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Make: Magazine, Volume 93 - PDF

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Make: Volume 93 - How to Train Your Robot

Humanoid robots aren’t just for mega-corps and secretive startups. In this issue of Make:, we show you how to use AI programs and open source plans to experiment and build your own humanoid helpers right now! In our cover story, build VoxHead, a fully animated, embodied AI, humanoid head from scratch. 

Then we catch up with Gael Langevin about the continuing evolution of open source humanoid InMoov: new facial expressions, integrated AI, and even synthetic skin! Plus, humanoid robots need a trusty canine companion — build a cute, athletic, quadruped pupper with an AI chatbot brain and powerful QDD actuators. But how do we make all these futuristic robots move? Dive into our primer on field-oriented control for brushless motors, the tech that lets bots run and jump like never before.

Then, we revisit our ultimate maker tools for your workshop. The kicker: a pie-in-the-sky workshop from 20 years ago is now affordable for makers! But our visit to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs also shows there’s always a crazier workshop out there.

Plus 17 projects, including:

  • Construct a tiny houseboat for day trips and camping that packs down to fit in an SUV
  • Use inverse kinematics to give a robot arm sketchbot pinpoint accuracy
  • Fly a lively, no-sew kite using Tyvek fabric and 3D-printed connectors
  • Block-print computational moiré patterns with Open Press Project and p5.js.
  • Build a laser communicator using logic chips to send secret codes securely
  • Make flexible pushbuttons and switches for wearable electronics
  • Assemble a 100W fast-charging battery bank using lithium cells salvaged from disposable vapes
  • And much more!