Do you think it's possible to catch a fish with a RC helicopter?  "The fish will pull the helicopter into the water," you say?  Well, these crazy kids pulled it off and caught a sun fish.  Link to video.

Alan Szabo, Jr. has some mad RC helicopter piloting skills.  Watch as he skillfully makes his helicopter do loop-de-loops, spins, wham-dingers, and yahoo-dillies.  (Obviously, I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

[via meshly]

Previously:
Micro Mosquito Helicopter,  Rubberband Helicopter Howto (LwL)

RC enthusiasts, get your Christmas gift lists ready because I have a toy that is a must-have for this holiday season.

The Micro Mosquito RC helicopter is the smallest indoor helicopter that can go in any direction (forward, backward, left, right) you want it to go or just hover.  It weighs about 20 grams and fits in the palm of your hand. 

This adorable gadget is now available in any RadioShack store for -- wait for it -- $69.99! 

Here is a video of the Mosquito in action as well as a write-up by SlashGear.

This is the second part in a howto series about building a relatively cheap robot out of a radio controlled car and an embedded microcontroller such as the Basic Stamp.

In part 1, I glossed over how to interface a microcontroller with the drive and steering systems on a typical, cheap RC car. Today, we'll be looking at the circuit in a little more detail.  I've also added the simple BS2 program that I used in the demo video from the previous article.

I wish I could say I had a half-million dollar budget to put towards a Stanford style Grand Challenge vehicle, but I'm afraid I've already earmarked that money for thermoptic camouflage and bionic calf implants.

Still, it seems like you just can't be a self respecting hacker these days unless you have an autonomous Humvee or two.

So, I decided it would be a worthwhile project to create a smaller scale robotic car. After a quick treasure-hunt under the sofa cusions and a trip to Radio Shack, I had everything I needed. This project looked to be as easy as taking toys from a baby.

Here's a video of the robot car in action (right click and save).  Keep reading and I'll show you how you can start making your own.