Blog

CSIRO’s robotics scientists have a lot to celebrate. They were part of a team that represented Australia in one of the world’s hardest robotics competitions, the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. And they just won silver (and a million dollars).

Imagine you’re a tangle-web spider, and you’ve just snared a nice big critter for dinner. Sounds great, huh? Except there’s a problem. Dinner is 50 times heavier than you, and it’s trying to escape. What’s a spider to do?

You might be stuck at home, but there’s still plenty to make and do! Here are some of our favourite activity ideas for young makers.

Written by Celia Berrell A small steel ball in a short smooth tube held in place by a spring, is the kind of switch that works in a twitch and starts an exploding thing.

String is floppy, so it’s usually a terrible thing to build a tower from. But this tower uses tension and string to hold itself strong!

We’ve collected a few quick and easy designs for you to try, from a looping master to a super-fast dart with a twist.

This paper plane flies quite a bit like a regular dart. But its striking looks make it much more fun. Plus, you get two pairs of wings – front and back – that you can modify!

This is a fun design to experiment with! You can give the plane bigger wings to float more, or fold over the front edge to make the nose heavier. Make a few adjustments and see which modifications work the best.

This paper plane isn’t very fast, but with practice and adjustment, you can make it do loops!

People have been dreaming of flying cars for more than a century, and they’re almost here. There are plans to test a flying taxi from Melbourne airport as soon as next year. Flying cars are quick and oh-so-cool, but are they good for the planet?