The day is finally here that I can talk about the newest addition to the HEXBUG Family. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the HEXBUG Nano! The smallest HEXBUG, the Nano propels itself with tiny vibrations and specially designed rubber feet.
Keep reading for a chance to win one of these fun creatures.
Photo by: Anton Olsen
A page outlining the evolution of design is available on the HEXBUG site. We’ve been toying with the idea of a small vibrating robot for years. The first prototypes of the Nano were inspired by the old vibrating football games. More recent examples of vibrating motion are the BEAM Vibrobots and then the Bristlebots. Thirty some iterations, a few years, and over 150 leg designs later the Nano is born. It has a low center of gravity and specially designed shell that allows it to pop back on it’s feet. Getting to a point where they can be mass produced with consistent behavior was a lot harder than I had imagined. They run for 2-4 hours on a battery and are guaranteed to scare the crap out of any Entomophobes you might know.
You can get an idea of how they move and interact in this YouTube video of the Nano escaping from a plastic cup. You can see more photos of the bugs and their habitat on my HEXBUG Nano Flickr set.
I’ve managed to squirrel away 10 of the HEXBUG Nano from the first production run and will be giving them away. Leave a comment below and tell me which Nano color is your favorite. On Friday(Oct 2) at Noon Central time I will roll some dice and pick two winners for each color. Please North America only for this round. When we can ship them out of the UK I’ll have another contest for our friends on the other side of the pond.
Here’s a parting shot of my son playing with a prototype habitat. He actually played for nearly 3 hours straight before we made him go play outside a while. After supper he picked it back up and played another half hour, even stacking up books and toys to make a multi level design. I didn’t even have to ask him to wear his GeekDad tee. He wears it proudly as often as he can.
Photo by: Anton Olsen
And just in case it wasn’t evident above, and in the interest of full disclosure, I work for Innovation First International, the company that designs and produces the HEXBUG line of products.
Comment below for a chance to win! Color choices are Red, Blue, Green, Orange and Purple.
