Design a Robot to do a Real-World Job!

Reader Dan M. has an interesting challenge for The NXT Step readers. He has a manufacturing setup that he wants to replace and is considering using an actual NXT robotics kit.

Right now, the machine in question uses color concentrate that comes out of a large container/hopper. When the color needs to be changed, the hopper must be cleaned so the colors don’t mix. Dan would like to replace the large hoppers with much smaller containers that can be changed very quickly.

Your job? Help Dan design an NXT device or robot that can replace the color concentrate system by picking two or three of these color pellets at a time from a box or container and transferring them to a funnel system that feeds into a hopper. Now, when Dan needs to change colors, the hopper doesn’t need to be removed and cleaned – instead, he just replaces the color pellet box that the robot will pick from. This process will need to run 24 hours per day, 5 days per week.

Interested? We’ve created a special forum discussion area where you can post comments, questions, and maybe your solution! Dan has agreed to provide feedback as well as pictures of the final design if one can be found to do the job reliably and repeatedly. (And The NXT Step will give the selected robot/device plenty of coverage – we’ll definitely want to interview the designer(s) of any selected device.)

Good luck – you can view some pictures and get more details here.

The rules are fairly simple:

1. Build the device with one (1) NXT Retail kit (sorry, Ed kit is out but if you have the Resource Set and Education Base Set and are willing to limit yourself to the parts found in a single Retail Kit, then please participate)

2. Deadline to have your design submitted is July 1, 2008.

Further information will be posted on the forum thread by either a blog contributor or Dan. Feel free to post questions on the forum thread, too.

UPDATE: The prizes provided by Dan's company are:

1st place: $100 (US) LEGO Gift Certificate
2nd place: NXT Rersource Set
3rd place: NXT Resource Set

GOOD LUCK!

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...

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...

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