Hackster’s newest Influence Highlight turned its focus towards robotics, showcasing how engineers and makers are combining creativity, sensible design, and innovation to construct robots that vary from expressive companions to full-fledged private assistants. Every undertaking carried its personal distinctive taste, with some playful and others extra useful, however all pointed towards the identical concept: robotics is breaking by the experimental enviornment into the instruments we use on the workplace and at dwelling.
TN-24 V2.0 (Cute desktop Companion Robotic)
First visitor speaker, Nickson Kiprotich, highlighted his TN-24 V2.0, which he describes as an Emotionally Clever Desktop Companion Robotic. Evolving from its authentic cardboard prototype, the most recent 2.0 model is provided with Seeed Studio’s XIAO ESP32S3 Sense, a DFRobot 6 DOF sensor, micro servo motors, and an ElectroPeak OLED 64×128 Show Module for the robotic’s expressive digital face. All of which is packed right into a novel 3D printed enclosure. TN-24 V2.0 can react to moods, carry out playful actions, and supply wellness reminders, video games, and even music responsiveness in future updates.
Orguino
Second visitor, Johan Halmen, walked us by his Orguino undertaking that transforms a reed organ right into a MIDI file participant. Conventional reed organs use foot-operated bellows to create unfavorable stress and valves beneath the keys to set off brass reeds. To automate that course of, Halmen retrofitted the organ with a vacuum cleaner for airflow and 61 servo motors, one for every key.
The servos are pushed by PCA9685 servo driver boards, which function 4 daisy-chained items, offering as much as 64 channels. The mounting course of required cautious alignment: servos for white keys have been glued vertically, whereas servos for black keys have been mounted horizontally. Every servo pulls its key by way of a brief wound-thread linkage, stapled and glued to the keys for power and precision.
For calibration, every servo have to be aligned to a few positions: relaxation (for guide play), pre-actuation, and totally open. Fantastic changes are made by Blynk, a cell interface that communicates with an Arduino MKR 1010 Wi-Fi board over I2C, after compatibility points with the AVR-IoT WG board. Blynk sliders modify the PWM responsibility cycles despatched to the servos by way of the PCA9685, successfully tuning the higher and decrease limits of every key’s movement. The system will play MIDI recordsdata ready in MuseScore, which have been simplified into a listing of note-on and note-off occasions, aligning with the organ’s restricted management wants.
Lily∞Bot Crickit-Circuit Playground Categorical
Third visitor, Dr. Carlotta Berry, and members of the Group Multidisciplinary Academic Robotics Lab (MERL), highlighted their Lily∞Bot Crickit-Circuit Playground Categorical robotic that’s designed as an academic instrument. The most recent model of the robotic has been upgraded with an Adafruit Crickit robotics board, a Circuit Playground Categorical, a 3.3V ultrasonic sonar sensor, and two DC motors to allow impediment avoidance. A 3xAA battery pack or USB can energy the robotic, and it makes use of modular mounting {hardware} to safe the controller, motors, and sensors.
The bottom robotic body consists of updates for caster wheel mounting, which raises the wheel barely above the TT drive wheels for environment friendly navigation. The sonar is put in on the entrance of the chassis to detect obstacles, whereas the Crickit and Circuit Playground Categorical deal with motor management and sensor suggestions. The design is meant for elementary college college students (grades 1–4) who use graphical programming with Microsoft MakeCode, however the platform could be outfitted with extra superior controllers, similar to Arduino Uno or Raspberry Pi Pico W.
Betsy: Private Workplace Assistant
The fourth and last visitor speaker, Dr. NorAzmi Alias, launched his Betsy robotic that acts as a private workplace assistant. The robotic was constructed on the SCUTTLE rover platform and is provided with a Raspberry Pi and ultrasonic sensors, designed to hold instruments, ship paperwork, observe folks, and interact in pure dialog in a lab or workplace setting.
Betsy was initially designed as a easy tool-carrying robotic, however advanced right into a extra succesful assistant by integrating VIAM’s robotics platform with a Giant Language Mannequin (LLM) to offer environment friendly decision-making and pure speech interplay.
The {hardware} encompasses a Pi-powered rover outfitted with cameras, microphones, audio system, and optionally available modules, similar to a touchscreen or emergency cease change. The software program aspect leverages VIAM’s modular companies for motors, sensors, particular person monitoring, mapping, and speech. Betsy leverages laptop imaginative and prescient, ultrasonic sensing, and RAG-style LLM prompts, enabling it to observe folks, navigate predefined lab routes, and relay messages whereas responding naturally to spoken instructions.
Conclusion
From a 3D-printed desk companion to a reed organ retrofitted with MIDI, from an academic bot for grade-schoolers to a lab assistant powered by AI, the initiatives featured on this Influence Highlight spotlight simply how numerous and impactful robotics could be. These builders aren’t simply showcasing intelligent builds; they’re pushing robotics into new areas the place accessibility, emotion, and utility intersect.
