Behind the scene look at LEGO® TECHNIC design process

I have spent a big part of this month robotizing the new LEGO® TECHNIC bulldozer that came out early this month. My children and I have had great fun adding a LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT brick to the bulldozer and managed to control the Power Function motors with the NXT and adding sensors to the bulldozer so it can be semi autonomous. [View previous blog].

I am really impressed by the attention to detail that has gone into the Bulldozer design. Today I came across this brand new video on the LEGO® Bulldozer web site that has just been posted there:

It is an excellent in depth look at the design process that happens when a new TECHNIC model (i.e. Bulldozer) is dreamt up. Click here to view it.

The following still from the video shows various alternate designs of the bulldozer that never made it.

This must be a dream job! What will you design if you have 6,500 different LEGO elements to chose from?

Edit (following DAG's comments):

Sketch models:
Thank you David, for your comments. I have tried to capture the closeup of nearly all of the sketch model the LEGO designer created from the movie. I hope this is what you were after:

(a) Bulldozer 1:

(b) Bulldozer 2:

(b) Bulldozer 3:

Here is a challenge for people who have the new TECHNIC Bulldozer. How many of the above models can you create without an instruction manual?

- Tim

ROBOTMAK3RS Review: LEGO River Steamboat

I thought the LEGO River Steamboat would be an interesting set for a ROBOTMAK3R review for a few reasons. First, the LEGO designer of the model is Marina Stampoli, a long-time collaborator of the late ROBOTMAK3R Vassilis Chryssanthakopoulo s. From earlier collaborations with Vassilis, I knew Marina was incredibly talented, with an eye for aesthetics and functionality. Her background in architecture is particularly useful for her relatively new position at LEGO. Her other sets include the Magic of Disney (21352), Message Board (41839), and Red London Telephone Box (21347). Second, watching Marina's reveal video and reading her designer interview made this set even more tempting to build. The gearing mechanisms running through the model gave way to many opportunities for automation using LEGO robotics elements. Since ROBOTMAK3RS is all about adding interactivity and automation to LEGO brick, I thought it would be fun to see where and how LEGO robotics could be added to this s...

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...

Ghostbusters R.T.V Remix

Nino Guba is from Torrance, California, USA. He played with LEGO as a kid, but growing up in the Philippines, it wasn’t something he had easy access to. He only got reintroduced to LEGO when he moved to the US and had kids of his own. When his sons were younger, they received LEGO sets as gifts, but as they grew older, the sets got put into storage as their interest faded. Fast forward a few years, he started coming up with his own product ideas and thought about how he could quickly prototype them. That’s when he discovered LEGO MINDSTORMS—and was hooked! He raided his kids’ old collection, got everything organized, and now he's designing and building his own creations, blending his coding skills with LEGO robotics to bring ideas to life. Tell us about your Ghostbusters Remote Trap Vehicle (R.T.V) project. This project is a LEGO Technic adaptation of the Ghostbusters R.T.V.—a ghost trap converted into a remote-controlled vehicle. Its companion build is a prop replica of the Futaba...

ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Search This Blog