Feel Good Lego Article

Completely not robotics or engineering related, just a great feel good story about Lego and family interactions.  I have a 4 year old who just points at the drawers for what she wants.

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

HiTechnic Infrared Receiver

HiTechnic has posted a video demonstrating their new HiTechnic Infrared Receiver along with a Lego Power Functions Remote. They have built a pretty cool car with Ackerman steering that as demonstrated is pretty impressive.


The description reads as follows;

The HiTechnic IR RC Car features the new HiTechnic Infrared Receiver. This sensor makes it easy for you to control your creations using a LEGO Power Functions Remote.

This model is based on the LEGO Mindstorms 1.0 set. It also requires a LEGO differential and that is not part of the Mindstorms set. If you do not have a LEGO differential, you can go to bricklink.com and search for "Gear Differential", the part number is 6573.

Features:
Remote control - Using the HiTechnic Infrared Receiver and LEGO Power Functions Remote

Steering uses a PID controller Both NXT-G and NXC sample programs implement a PID controller to steer to a specified target position.

Ackerman steering - Which means that it has a steering geometry so that in a turn the inside front wheel turns sharper than the outside wheel.

Geared up to differential - Geared up 3:5. The drive motor has a 40 tooth gear driving the 24 tooth side of the differential.

Building instructions and sample programs can be downloaded from http://www.hitechnic.com/

Fridays Idea-Lego Music

Most of us have seen the video of the mildly cool Lego Band.



There have been a couple of computer generated versions that generated a little buzz.

And


But my favorite by far is one that was actually built. It was also done on very large scale apparently as an advertisement for Absolut Vodka. It’s a version that uses mostly flying balls, but also a little percussion and some wine glasses.


Obviously this would be an incredibly difficult build. One would have to not only know Lego robotics, but music and some physics as well. But I think it would extremely impressive.

Secret Knock Detecting Lock

If you haven't figured me out yet, I love to post projects that I think could made using the Lego NXT system.  I found one today that is pretty cool.  More inspiration.


I don't see many projects using the sound sensor, so this one is pretty special.  Just keep those batteries charged, or keep your key handy.

This is why I am not going to Robodays...

Look closely at 0:20.  Hollywood magic at it's worst.

Lego Lip Synching Robot

I just posted my latest creation. I take no credit for the idea, I posted a version earlier in my blog. It is programmed in RobotC and uses simply one sound sensor and one servo motor.



It was a fun build, and I think I will be able to use it in future projects.

Talking Robot

Wow, I just saw this simple little project a guy built, and I thought it would be pretty simple to make with a NXT, a sound sensor and a motor. Set the motor to position the mouth open or closed based on the intensity of the sound. Pretty neat.



If anyone does this, I would love to show it off, so let me know.

Update: I have already built one of these. It turned out pretty well. Am working on a video now and I expect to have it in a day or two.

Friday's Idea

Here’s an idea that I think is pretty cool, a robot that lays bricks. Not Lego bricks, but regular construction bricks.


There have been a few artists and companies that have actually commercialized this and create wonderful works of art. Here is another link to a different company.


Make Magazine recently did an article on some of the mathematics that is required to make some really impressive textures on some walls.



I have tinkered with some of the math, and it is pretty detailed. I hope to get into this project in the future (get in line, buddy). If I do get into this project I would probably use something like dominos or home made wooden bricks to mimic the bricks and I think a gantry style robot will be much easier to construct and program.

I want to be Titan the Robot for Halloween.

Rapid Prototyping Using Lego

Hey! This is cheating! Not fair!

Lego in Mainstream Blogs.

Many don’t know that lots of techy blogs often post Lego related posts. What’s nice is they usually don’t post junk, so most of the posts are something that will interest most AFOLs. If you find a big blog that you like, you can usually find all the Lego posts by searching around in the tags. Tags are key words like Lego, Mindstorms, and NXT.

A few of my personal favorites (with links to Lego tags) are Make Magazine, Gizmodo, Boing Boing Gadgets, Wired Magazine, BotJunkie, Engadget, Singularity Hub and Robot Dreams. (Don't forget to come back!)

I would love to know if anyone else has found any good ones.

Early Factory Design Pictures

Here are some very early pics of the Factory so far..

This is the pallet. The pallet is pushed along the conveyor by a lug on the belt. The pallet actually slides on the smooth plates on the side.

The stop is used to position the front of the pallet. A device yet to be developed will push the pallet from the back into the stop. The conveyor will only get the pallet near the station. It will not put the pallet in the final location.
This is the downstream view of a cell. The grey bars on the side are where the pallet will rest. The pallet rides up on them as it enters the cell.

This view is the pallet beginning to ride up onto the cell.

This is a pallet with a very early version of the car sitting on top. The pallet is in position for assembly work by the robot to begin.

Keep in mind that all designs are completely open to redesign!!

Robot sympathy

Halloween is great. Lots of horrifying animatronics come out and crazy robot costumes get shown off. Here is a video I enjoyed because for a moment I had sympathy for some wires, nuts and bolts and some wood. It's great because the builder personified the robot simply with eyes, teeth and some strange movements.



Somebody please do something to help!

Reality producer lands Lego

I have always wanted a show, a documentary, a series or something on TV about Lego. Looks like it is going to happen. www.variety.com has an article (Reality producer lands Lego) that states that there is something in the works

Five bucks says that Mindstorms won't get much air time. Just a hunch.

Fridays Idea

This is what I would build if I had 200 NXT sets and about 5000 hours of spare programming time.

My Factory-The Plan

I wish I could say that I have as many bricks and Mindstorms parts as shown in the two videos below. I have far less, so I am going to have to be efficient in mimicking them. I have 4 NXTs, 2 RCXs, loads of sensors, and quite a few PF motors and accessories, lots of pneumatic stuff, and lots of 9V stuff. Every good project starts with a good plan.

Here are just a few ways I plan to be efficient;

1. I will build several cars at the same time.
I don’t want to be limited to building only one car at a time. I will have a continuous stream of cars going through the factory. At each cell, another piece will be added. All cells will work simultaneously and when all cells are complete, the process will cycle to the next car.

2. I will use a single stream to construct the vehicle.
On both of these video, you see grippers picking up assemblies and moving them to a different operation. I will be using a single long conveyor belt. Any construction to the vehicle will be done on that conveyor belt. This will force me to standardize, which will make constructing the whole factory easier.

3. All vehicles will be built on a pallet.
As the vehicle construction happens, each car will be placed on its own pallet or sled to move through the factory. This will mean that each cell will locate the pallet exactly the same way following a standardized system.

4. I will use a common pneumatic compressor.
I will build a large air compressor that powers all pneumatic actuators. This will have a standard pressure switch that will be used to turn the compressor on and off. The switch and motor do not use any control ports of the microprocessors.

5. I will excessively use PF motors and the HiTechnic IRLink.
Not all motions will need to have precise locations. I can use a PF motor much like a pneumatic cylinder. I will use a clutch gear and timing in the program to shift the motor from Point A to Point B.

6. I will use a single pneumatic interlocking pusher system.
In the videos, they show several locations where a motor is connected to a spur gear that drives a pusher down to interlock the Lego pieces. I will use a single air system that will push down at all cells at the same time after all parts are laid in place on all cells. This will use one motor to flip the switch.

7. I will use a single system to lock all pallets in place.
This will more than likely be a pneumatic system. As a pallet arrives at a cell, perfect alignment of all pallets at their cells would impossible. I will create a pneumatic system the will lightly push each pallet exactly into place and hold it while the robots work on the car. This will use one motor to flip the switch.

8. I will use a card system to input car details.
In the videos, the user chooses each car color by pushing a series of buttons. I will be creating some sort of card reader that will tell the factory which colors or details to place. This will use one motor and one sensor.

I think I have prepared a plan that will allow me to build a large factory with four to six cells. I have researched some automated car factories and my system mimics their facilities. I think what you will see if this plan works is an orchestra of moving parts. It’s going to take a pretty good conductor, and I hope I am up to the challenge.

Now the plan is in place, time to build. That’s fun part.