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Delta Robot update, Jan 2014

2014-01-14 Dan

delta-robot

When I get advice I don’t ignore it and I don’t argue about it. If you take the time to help me, I take the time to listen. Back in October a customer has some very good (tho unflattering) feedback. The two big issues were the quality of the servos and the quality of the 3D printing. In the time since then I’ve worked on the issues from several directions:

1. I ceased making the older model delta robot.
2. I’m redesigning the delta robot to have zero 3d printed parts. If I use plastic parts in the future kits they’ll probably be cast or injection molded.
3. I’ve made great strides to improve my 3D printers. I only use them for prototyping. If you need something printed, I’d be happy to help.
4. I’ve removed the servos from the delta robots and switched to stepper motors. I have the steppers and electronics in stock as part of the rotary stewart platforms, anyways. Having a single board for all my kits makes developing software a lot easier, which means more features for you faster.

When the new model is released I will put the previous design on thingiverse. The new model will have complete step by step assembly guides on learn.marginallyclever.com.

I’m truly grateful that you believe in my work and I want to find more ways to show my thanks to you. Let me know what I can do.

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Check out the new learn.marginallyclever.com

2014-01-08 Dan
Delta Robot v7 Delta Robot v8

I love getting feedback. It’s a road sign that tells me which way to go. Recently someone at the VHS pointed out that our lesson plans and assembly guides are all over the place. Too true! So to start 2014 off right we’ve launched a new, mobile-friendly wiki to house all our assembly guides, tutorials, and lesson plans for teachers. Please let us know if you spot a tutorial, blog post, or other that we haven’t moved yet. Collectively you have more eyes than I do. I mean… I have this jar full here but I don’t think they count. Yet.

Speaking of feedback and learning, I’ve been flooded with emails asking about the Delta Robots. Above is a picture of versions 7 and 8. These are getting a lot closer to what I want. v7 is that size because it fits in my shipping boxes. v8 makes things easier to assemble and adds the same electronics and limit switches that I use in the Stewart Platforms. It has just enough range of movement to work as an R2B2 phone-password-cracking robot. I’m especially pleased that I was able to get rid of all the 3D printed parts, which means I can make a kit faster and more reliably with less effort. Of course when this is released all the assembly guides will be on learn.marginallyclever.com and the code will be on github.

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2014 is going to be awesome!

2013-12-31 Dan

2013 was great! Marginally Clever Robots did 7.5 times more sales than 2012 and grossed 384% more revenue. That’s not counting the laser cutting or the 3d printing businesses. We released the Makelangelo 2, the Stewart Platform 2, and the Malcolm Pan/Tilt. We invested every penny back into R&D, QA, and manufacturing to get us ready for the future. The vending machine at the VHS finally paid off and tonight I get to bring the first fruits of the profits back to the group, which gives me the warm fuzzies.

2014 is going to be even better. We’re starting the year off with a bang by running the Quadcopter build weekends at VHS and it’s going to keep getting better from there. I’ve set a number of ambitious goals: we’re going to launch a new website that’s mobile friendly, we’re going to release two totally new robots, and we’re going to bring back some of our older products with all the tweaks and improvements that you suggested.

Because, at the end of the day, we couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve your needs and help make the world a more interesting place.

Sincerely,
Dan