Gearfuse

What better way for a father and son to spend the Thanksgiving weekend together than to build a robot out of a tin can and an Arduino. As far as robots go, this little autonomous aluminum can seeks out light and moves in the direction of it. The creator cleverly refers to this as a “flashlight leash.”

With an Arduino, a light sensor and a lower power DC motor, making your own light-seeking robot shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. With your kid helping you, who knows what you could accomplish?

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Check out Guilherme Martin’s first attempt at making a robot. He uses an Arduino and motor shield with one servo for steering and a standard DC motor for movement. It’s dubbed “baratinha” meaning “little cockroach” in Portuguese. Using two micro-switches as if they were antennae, baratinha is able to detect obstacles in its way.  It’s just like a real cockroach except it won’t eat your food or leave a foul odor in its wake.  I wonder if it’d survive an atomic blast?

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Growing marijuana is a crime and that’s a damned shame. It’s no mystery that it’s a great pain reliever and can turn any award winning drama into a laugh-out-loud comedy. The war on drugs has always been a controversial topic in the realm of political agenda and the media. It’s only getting more controversial now that they’re busting growers with GPS turtles. Yes, GPS turtles.

After reports of several marijuana fields throughout Rock Creek Park south of the DC/Maryland line, the U.S. Park Police set up surveillance. Ordinarily that would mean they equipped the area with strategically placed cameras, but instead they exposed this grower with help from a box turtle fashioned with a GPS device. They eventually found the little guy crawling through a big pot field. What a terrible way to go down…busted by a turtle.

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Whether you’re into comics or an avid Adult Swim fan, you’re bound to run into Evan Dorkin’s work. Creator of the absurd, yet hilarious Milk and Cheese and Dork! series along with the television show Welcome to Eltingville, his artwork is both unique and twisted with humor, violence and tasteless jokes. Needless to say, we’re fans.

We asked Evan to talk to us a bit about his personal life, comic creation in a digital age and his favorite gadgets. Read on to find out if Evan uses an iPod and to see if he’s a fan of Marvel or DC…

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