Skip to main content

SPIROMONST3R - Robot Remix #4

By

SPIROMONST3R 

by Guiherme Constantino

This Robot Remix is a combination of the LEGO MINDSTORMS set 31313  & LEGO Technic 42066 Air Race Jet. For this remix design, Guiherme Constantino designed a spirograph.  A spirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces curves. A traditional spirograph requires the user to move their pen in a gear wheel. This remix version is powered by LEGO MINDSTORMS.

SPIROMONST3R was displayed at STACK IT in the United Arab Emirates where many people got to see it in person.


The Design Phase:

I began with just a hand-drawn design of my idea. I was inspired by Jason Alleman's spirograph design that uses a Power Functions motor.  I decided to build a spirograph because it is a fun toy that brings back memories of my own childhood. It reminded me of playing with my grandmother which had a great impact on my life.  I thought a MINDSTORMS version would be something fun to engage children and their parents.

Turning my idea into reality turned out to be much more challenging than I expected. There are lots of existing designs for a spirograph and I wanted to make mine a little different. It took several iterations before I came up with the final design.


How it Works:

SPIROMONST3RS effectively uses pieces from both sets. The power functions components of in the Air Race Jet is used in a special way. The power functions motor continuously turns the turnable. The medium motor disconnects and reconnects the system when a touch sensor is pressed, using a gear shifter. The large motors move the arm with the pen. To change the pattern that is printed, simply move the liftarm that is connected to the motor. 
The user can insert up to three pens at a time to make their colorful design or draw with one pen at a time.


If you want to make one too:

Build instructions and code can be downloaded here.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to Guilherme Lima for providing assistance with the design and programming. Thank you also to Asha Seshan for assistance with writing this article.

                                           


Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
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...
Read more

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
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...
Read more

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
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...
Read more