Brickshelf closes down 2007/07/31

Well, it looks like there is both good and bad news on Brickshelf. I still don't know why it is closing, but it seems more certain: the site has opened with a somewhat more informative message stating

"Notice: Brickshelf will be shutting down on 2007/07/31.
Please save your files to your computer."

So it looks like one of my favorite LEGO sources, a place where more than a decade of wonderful building has been cataloged, and the only source of some of these images on the net (from folks who have left the hobby for one reason or another) is soon to be no more. The slightly good news is you have a final chance to grab at least the stuff you already know where it is... before it is sadly gone forever. Gallery contains 1,907,738 files in 197,568 folders as of 16 Jul 2007, 3:28 PM... a really terrible loss.

I'm not sure where I'll move for my on-line image hosting. some have suggested Maj.com, but given this rather sudden departure of Brickshelf, I'm not sure I'm confortable with that route at this time. Flickr? Others?

Update, 4:07 PM: there is a bulk backup utility, developed by Bob Kojima, that you can use to download and save Brickshelf galleries. BZPower is hosting it currently, and you can download it here:

http://www.bzpower.com/downloads/BSBackup_0013.zip

Note that it can be configured to pause between downloads, and also I believe can be scheduled to download at certain times. Please, if you use this, put a couple of seconds in the "seconds between" field so that the server is not swamped by a thousand simultaneous requests. Thanks to Bob for writing this, BZPower for hosting it, and Brickshelf for giving the community this window... as well as many many years of wonderful service!

--
Brian Davis
(who now has to figure out how to patch hundreds of links in this blog, other forums, etc. But I'm certainly not alone on that count).

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these Fall and Winter remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Braill3 by Jerry Nicholls Braill3 is an EV3-based LEGO Braille bricks reader. This robot uses its fingertip, made from three touch switches, to read messages written using the LEGO Braille bricks and will speak out what it detected. If it sees a simple maths problem it will attempt to solve it and give the answer as well. To learn more about the process of creating this machine, read Jerry's blog . Braill3 can be viewed here . Set Review: The Braille Bricks set is well thought out. The ratios of the letters is suitable for general use and the addition of some punctuation and arithmetic operators is excellent. There is a card showing what bricks there are and their quantities, but no form of sort...

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these summer and fall remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Remote controlled material handle r by Jozua van Ravenhorst (aka Mr Jo) This remix combines the LEGO Technic Material Handler (42144) with MINDSTORMS EV3 (31313) It uses the power of pneumatic cylinders to move objects around. By using a bluetooth remote control, very precise movements can be made with this model. Touch sensors in the base chassis prevent the turret twisting the cables that go through the turntable to much. The program has several protections to prevent over pressurizing the system for each of the 3 individual pumps and valves that control the 2 booms and claws. The real version of this machine is mostly used in waste material sites to bring the material to machines that sort and...

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT...

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