Wires, springs, and mechanical marvels - Along with the beginnings of springs and wire, we take a look at some more automatons. Included is the 18th century chess playing mechanical Turk. Here’s a sit

Ancient robots - Starting more than 2000 years ago, people have been creating machines that resemble animals and humans. Powered by water, compressed air, springs or falling weights, these automatons

Why are we turning? - To build your bot, you’ll need some bits. Today we talk about wheels pulleys and gears—where and when they happen, and how and why to use them. Here are a couple of sites on the

That’s not a machine! - We finish up “building brain bits for bots based on big beasties,” and move on to some things that have to do with actual robots. Searching for the beginnings of the technology

Building brain bits for bots based on big beasties - We begin a series on robotics and automation with a look at your host’s on going project on how to build a brain for a bot. After years of research

Dreams and schemes in space - For our last episode on space and space travel, we take a look at the private business based space programs. Here’s an article about the Mars One program. - Goodbye Mars

The Columbia’s last flight - 17 years after the space shuttle Challenger broke up during launch, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during reentry. We take a look at what happened and why. Here’s an

The Challenger’s last flight - In January of 1986, the space shuttle Challenger came apart 73 seconds after launch. We take a look at what happened and why. Here’s a sight on the first glide test of t

The space shuttle - With 135 missions over a 30 year period, the STS was enormously successful. It will take another episode or two to cover, but we start with an overview of NASA’s space shuttle prog

Spider silk? - Brother Phil and I were on the porch the other day, and the topic swung round to the amazing mechanical strength of spider web. He bumped into something about some piece of clothing that had been made from the stuff.