Volume 19
Make:
technology on your time®
Make: ROBOTS
Build the world’s cheapest, easiest to hack, and funnest autopilot. By Chris Anderson
Reconnoitering the UAV exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum. By Marc de Vinck
Robot engineers and enthusiasts discuss what’s currently holding their attention. By Gareth Branwyn
The director of the Harvard Microrobotics Lab builds a better housefly. By Bob Parks
Teaching an Old Bot New Tricks
Make a vintage robot smarter. By Robert L. Doerr
How a neurophysiologist’s experiments in brain behavior created the first autonomous robots. By Gareth Branwyn
Rovers at the first annual SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition have minds of their own. By Mark Frauenfelder
Columns
Real robots think for themselves. By Mark Frauenfelder
DTV antennae, fine print, energy ideas, and love for Roy Doty.
MR. ROBOTO
Cut and fold your own paper bot!
ON THE COVER: The ArduPilot converts R/C planes to drones. Jordi Muñoz demostrates a successful takeoff. Photograph by Noah Webb. Styled by Sam Murphy. Makey photographed by Sam Murphy.
Maker’s Corner: Make Money (Really!)
Sell MAKE subscriptions and your club keeps 50 percent of the proceeds. By Dan Woods
Make Free: Positive Externalities
Fight against the greed of a small band of vocal dinosaurs. By Cory Doctorow
Country Scientist: How to Study Tree Rings
Tree rings can tell us about past precipitation, climate, major volcano eruptions, and forest fires. By Forrest M. Mims III
Pamphleteer William Cobbett launched the sustainability movement — in 1821. By George Dyson
Adrift in a kayak. By Lee D. Zlotoff
Heirloom Technology: Papuan Speargun
This speargun gets its power from a strip of red rubber. By Tim Anderson
Vol. 19, Aug. 2009. MAKE (ISSN 1556-2336) is published quarterly by O’Reilly Media, Inc. in the months of February, May, Aug., and Nov. O’Reilly Media is located at 1005 Gravenstein Hwy. North, Sebastopol, CA 95472, (707) 827-7000. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Send all subscription requests to MAKE, P.O. Box 17046, North Hollywood, CA 91615-9588 or subscribe online at makezine.com/offer or via phone at (866) 289-8847 (U.S. and Canada); all other countries call (818) 487-2037. Subscriptions are available for $34.95 for 1 year (4 quarterly issues) in the United States; in Canada: $39.95 USD; all other countries: $49.95 USD. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sebastopol, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MAKE, P.O. Box 17046, North Hollywood, CA 91615-9588. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement Number 41129568. CANADA POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: O’Reilly Media, PO Box 456, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6V2