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Remember the Automatic Ball Throwing Machine for your dog?  Well, get one of these Robotic Dogs and you will have a complete dog throwing/fetching automation.  Why not?

This robot uses an Acroname CMUcam2+ for its eye and an Acroname BrainStem GP 2.0 microcontroller for its brain. It chases down a bright pink ball (which I made with a styrofoam ball and neon pink acrylic paint), grabs it with its dual-servo pincher, and brinks it back to its home base by homing in on another bright pink target (conveniently mounted over the iSight camera on my Mac).

via hackedgadgets

Here’s a pretty impressive wall climbing bot.

Ever rub a balloon and stick it to a wall? If only larger objects could defy gravity the same way.

Later this week, researchers from the non-profit group SRI International will unveil the design of a wall-climbing robot at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, Calif. It can clamber up all common building materials, the scientists told Popular Mechanics—and proved it to us with this exclusive video:

via popularmechanics

This is a paid review through ReviewMe.

Check out some of these great deals online for your used Macs and Mac parts needs over at dvwarehouse.com.

Pre-owned stuff they are selling right now:

• Apple Power Mac G5
• Apple Mac Mini
• Apple Power Mac G4
• Apple Power Mac G3
• Apple PowerBook
• Apple iBook Laptop
• Apple iMac
• Apple eMac

I could get bunch of these pre-owned iMac 500Mhz 128mb 20GB with CD player for like $129! (and set them up to do some automation work for me, don’t know what to use it for but…)

If you are broke and you are student, you have to check out some of the deals here, why pay for new stuff when you get them almost less than half off?

Plus, this online store has PageRank of 5 on its main page, most likely a good sign. (Did you know I look at PageRank before I buy anything online? You can download Google Toolbar here and check it out yourself.)

I admit I own 4 refurbished PCs myself, and probably will get bunch of these Macs in the future too. They seem much cheaper than refurbished PCs for what I am trying to accomplish. If you have a kid who is just starting out on computers, refurbished might be the best way to go and let them get used to typing. Yes, you can then save money on “learn to type” software for all those older computers. Better yet, I bet you can download those old softwares free.

Check out DVWarehouse.com here.

Garrett shows you how to setup your time and automatically sync with your PC’s time on the CB290 Proto Board, so you can program to do a lot of things such as home automation.

He’s been showing me how this device will eventually control everything in his apartment, which is kinda cool…

Here’s an example that might change your mind. Consider the one piece of automation that exists in nearly every home: the thermostat. You don’t have to think about turning the furnace or air conditioner on and off, you merely set a desired temperature that you find comfortable. The thermostat does the rest. This saves you a lot of time and frustration, as opposed to walking into the furnace closet and flipping a switch every time you’re too hot, or too cold.

Applying automation to other devices can deliver just as much of a benefit. One of the most useful types of automation is scheduling. Based on the time, date, and time of year, you may want devices to behave differently. This article deals with the first step in creating a scheduled automation system: accessing and processing the current time and date.