If you think programming with Scratch is only for kids and non-programmers, please open your mind for a minute. Here at Modbot HQ our MOSS Scratch plugin is the goto tool for prototyping new robot behaviors–even though we’ve got a bunch of hardcore programmers.

Why?

Simply because it leverages 100% of the capabilities of MOSS behavior in a package that facilitates real time iteration and experimentation – just like physical MOSS itself.

For example, we’re working on designing creatures for our next specialty artist kit of MOSS. This crazy snake-like one needed a synchronized motion pattern for the two pivot blocks in order to move at all. Starting with the sine wave generator example project included with MOSS Scratch we added a second channel and phase lag parameters in a few minutes.  Immediately we had a robot writhing on the table and could quickly tweak the amplitudes, offsets, phase lags, and physical MOSS configuration to achieve optimal locomotion and turning.

If we pursue this robot design the next level of development would also happen in Scratch.  We’d boil down all these optimal parameters to a simple forward/back/left/right interface tied to arrow keys and drive around for a while!  Only then would we finally transfer into textual coding, either into firmware via MOSS Flash or a dedicated mobile control app to distribute the behavior when a kit ships.

Have you ever wanted XRay goggles?

As we’ve put MOSS into the hands of our Kickstarter backers, early adopters, and educational pilot programs we’ve heard several times that visualizing power and data flowing through a MOSS construction can be tough starting out. No longer. We’ve equipped every robot in the MOSS robot recipes with a beta XRay view!

Check out the live Braitenbird page here. Green is power, and orange is data, just like in the new “How to Build” Guide. The bubbles move along the tubes to show how everything flows.  We hope that everyone who touches a MOSS kit makes the jump from following instructions to inventing their own unique MOSS bots. Seeing how our example bots are connected inside will be a handy stepping stone to MOSS building proficiency.

By the way, we didn’t just program in the circuits for two dozen robots. We programmed a system so that your web browser understands MOSS, how it works, and how it all connects. Feel free to let your imagination run wild at the possibilities…

We’re finishing up the final preparations toward launching our most awesome product ever: the MOSS Huck Tank. I can’t wait until November.

The Huck Tank is the first in the MOSS Artist Series and is designed by Huck Gee.  I’ve been in love with Huck’s work ever since seeing the first toys he did with Kidrobot, and I’m super-proud (and still slightly amazed) that he agreed to design a MOSS kit.

The Huck Tank kit has 32 MOSS blocks and is designed to be assembled into a little tank that drives around and shoots things with foam darts.  This is a janky hand-painted prototype, but just look at it!

There are two different ways to play with the tank.  In autonomous mode, it’ll drive around and avoid obstacles, firing its dart whenever it hears a double clap.  Or, download the iOS/Android app and remote control the tank and turret.  Of course, you can also build anything you want, or mix and match the Huck Tank modules with your normal MOSS modules to create huge foam dart shooting monster robots.

The white plastic frames that give shape to normal MOSS blocks are injection moulded at one of our suppliers in China.  We’ve never been able to injection mould plastic parts in the USA; it’s just always been too expensive.  Way too expensive, like we’d need to charge $100 more for a kit expensive.  But things have changed: we’re manufacturing the plastic parts that are new in the Huck Tank at an injection moulder in the USA!  In Colorado!  The supplier is pretty awesome.  They’re building the moulds out of aircraft aluminum instead of tool steel, and they should last plenty long.  Easier machining in aluminum makes for USA moulds at a competitive (yes, it’s still more expensive, but not double or 10x) price to Chinese manufacturing.  Cool.

We offered the Huck Tank as a reward tier on our Kickstarter campaign from six months ago.  We’ve shipped out 80% of the MOSS kits from the kickstarter, and the remaining 20% are Huck Tank backers.  I’m sorry we’re later than we estimated in the crowdfunding campaign!  We expect to ship Huck Tanks in late October 2014, and I’m confident the wait will be worth it.

Do you know how you can tell when a company gets a new marketing person?

They get a new website. A couple weeks ago Modular Robotics retired our trusty old site for a new one. With the launch of our new fanciness, comes my cue to introduce… myself. I’m Stu, Modular Robotics Marketing Dude and robot evangelist. Don’t panic, I’m not here to convert you to the Church of Robotology. I’m here because I seek to advance the memetic concept of robots and their impact on us as a species.

My goal at Modular Robotics is to convince the world that robots are a necessary component to our advancement as a species.

Naturally, you might be wondering if I’ve been sniffing too many solder fumes to posit such a hypothesis. The reality is that I spend my days pushing pixels rather than completing circuits. Occasionally, I get out from the glow of my Macbook and meet real people in the realm of the third dimension. After the initial shock of human contact wears off, I often find myself answering this question… “What are these robots for?”

If you’ve stumbled across this post… you should know that Modular Robotics makes robot constructions systems that are deceptively educational. By this, I mean our robot toys are a lot of fun and have some great life skills embedded into the play experience. Normally, I answer this question with something akin to “Modular Robotics makes robot construction systems that are designed to help kids understand the entangled nature of our world. Our systems are built to be fun and educational, so kids can develop an intuitive understanding of complex systems and design concepts.”

All of that is true, but it neglects to impart the vision of what I hope we can accomplish with Modular Robotics. I do what I do because I believe that these robot toys are the opening move in a game of chess that could result in humanity reaching fantastic new heights. I believe robots are a keystone technology in the progression of our species that will free up time necessary to solve our greatest challenges and provide the mechanisms we need to someday reach distant worlds.

This is a big concept and I don’t expect that this post will have swayed you in the slightest. It will take series of posts to discuss in detail. This post is to introduce myself and give you a peek into one of the many reasons why we do what we do at Modular Robotics.

Chocolate Santa (an affectionate nickname for Tony, our UPS guy) just picked up the first 40 MOSS kits from our little factory at Modular Robotics.  They’re headed out to our first 40 Kickstarter backers and thus, today marks an exciting milestone.  After almost three years in development, we’re shipping the MOSS Robot Construction System!  And it’s awesome.

Did you pledge on Kickstarter or pre-order for a MOSS Basic Builder Kit?  Ho, ho!  I have some good news for you.  We decided to upgrade all Basic Builder Kits to the Zombonitron 1600 Kit.  Extra parts!  In addition to everything that was in the Basic Builder, you’ll get a Brightness Sensor, an extra Corner Block, two extra Double Spans, and 26 more Steel Spheres.   In the months between the Kickstarter campaign and now, we’ve been building thousands of MOSS robots, and it turns out that these extra parts really expand the universe of robots that you can build with this kit.

We had estimated that we’d be able to ship in February, and we’re finally opening the MOSS pipeline in the last days of March.  If our delay screwed with your kid’s birthday or was annoying in another way, please accept my apology: I’m sorry we were late!

Honestly though, I’m blown away by how quickly and efficiently team Modbot moved to get MOSS from prototype to product.  MOSS has hundreds of parts in it, most are completely custom, and we’re assembling and testing everything in our own shop in Boulder, CO.  The complexity of this effort is astounding and I find myself extremely impressed that we’re shipping only a month or two late.  Cubelets took a year longer than planned and every other physical gadget I’ve supported on Kickstarter has shipped with a far longer delay than MOSS.

Last week I ended up in Valdez, Alaska.  It just happens to be the 25^th anniversary of the oil spill, which I remember vividly watching and reacting to as a twelve year old.  That event did a lot to shape the way that I think about the world, but that’s another story.  Valdez is the end of the Trans Alaska pipeline, and seeing all of that infrastructure made me think a little bit about the Modular Robotics production pipeline that creates tiny robots and sends them out into the world.  Over the last month we’ve been able to assemble some MOSS modules but we’ve been waiting on parts to assemble others.  That creates a sort of MOSS reservoir at the beginning of the pipeline.  In the last week, as we’ve finally been able to build the few remaining modules in the Zombonitron 1600 kit, we’ve been able to open the valve and start shipping.  Right now it feels like we’re running only a trickle of water through our pipeline because we’re triple-testing everything and improving processes as we go.  But we’ve designed our pipeline to hold thousands and thousands of tiny robots at a time, so it’ll be fun to watch the volume increase over the next few months.

Kickstarter backers and pre-order friends, we’re amped to send out MOSS to you soon.  We don’t have an exact schedule of who gets what when yet, but as our pipeline stabilizes a bit and we have enough data to project, we’ll post better delivery estimates here.  For everyone else, we’ll have MOSS available on our web site as soon as we get the pre-orders out the door!  In the meantime, here are a few MOSS robots to tide you over.

We’re making a lot of progress transitioning MOSS from prototype to product. Engineering design was locked several months ago, injection moulds are made, and plastics for our first production run (to fulfill kickstarter pledges) will arrive in Boulder this week. We’ve already started to produce circuit boards on our SMT fabrication line!  Steel ball bearings are here and threaten to collapse our floor.

Colors are locked, and they’re gorgeous.  The photo below is a little wonky and still doesn’t show the colors accurately, but we just shot beautiful new pro photos and I’ll post them asap.  We vacillated a lot with color selection, made a last-hour decision to switch to a two-color face scheme, and then reversed that in a last-minute decision to in favor of the original four-color face scheme:

• Green = Power
• Red = Data Output
• Brown = Data Input
• Blue = Pass-through

We’re still on track to get the first MOSS kits out the door in February!

Urban Dictionary defines this divine device as: A fridge modified to contain a keg and dispense beer. What’s needed: old fridge, drill, tap, facuet, hose, CO2 tank, CO2 regulatior, and a keg. A quality home improvement for the weekend warrior.

We welcome you, our Kegerator from Mobile, AL. Yet another large machine for our factory and offices, and cause for a wonderful, spontaneous use of the word “majestic!” I suggest it receives a royal name befitting its status.