Brick Labs

Society of Robots. I just found the website by chance.  They have some great tutorials and tips on how to build "junkbots" (robots made from parts scavenged from junk around your house).

They have a large selection of material choices.  A wide range of tutorials, and even some contests where you can earn some money, or the new AXON microcontroller.

Speaking of the AXON… John Palmisano designed the controller.  He is a robotics hobbyist, and he found most of the available controllers out there lacking.  So he developed the AXON.

The AXON Microcontroller from Society of Robots has some great features:

• 55 Total I/O ports
• 18 ports for interrupts
• 16 ports for analog
• 29 Servos
• 3 UART
• 1 dedicated USB connection
• No external power-bus needed
• 64KB Flash, 4KB EEPROM, 8KB SRAM
• 16 MIPS throughput at 16 MHz
• all software is free
• 100% open source
• Mini-USB cable to connect to PC
• On/Off switch included.

All that for $130 (slightly more if you are no in the United States).

There are many in-depth tutorials showing how the AXON can be used. The AXON appears to be C++ based for programming.  Again, there are several available tutorials showing how to program the AXON.

Related posts:

1. Excellent Robotics Tutorials – And a Trossen Winner
2. NXT++ – A new programming language to control the NXT
3. LEGO Education has a new Robotics package for 2009