ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Continuing on with the  series of posts  on creating a NXT motor Grader I started last week ... Today we are going to look at lighting. This is an important part of the NXT robot design that often gets overlooked. Motor graders are often used in winter to clear snow - so lighting is very important. I tried to create the large floodlight the big Cat graders have: When I started the project I was not sure what sort of lights to use - some are easier to use with NXT. Some are so bulky it simply does not go with the model. My first attempt used the LEGO lights that comes with the NXT Education version: They are easy to interface (using the cable that comes with the kit) and can be programmed using the NXT-G Motor block. However, I did not like the studded pieces so I discarded the design. The next lights I tried was the PF lights that came with the new LEGO TECHNIC off roader . The lights were very elegant and fitted neatly inside the standard hole. It was perfect. However I was not sure h...

Yesterday I started a new series of posts on creating a NXT motor Grader. In part 2 today I like to continue where I left off: designing the steering and wheel lean. The wheel lean is an important feature of the motor grader that sets it apart from other construction vehicles: Unlike some vehicle that uses wheel-lean to steer the vehicle (e.g. the Dodge Tomahawk ), the wheel lean is used to aid the operator achieve a perfect grading finish: when the blade is at an angle, it helps keeping the grader pulling in a straight line. The top of the front wheels are normally leaned in the direction that material comes off the moldboard. You can find out more from this site [Thanks to John Brost for the link]. video: [And please remember to press the new HQ button on the YouTube video to watch the video in high definition.] The Design process: My first attempt at creating the wheel lean used two PF motors and linear actuators and a single NXT servo motor in the middle for steering: The PF mo...

In the coming weeks, I will be making a motor grader based on a MINDSTORMS NXT kit and easilly available LEGO TECHNIC pieces. This is the first part of a five part series - and I will be updating everyone as the model takes shape over the next few weeks. Today we are going to look at the actual Motor Grader, and see how best to robotize it. This will involve making some compromises as we balance great looks (faithful to the actual vehicle) against NXT functionality and constraints imposed by the TECHNIC pieces. A new Motor Grader like the caterpillar M series (with joystick control) pictured above are extremely advanced and cost up to half a million dollars with all the attachments and add-on's. The add-ons such as AccuGrade (grade laser that takes away the need for survey stakes you see on road constructions sites) and other electronic kits (GPS, ATS, Cross Slope and Sonic kits) enable the vehicle operator reach perfect grade finish with least number of passes. Motor Graders are ...

EDIT : You can see a robot that does this sort of thing here . This week's inspiration is somewhat advanced: construction robots. Can you make a robot that builds something, on its own, out of LEGOs? It doesn't have to be another robot, or even something very complicated. You could have a robot build a wall, for example. Or you could have a pallet of pieces, arranged in the right order, that a robot selects and puts together on a workspace. You can see some (very) elaborate examples of construction robots in the Aircraft Factory and Car Factory . Obviously, you probably wouldn't make something like this, but maybe a small, simpler, version would be possible. Let us know if you make one! -Jonathan P.S. See other posts in this blog series here .

I stumbled upon BrickEngineer this evening. I especially liked the mechanism for a smooth LEGO clutch. There's some great animation that shows the clutch in action. It would make a great stand-alone mechanism, or it could be incorporated into a robot. Be sure to check out all three Meta Parts Pages. There's even something for geometry geeks.

LEGO fans who had played with MINDSTORMS NXT recognize the close link between LEGO TECHNIC and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: When LEGO introduced the current version of MINDSTORMS NXT last year, nearly all the parts (apart from the 4 Visorak pincers from the Bionicle range and the NXT / sensors and motors) are derived from standard LEGO TECHNIC pieces that are common amongst all TECHNIC models. So when I saw Kelly McKiernan from LEGO TECHNIC, conducting an online polls to gauge model popularity from the community, I thought I should give it a mention here. The model that caught my eye from his survey was this model : Could this be a new model for 2008 in the drawing board at LEGO TECHNIC design to follow up on the highly successful PF motor based motorised Bulldozer? To me, it looks like a pretty good candidate to add a MINDSTORMS NXT to! Unlike the last year's mobile crane (B8421), the arm on this model can be easily modified to take a few sensors so that you can make an autonomous ‘find,...