Skip to main content

ROBOTMAK3RS Animal Contest Winner: Menno Gorter

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R


Every quarter, the ROBOTMAK3RS RLOC sponsors a community contest. Last quarter, builders were challenged with the task of creating a pet, a wild animal, or an assistant for the animal.  

There were many creative entires including a dog, a snake, an ox and even a reindeer. The winning entry was an Omnispider by Menno Gorter from the Netherlands.

Menno has a long history building with LEGO robotics systems. He is most intrigued by creating movement without wheels. Hence, a large fraction of his work involves clever robots without wheels. The result is a vast collection of insects and various walkers with Menno's unique signature style to them. His work has been featured at various events including LEGO World in the Netherlands and Denmark. 

ROBOTMAK3RS RLOC interviewed Menno to learn more about his creative process and learn about how the Omnispider works.


Why did you decide to build this particular model?

It began when the ROBOTMAK3RS challenged the community to make an animal-like robot. Given my history making spiders, I took this opportunity to create a SPIKE Prime spider. The new SPIKE Prime Hub is so much lighter than previous hubs that I thought this was a good opportunity to create a new version of the Omnispider. I have built Omnispiders before.


What was your process for creating this model?

I started by experimenting what the best setup would be for a sturdy way to attach the four motors to the hub. Because these were also the strongest and sturdiest parts of the design, everything else is mounted to these five parts. The first prototype took two days to get up and running. Then it took another two days to learn from it and tweak it to create the second prototype. It took another week to fine tune the programming, especially to get the movements of the legs correct.

Besides strengthening the legs to withstand the movement of the spider, the most challenging aspect of the project was giving the Omnispider character. The goal was to give the impression that it is exploring its environment tirelessly.


How does your model work?

The Omnispider uses four PowerdUp Large Motors. Each motor drives a pair of legs in a 90-degree angle which allows the robot to move in any desired direction. On top of this, the setup makes an octagonal orientation of the legs possible, which makes the movement much more spider-like. I have also used two Ultrasonic sensors and managed to use one of the Hub buttons as a touch sensor.  The sensors are used by the Omnispider to detect obstacles in its path.

To see the spider in action, see the video on Facebook.

What advice do you have for a young person who wants to build with LEGO robots?

It may sound very simple, but, "never give up"!

You can take a look at Menno's prior work on his YouTube channel and on BrickShelf.

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
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...
Read more

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these Fall and Winter remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Braill3 by Jerry Nicholls Braill3 is an EV3-based LEGO Braille bricks reader. This robot uses its fingertip, made from three touch switches, to read messages written using the LEGO Braille bricks and will speak out what it detected. If it sees a simple maths problem it will attempt to solve it and give the answer as well. To learn more about the process of creating this machine, read Jerry's blog . Braill3 can be viewed here . Set Review: The Braille Bricks set is well thought out. The ratios of the letters is suitable for general use and the addition of some punctuation and arithmetic operators is excellent. There is a card showing what bricks there are and their quantities, but no form of sort...
Read more

Ghostbusters R.T.V Remix

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
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...
Read more