miniBloq + SparkFun + upcoming v0.82 version!

I haven't been posting for a few months. But that's for a good reason: a lot of work, specially with the upcoming miniBloq version. Yes, the v0.82 is near. Some of you may remember an old post where I talked about the project's roadmap. Well, I'm happy to say that most of the promised features in that post are now a reality for the next version. But you may also wonder: when will the v0.82 be published? It's already there! But you will not find it in the downloads page, since it's not ready yet. But part of the hard work I've been doing also implied moving everything to a GitHub repository. So, if you are impatient (but tolerant, since this is an ongoing work), just take a look:

https://github.com/miniBloq/v0.82

You can just download it using the "Download ZIP" button there and, after decompressing it, please find the executable miniBloq.exe file in this relative path (on your miniBloq folder):

 source\Bin\Minibloq\mbq\v0.82

I know: no Linux version yet? I'm sorry about that, but as most miniBloq's Linux users know, we port it after the official release of the Windows version. And when will this happen? Most probably after I have finished my work at SparkFun's Hackers In Residence Program, where we are integrating SparkFun's hardware (sensors, robots, etc.) into minBloq! Thanks SparkFun!

I have some more really exciting news (mmm, like a 2D small robot simulator), but I will be posting about them on the next days. So stay tunned!
Thanks!

Los robots cambian historias: Valeria Larrart at TEDxRioLimay

Multiplo's Repository and the new Parts Library

As many of you already know, Minibloq and Multiplo are brother projects. We have been working a lot on Multiplo in the last months, and there is a new website, where we have released a lot of open source mechanical parts 2 weeks ago. These parts has been designed with one important goal: to be fablab compatible. This means that every Multiplo mechanical part can be manufactured using common tools found in the growing community of fablabs and hackerspaces, such as laser cutters, 3D printers and small CNC machines. So we designed them carefully, making them tolerant to differences in the materials, such as variations in the thickness, weight, etc.. There are more parts designed, and we will try to publish them soon.

The Parts Library

Although we still have to improve it a lot, we released what we have called the Parts Library. If you dig into it, you will find nearly 300 parts, with their 3D and 2D drawings, and even with an interactive 3D viewer (thanks to GitHub!).  Here are some screen shots, but you can actually go and see it by yourself:

And here is the embedded GitHub's 3D viewer for each part:

We still need to improve the whole website a lot, and we have plans to enhance the Parts Library as well as the Store and the online documentation soon, but if you want to download all the parts together, in a single zip file, you can always visit our GitHub repository: https://github.com/multiplo (the drawings for the parts are in the mechanics repo).

Finally, I want to share here a video of one of the new N8 robots in action, assembled as a netbook carrier:

Minibloq + LegoDuino

Some time ago, Jeroen Benschop published his LegoDuino project, which was also featured at Hack A Day. Jeroen decided to use Minibloq as the programming environment for his platform, and also contributed with an experimental version with an improved backend (we talked about that version in this post).  You can download the modified version of Minibloq for LegoDuino from here, as well as get complete information about the project from Jeroen's blog.

Minibloq + Multiplo @ Tecnópolis 2013, Argentina

For the third consecutive year, Multiplo robots are present in RobotGroup's space in Tecnópolis, Argentina. Tecnópolis is Argentina's biggest expo of science and technology (50 hectares), and will be open for about 4 months:

You can find more information about RobotGroup's robotics exhibition here: http://tecnopolis.ar/2013/atracciones/ciencia-para-todos-robotica

Minibloq + Multiplo @San Luis, Argentina

Mónica Paves, Director of RobotGroup taught a course for teachers in the province of San Luis, Argentina, where nearly 2000 Multiplo tech kits were distributed in public schools.
Here are some pictures of the event:

SparkFun Electronic's ProtoSnap MiniBot tutorial

We are glad that there is a new tutorial with Minibloq, made by Sparkfun Electronics, the: SparkFun Electronic's ProtoSnap MiniBot tutorial (English, ZIP file). The previous link contains both PDF and ODT (LibreOffice) files with a tutorial made by Sparkfun Electronics, to use Minibloq with their ProtoSnap MiniBot.