Every year, people from all over the world compete see who can build the fastest mouse. Mouse robot that is. These Micromouse competitions have miniature wheeled robots searching through mazes, finding the best path to their goal, and then racing to victory at speeds that may be hard to follow. The 31st Annual All Japan Micromouse Competition is set for November 20th, and already there’s a fore-runner that is catching a lot of attention. In the recent regional finals in Chubu, a builder named Kato displayed one of the fastest robots we’ve ever seen, especially in this size. Called Egg-Torte, the half-sized micromouse whips through a complex maze in the video below. Did it win the regional? Oh yes. And it might be the favorite to take the crown at the nationals in a few weeks. Bots like this one are a testament to the innovations generated by robotic competitions all over the world.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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