ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Come and visit Brickworld Indy 2012 on March 10 & 11, 2012 in the Indiana Convention Center. From 10am to 6pm on Saturday and on Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Come and see 18,000 square feet of: Displays made of LEGO bricks * Interactive MINDSTORMS® robotic games Mosaic pictures that you help build IndyLUG creations and much more Don't miss this opportunity to be a part of Brickworld!!! Daily admission: $6 for kids, $9 for adults Brickworld is a proud sponsor of FIRST® LEGO® League Interview with Steve Hassenplug and Bryan Bonahoom taken from Brickworld Indy: wishtv.com

On the MINDSTORMS website under "news" a new robot story is posted as it is told by Marc-André Bazergui & team about "Making a Robotic Model of a Robot". Now, this version 5 transforms from a cube shape to a fully articulated well proportioned look alike of the famous Disney/Pixar WALL-E®. The first public appearance of this robot was at BrickWORLD Chicago, 2011. read the full story here [ Link ]

What do you get when you make a room-sized robotic chess set based entirely on LEGO and unveil it at a major LEGO convention? A scheduling problem. Monster Chess went over wonderfully at Brickworld , drawing large crowds, playing multiple games, and winning acclamation & awards. It was so well-liked that LEGO requested it almost immediately... but other venues (such as Makerfaire in Detroit on 31 Jul & 1 Aug, 2010) had also already booked it. With a double-booked tour schedule, what's a Monster Chess set to do? Clone itself. LEGO was interested enough in having it at some events that they were able to dig up parts to make a copy of this huge creation. But with less than a week, the challenge was to assemble more than 73,000 individual pieces into a single master creation: no easy feat. So when a shipping pallet with 412 pounds of LEGO arrived at Steve Hassenplug's door, he did what came naturally to him: called on his friends. Over the course of the 17 Jul weekend,...

So there's been something in the works for Brickworld for some time now, and I thought I'd share it here (because, (a) I really want to, and (b) not everybody can make it to Brickworld , where it will be displayed). Steve Hassenplug has been working with a large group of folks to make a rather... big... robotic game. Tic-Tac-Toe & Connect-Four were impressive, but in the interest of something off the supersize menu, I give you... Monster Chess The idea is sim ple - a chess game where you can play against the computer. But the implementation here is what's truely monster about it. Each piece is its own autonomous robot, and there are actually a couple of 'spares' (as well as NXTs built into the King & Queen), so that ends up with 38 separate NXTs that must be controlled, commanded, and communicated with. Ron McRae did the bulk of the software work on the PC end for this, and it realy works well. The board has squares based on the large LEGO baseplates, makin...

Brickworld 2010 is rapidly approaching. If you've been, you know it's an incredible experience, getting together AFoL's from all over to share their amazing creations. If you haven't been... it's well worth the trip. With just 30 days to go preparations are in full swing, & I thought I'd mention a few aspects that might appeal to the Mindstorms crowd. There will be displays with the NXT there, and also some head-to-head competitions. There will be Robot Basketball (collisions on the field? So much the better), Robot Jousting (risk of NXT's hitting the floor? Always exciting), and even NXT sinking into the pool (a LEGO pool challenge ... although not explicitly robotic, it certainly could be in the future). There will also be FLL style events, and lot of other fun things going on, including people to meet and talk to, and plenty of ideas running around... not to mention give-aways, prizes, etc. for full admission (and for those who can't be there t...

Brickworld is a huge LEGO "convention" or fan-gathering that was started a few years ago, and has rapidly grown into one of the larger such event in North America. It takes place near Chicago, IL, and the information for this year has been released. But as a bonus, there's a second event. More of a public expo than a fan-driven show, it should also be a fun activity for those in the area around Indianapolis, IN, this year. If you want to see more LEGO than you've even seen before in your life, with entire train layouts, GBC's, robots, sculptures, custom fan-designed pieces (big vendor area), contests (ever seen a LEGO trebuchet throw a LEGO train car 10 meters... or the aftermath?), and a wild collection of fans of all ages, I'd strongly suggest attending. Here's the detailed post off of LUGNET: Share - Learn - Explore - Discover The team at Brickworld is excited to announce that registration for the 2010 event at the Westin will open on January 1st. We l...

Brickworld will be happening from June 19th through the 22nd - next weekend. For anybody within striking distance of Chicago, I'd really recommend it. Several MDP's will be there, including Steve Hassenplug , John Brost , Bryan Bonahoom , and myself. Besides are great place to just meet other AFoL's and view some amazing creations, on Thursday three of us will be giving a talk on building robots with the NXT (it's already full I'm told, but it gives you an idea of our focus). I'm not sure what will end up at the event - but it will be a lot of fun, and include RoboMagellean robots , Serenity , GBC's , DigiCompII , LEGO trains, and lot of other stuff. If you don't want to pay the $50 ticket price for attending, Saturday and Sunday are public days from 10 AM to 3 PM for just $12. See you there? -- Brian Davis