Robot MarketPlace - 298:1 Micro Geared Motor. This gearmotor is a miniature (0.94" x 0.39" x 0.47"), high-quality, high-power motor with 298:1 metal gearbox, similar to Sanyo's popular 12 mm gearmotors.
The gearbox has a long (0.365" or 9.27 mm), 3 mm-diameter D-shaped metal output shaft, and the brass faceplate has two mounting holes threaded for M1.6 screws (1.6 mm diameter, 0.35 mm thread pitch). It weighs approximately 0.35 oz (10 g). These tiny, high-quality motors are intended for use at 6V. In general, these kinds of motors can run at voltages above and below this nominal voltage, so they should comfortably operate in the 3 - 9V range. Lower voltages might not be practical, and higher voltages could start negatively affecting the life of the motor. Specs Gear ratio: 298:1 Free-run speed @ 6V: 100 rpm Free-run current @ 6V: 70 mA Stall current @ 6V: 1600 mA Stall torque @ 6V: 70 oz-in Extended motor shaft?
Hobby Robot Rides a Bike the Old-Fashioned Way. The current generation of bicycle-riding robots (I'm talking about those crazy kids from Murata) are extremely complicated, relying on giant gyroscopes and thick wheels to keep themselves upright even while stationary.
This is certainly a neat trick, but it's not something that most humans can pull off. It's not a problem that robots are better at something than we are (by now, we're used to it), but there's something to be said for human emulation, too. It turns out that getting a robot to ride a bicycle doesn't need to involve much more than a hobby level humanoid employing a relatively simple gyroscope that sends steering commands to keep things generally upright.
This KHR3HV bipedal robot (which can be yours for about $2200) has a nifty custom bike that it got from I know not where, and can zip around under remote control at up to 10 kph, even making its own starts and stops: Wheee! [ AI and Robot ] via [ RoboSavvy ] Mechatronic Tank. We would like to introduce Mechatron, our mechatronic tank.
When we designed and built Mechatron we wanted him to be tough looking, industrial, and retro-futuristic, with lots of metal, rivets, and gears. He’s built entirely out of aluminum, brass, and steel, but inside, he’s chock-full of high tech electronics. See pictures and more text below. And be sure to watch the video to see Mechatron in action! Mechatron includes special wheels with rollers slanted at 45 degree angles and driven by dedicated gearboxes, four powerful motors, and a software-controlled drive system that we wrote that operates each of the wheels independently. Mechatron’s gun turret pans 360 degrees, includes 8 range-finding sonars for target detection, a laser, and a high-powered electric automatic weapon that shoots brass or plastic pellets.
Strips of 52 programmable RGB LED lights have been mounted on Mechatron’s underside and within his turret.