic
motorcycle with something humbly labeled as the mere
Standard kit? The answers to these questions and more lay
ahead.
THE AX-12W DYNAMIXEL MODULE.
68 SERVO 01.2013
AN INDIVIDUAL IR SENSOR.
Waiting for
Superbot
Robotis is the company behind
Bioloid — a modular humanoid we
experimented with in the January
2007 issue. This new kit declares
itself to be the Bioloid STEM kit, so
we expected a level of polish
similar to the humanoid we found
refreshingly less tedious to build
than many of its bipedal brethren.
The meticulously designed
Bioloid components contained little
cutouts to hold nuts and screws,
and was overall less fiddly than
some other humanoid kits that
sometimes left us struggling to