Site of the Month for August 2011 relates to Toy Business. BusinessToy leads to links of toy business, toy products, educational toys, dolls, robots, designer toy, rocking horses, wooden toy, cars and trucks, action figures, building, collectibles and more.

“Robots come in all shapes and sizes. But what does it take to design one?” You are about to learn. First, you’ll be assigned a mission for your robot. Will it be to search a sunken ship for gold? Or to explore the surface of Mars? Design your robot by choosing elements for six basic functions: sensing, movement, manipulation, energy, intelligence and looks. When finished, you’ll view your robot and your design will be critiqued. This totally awesome exercise requires the free Shockwave plug-in. Get it now.

This exhibit explores the jointed-arm robot which “looks similar to a certain part of your body.” Each direction a joint can move gives the robot one degree of freedom. So, a robot arm with three degrees of freedom can move in three ways: up/down, left/right, and forward/backward. Although some robots have six, eight or even twelve degrees of freedom, six is enough for most basic tasks, and therefore most working robot arms have six degrees of freedom. The human arm, however, has seven. Find out which movement you have that most robotic arms do not.

Robby the Robot is not the latest student project from M.I.T. He’s a classic robot toy. Brian Hayes of England, shares with us his passion for collecting vintage robot and space toys. To view these gems from the fifties and sixties, visit his Robot Gallery and Classic Plastic. If you wonder how much that robot toy found in your attic is worth, Brian has a bulletin board and posts free classified ads.