Making Robots [video]

The humanoid tethered robot in the forest is amazing!

The speech is actually interesting, you can see that they put emphasis on perpetual motion for balancing the robot. That's what makes their robots' motion look so "biological" i think, as opposed to others which look like they're trying to compute the next perfect move.

Just as if their robots was doing "just move, and try to correct with another move if the last one wasn't perfect". The name of the company reflects this.

At least that's what i guessed from the speech, i'm not an expert, so correct me if i'm wrong.

I know that NAO is programmable [1] but I haven't seen where you can buy one. Maybe out of stock.

[1] https://www.aldebaran.com/en/robotics-solutions/robot-softwa...

Intel Jimmy/HR-OS1 for $1600 with Intel Edison and Raspberry Pi 2, runs on Linux, has an SDK/AppStore, customizable 3D printed body and planned support for computer vision. Ordered one, next month should arrive, can't wait 8-)

http://www.21stcenturyrobot.com

Lego Mindstorms is a really popular kit among robot enthusiasts. It's a good starter kit.

I make and sell Tapster, a delta-style robot that is programmable, 3d printable, and open source. I designed it for testing apps on iOS and Android. If you have more time than money, you can download the plans and make one yourself. Otherwise, I can make it for you. https://www.tindie.com/products/hugs/tapster/

There are multiple options available. Mostly depends on what you would be interested in doing. Shoot me an email (address in profile) if you'd like some help figuring it out (I'm in robotics).

I like the uArm, an Arduino powered arm for $340. http://evol.net/