Robotics

Meccano Spykee Wi-Fi Robot

This must be the most fun, extravagant wireless webcam on wheels ever!

Control Spykee using a local wi-fi signal or remotely via the Internet. It can detect movement and automatically notify you, so you have a burglar alarm of sorts. It can also just be a webcam, for you to use with Skype or whatever. It is also good ol' Meccano, so you build it yourself and can add to it.

As of May 2009, it is £154 from Amazon.

Be a part of the Spykee World. Strangely the UK site has been flagged as containing harmful software, but I couldn't find anything harmful on it when I visited the site.

Lego Mindstorms NXT

I decided to start a robotics section just to showcase this amazing bit of kit: the Mindstorms NXT, a pile of Lego that comes with a controller and enough motors and levers to be a walking, talking robot.

Lego has an extensive support site for Mindstorms, and here is their London Mindstorms HQ.

Want to see a NXT play football? See it in action on the Mindstorms Movies page! Okay, maybe that's a bit far-fetched, but it looks like a really cool bot.

Want to buy one? It's in the Lego Shop but not for the UK apparently. Not to worry, here it is at Amazon UK for £170 (May 2009).

Oh, did I mention that it comes with USB and Bluetooth support? Program the NXT from your PC, and download the instructions to make it do exactly what you tell it!