Robot Remix #6 - CAT3RPILLAR

The Cat3rpillar by Anika Vuurzoon and Nard Strijbosch

The Caterpillar is a unique combination of the LEGO Technic Forest Machine (42080) and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 31313 set.

Design Idea:

Anika and Nard have a background in building LEGO animals. Therefore, when given the opportunity come up with their own remix design, their first thought was to construct an animal. The Technic Forest Machine set comes with pneumatic elements and this gave them the idea to create an animal that would crawl. The green panels in the Technic set were a perfect fit for this project. The idea of a caterpillar was born!

They started with an initial design sketch. The most challenge part of the construction was making the caterpillar crawl as fast as possible. To do this, they had to gear up the pneumatic pump to make it pump fast enough to ensure that there was sufficient air pressure.

Although the final design has all the functions in the original sketch, Anika and Nard did have to redesign their model a few times given that they were limited to the elements available in the two sets. For example, given the limited number of green panels, they had to come up with a few different designs for the body of the caterpillar. The end result is a very friendly, crawling, green Cat3rpillar powered by MINDSTORMS and pneumatics.

How it Works:

The touch sensor is used to activate the crawling mechanism on the Cat3pillar. The pneumatic cylinders make the caterpillar move forward. The pneumatic switch is controlled by the EV3 brick. When an obstacle is confronted by the insect, the caterpillar stops moving. The Infrared sensor is used to detect the obstacle. The color sensor is used for an additional interactive feature. When the Cat3rpillar sees green, the head will move. When it sees red, the head will stop.

Watch the video to see how it all works.

Build Instructions and Code:

You can create your own Cat3rpillar using the following instructions.

MINDSTORMS Retires!

2023 is the 25th Anniversary of the MINDSTORMS brand. For 25 years, MINDSTORMS has educated and inspired a generation of robot builders, both children and adults. Unfortunately, the LEGO Group decided to end the line on December 2022. Many ROBOTMAK3RS have been passionately involved with the development of MINDSTORMS through the MUP and MCP programs. Even with the newest Robot Inventor line, several ROBOTMAK3RS were invited to submit additional bonus models that were included in the official app. Regardless of the retirement of a major LEGO robotics product line, ROBOTMAK3RS continue to MAKE-SHARE-INSPIRE using all LEGO robotics platforms available to us. Here is the official statement from LEGO. Since its launch in September 1998, LEGO MINDSTORMS has been one of the core ‘Build & Code’ experiences in the company’s portfolio, carrying with it significant brand equity and becoming a stand-out experience for the early days of consumer robotics and leading to current Build & Code

Machine Learning Meets MINDSTORMS

Machine Learning Extension LEGO MINDSTORMS announced today a brand new feature that is sure to excite all users. Machine Learning Extension is coming to the software in August 2022. This will allow users to implement new applications that were not possible before. Machine Learning has become exceedingly popular in recent years with applications in all sorts of industries from robotics to financial services to climate change. Now, even the youngest of robot enthusiasts and programmers have access to the world of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Comparing two classes Machine Learning on MINDSTORMS will work with both images and audio. For instance, you could train your model to recognize smiles and frowns on your face and have the emotion displayed on your hub. You could train your model to recognize when a red ball is present or not or identify a particular LEGO element. You can control your robot with audio commands that use your own voice. It is exciting to see what new p

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix Part 1

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we asked ROBOTMAK3RS to combine a LEGO set of their choice with a MINDSTORMS set. Here is what these five ROBOTMAK3RS came up with. MINDSTORMS Chess Assistant by Arvind Seshan Overview: When you are new to chess, it can be a challenge to remember which pieces go where. Now, you can use machine learning and LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor to build a tool to help you learn where all the chess pieces go on the chess board. Sets used: LEGO® Iconic Chess Set (40174) and MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor (51515) Review: I really like how the chess set base can store all the pieces underneath and that the board neatly splits in half for handy storage. The chess pieces themselves are very sturdy and well built. My only criticism is the building of the box itself. It was quite difficult to see what pieces to use and since the entire box is made mostly of thin plates, it took a lot of time and patience. I would have liked the storage area to be sliding dra

ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Search This Blog