Wheelgirl

Not Riding Your Bike in the Rain, Build the Escape Robot from a Kit

It is January. Stop watching bad movies on cable. Build a robot from a kit. This is the first of several robot-building experiences for 2008.

The Escape Robot from Jameco costs $19.95, and you just spent that on two chai tea lattes and a couple of pumpkin bars. So, no excuses. You don't have to be an electrical engineer. The directions come in the kit. And it gives you a chance to practice your soldering skills. It has a infrared sensing system. So, it will move in different directions based on what it perceives. It is not at the same level of the Mars Rover, in terms of intelligence, but it is still cool to block its progress and watch it turn to avoid something in its path.

You are not riding your bicycle during the late, dark, rainy night hours. And your non-soldering friends can go wild and unleash their creative forces by building a maze that the robot can negotiate. Building one robot is the first step of creating a Robot Circus.

So, here is how it works:

1. Read the instructions included in the box before you do anything else.
2. Make sure you have fresh batteries in the house. If not, go get some now. Otherwise, it is a total drag when the robot is ready to roll, and you have no way to power it and play with it. (Try to use rechargeable batteries if you can. Since you will probably play with this toy until the batteries are dead.)
3. Organize the pieces in the kit and make sure that they are all there. (I use old egg cartons to separate the pieces.)
4. Follow the instructions and solder it together.
5. Take it to a maze made by your friends and see if the Escape Robot has what it takes to get a job offer from the Robot Circus Director.

More information and photos after the jump.

 

Photos taken by Wheelgirl

Winner of Google & Specialized Innovate or Die: Aquaduct Bike

The Google & Specialized Innovate or Die contest $5000 Grand-Prize winner is the Aqueduct bike. It is a three-wheeled bike (trike) that uses a rider's pedal power to transport and filter water from rural water sources.  Women living in rural villages may carry several pounds of water over large distances back to their living spaces. The Aqueduct, designed by a team of inventors in Menlo Park, California, allows you to fill a large water-carrying rear tank, and then filter 2 gallons of water into a clean water receptacle on the front of the bike while pedaling the heavy water back home. If you need to filter more water after arriving home, you can disengage a clutch, and pedal the bike in a stationary position to activate the internal pump and filtering system.

The comments on different sites related to the concept and design of the Aqueduct range from "awesome" to unrealistic for third-world users, due to maintenance, bacteria not addressed by the filtering system, and limited if any access to necessary replacement parts, for example, tires and filters. Per usual for new inventions, some will get iterated and developed, and some people will like them while others will not. I really enjoy seeing how different minds use bicycles and pedal-power to problem solve. Go view the 102 bike-related Innovate or Die contest videos via YouTube. It's Monday. You're moving kind of slow after the weekend. Watch some inspiring movies. (Make sure to wear your headphones if you want to keep your job. Some of the videos get kind of loud.)

Photos lifted from YouTube.
Google to Gizmodo

BionX Electric-Assist Jaibike Lets You Ride and Shop At Target

Last Sunday, David Strain, a self-described carpenter who puts in "Gucci kitchens," brought his electric-assisted Jaibike to the shop. ("Jai," he explained, means "victory to," as in "Victory to you.") He made this bike for the North American Hand-Made Bicycle Show last year. He welded a steel bike frame and rack, assembled the steering, and used old bike parts that work "just fine" for the drive train and braking mechanisms. Then he added a BionX electric assist hub motor and battery kit. He had talked about the Jaibike during a visit to the shop. I asked him to bring it by so I could ride it. You have to ride a bike to get a sense of it, not just read or talk about it.

The BionX kit David added allows you to pedal the Jaibike like a regular cargo-carrying bike, but when the going gets tough, you can select how much assistance you want from a handlebar-mounted panel connected to the electric motor. So, coming back from Target with a toaster oven in the cargo hold and more items on the rear rack presents no worries if you hit an incline. The quiet electric motor kicks in while you pedal, and you can climb with much less effort. The BionX electric-assist kit weighs approximately 17 pounds. BionX has an FAQ on their site you can check out for more kit information.

The clear plastic ferring he placed over the upper portion of the bike and the front wheel allows for speedy descents if you tuck in behind it. David's background in carpentry is apparent by the stylized lockable wooden cargo box on the front of the bike. (More info. about riding the Jaibike, lots of photos, specs, and David's email after the jump.)

   

Photos taken by Wheelgirl

Home is Where the Handlebars Are

I've been thinking about mobile offices lately. What happens when you attach a towable living structure to a bicycle or tricycle? First, check out Paul Elkins' bicycle camper, a small, towable, 100-pound shelter attached to a bicycle in order to camp more comfortably at the annual Burning Man event held in the Nevada desert.

Then, view the video of Casey Wong's tricycle home, which also has a door, a window, a writing desk and a fold-out bed. Casey's bicycle home, which is 3 x 4 feet in dimension, is a response to the high cost of living space in Hong Kong. Casey now has the ability to enjoy a view of the ocean from his home .

If you think these are newish ideas, take a look at the article from Modern Mechanix July 1935. Joseph Dorocke, from Chicago, Illinois, made a 50 lbs, 4-foot long and 2-foot wide collapsible bicycle sleeping trailer. The bigger box housed a smaller box inside of it. When stopped for the night, he could lengthen his bed to 8-feet of open or enclosed sleeping space in which a cyclist could comfortably catch up on some beauty sleep. (If you've made a bicycle camper trailer, make sure to post a link to photos.)

 

Photos lifted from Paul Elkins' site, Reuters via Giz, and Makezine.com, respectively.

Atomic Zombie Bicycles, Not Your Mom's Trek or Your Dad's Specialized

I read this post on this DIY electric bike by Atomic Zombie that features a commute range of 62 miles on a charge. So, I went to check out the site.

There are some really, as stated in the masthead, "extreme machines" featured on the site. And the plans to make many of these bicycles are available for downloading from the website for around $15 (Canadian, I believe).

Go click around. If you like robots, particularly smaller spy robots, make sure to check out the electronics gadgets pages on the site. And clicking around on the links page will fill up all of your working hours after lunch.

Remember, it is Friday, the day you spend your AM work hours clicking around on bike sites until it is time to go to lunch, and then you spend your PM work hours clicking around on bike sites until it is time to go home. Get to work.

   

All photos lifted from the Atomic Zombie site.

giz to atomic zombie

Innovate or Die, Inertia Weld and Launch Tennis Balls by Pedaling A Bicycle

Here are two videos from Specialized and Google's competition, Innovate or Die, that feature bicycle pedal-powered projects. One video is from Mike, who is part of a team that inertia welds two pieces of aluminum by pedaling a stationary bike. The bike is attached to a 150 kilogram flywheel, which is then attached to motorcycle chain, which is connected to a pre-WW II lathe. The weld is "slightly out of tolerance," but the two pieces of aluminum are in fact joined. Check out this First YouTube video. (Technical and energy specs for the machine after the jump.)

The other video is of Daniel who pedals his bike to the tennis court with a "bike trailer" that is a pedal-powered tennis ball launcher. To make the tennis ball launcher, he used a leaking 5 gallon water jug and recycled some old bikes and components. Check out this Second YouTube video. (Of course, this begs the question, what else might some cyclists with creative imaginations and more time on their hands than sense launch with a similar type of machine?)

Image lifted from the YouTube videos by Wheelgirl. Pedal-powered inertia welding via bicyledesign to ecofriend. Pedal-powered tennis ball launcher via danielbauen to makezine .

Make a Room Screen From Old Chain Rings, Cassettes, and Cogs

At the shop, we had been talking about putting a screen of some sort in front of the repair area to protect these bikes from the over curious.  Right after that conversation, Head Mechanic, Daniel, found this old fireplace screen with holes in it by the dumpster. The discarded screen had one broken support stand with it. Stainless Matt (maker of stainless steel bike frames) took the support stand, flipped it, drilled some holes, and created a base for the screen. Customer Ben helped sort some worn bike parts for shop art projects, and he filled a box with a bunch of cogs and chain rings.  I cleaned the parts in the solvent tank and decorated the screen with these no longer useful chain rings and disassembled cassettes.

So, if you are a road or mountain warrior or a fixed gear rider, you can write down your hours and miles on the bike in your training journal. Or, you can ride as much as you can. And then, decorate a screen with your used up and shark-toothed chain rings, cassettes, and cogs to create a visual representation of your commitment. If you make a screen with your old chain rings and cogs, send us a link to a photo. (More information after the jump.)

Photos taken by Wheelgirl.