ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

What do you do when you're in the MINDSTORMS booth at the FLL finals with plenty of robots around? Well, it might lead to some strange combinations. At some point I got the idea to combine a NXT Segway with omniwheels so that it could move sideways. In theory, this shouldn't have any influence on the robot's balance. See the practical experiment Xander and I did below. Maybe I should patent the idea... If you motorize the sideway motion, Segways become even more capable of moving in narrow spaces. Also, I wanted to try how well a Segway would perform on a randomly moving platform. This worked quite well, until you reach unexpected holes in the road. Pointless experiments, maybe, but certainly fun to do!

Preeda form Thailand had to build this Classic rider, just for fun! Nice work!

Sweet! HiTechnic's turn with HTWay ... a two-wheeled, self-balancing, Segway like marvel with a nice added feature...Power Functions remote control! At this point the HTWay requires a HiTechnic Gyro Sensor, a HiTechnic IRReceiver, and a LEGO Power Functions IR Remote Control. Programs for both NXT-G 2.0 and NXC are available. With the integrated wheel-size setting menu users have an interesting option. The provided programs can also be altered for exchange or integration of different sensors to fit specific needs. HiTechnic has posted HTWay's detailed instructions (including building/ programming steps) and a nice back-history of self-balancing pBricks from the beginning. Be sure to see the video! I've always loved the way 'AllTheseWays' look like nothing is happening when they are performing at their best...for me anyway...just standing there. Chris

Based on feedback from NXT users, I have updated the programming instructions for the Anyway robot on my website . I have also updated the program. If you couldn't get your Segway to balance the first time you tried, please try again with the new program and the new instructions. More feedback is always welcome.

Last Saturday, I blogged about a Segway programmed in NXT-G. Many NXT Segways out there work very well, but they're hard to get to work with common tools software. Therefore, I decided to create a step-by-step tutorial to making your own Segway with simple tools. All you need is Any version of the NXT set (Hence AnyWay), plus the HiTechnic Gyro Sensor. The tutorial can be found here , and a video of the robot is shown below.

Did you ever consider building a robot that can balance and move around on two wheels? They have a lot of appeal over other kinds of locomotion, some of which include: - they are faster and can carry higher payloads than bipeds, - they are more agile (for getting around tight spaces) than robots that require more than two wheels, and - are usually quite simple/fast to build using a LEGO NXT MINDSTORMS kit. But they are not without disadvantages: They need to use at least one sensor port and need a motion control algorithm for balancing. The following are a few examples as inspiration for building your own self-balancing robot. Hitachi’s EMIEW robot: Toyota’s MOBIRO robot: The Segway (of course): These all balance in one axis. If you are looking for more of a challenge, you can refer to Carnegie Mellon's Ballbot , which balances in two axes: In Part II , I will post a tutorial to show you how easy it is to make your own self-balancing robot. If you want a head start, here are some M...