ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! SUBMIT BY AUG 10TH MAKE SOMETHING ! Are you using LEGO bricks to solve everyday problems in a new awesome way? Are you building cool innovations that could change the world for the better? We want YOU to be a LEGO MAKER and share your ideas! Submit your entry no later than August 10th 2016 at 10:00AM CET.  http://www.lego.com/en-us/rebrick/contest-page/contests/make-something What follows is only for inspiration - This would not be a valid entry as LEGO is modified and other products are being used (wood, metal gears etc) - Still when I see this video I'm totally inspired to MAKE SOMETHING using my LEGO Technic and MINDSTORMS set!!  So you still have a few days to submit your creation to the MAKE SOMETHING Rebrick contest and who knows we might meet at LEGO WORLD Copenhagen!!  Good luck to everyone ;) : . . 

This is the last call. 3 days left to enter your ideas. (the text below is taken from the press release)  www.LEGO.com/Maker The “Are You a LEGO Maker?” Prototyping Challenge is for makers, ages 13 years and older, from around the United States. How to apply Please email your entry to  LEGOMaker@LEGO.com  by 11:59 pm July 13, 2015. Your entry should include the following: Name, age Contact information Name of Project/Idea Please tell us in 100 words or less about your idea – are you trying to solve a problem? Innovate on something everyday? Please tell us in 300 words or less why you want a Prototyping Kit to “power up” your innovative process. As part of your entry you must attach one key image to illustrate your idea. This image can be a photograph, computer rendering and/or hand drawn illustration. The resolution must be 300 dpi and not exceed 3MB file. Optional: you may also submit video material to illustrate your entry. Please submit a link to view t...

**TO RESIDENTS OF THE USA ONLY** ARE YOU A LEGO MAKER? Contest starts today! Are you 13yo or older and live in the USA? Then you must Enter the LEGO Prototyping Challenge!  From Play to Prototype To encourage this type of tinkering and exploration, LEGO Systems today announced the “Are You a LEGO Maker?” Prototyping Challenge where makers, ages 13 years and older, from around the United States are invited to apply for one of up to 50 LEGO Making kits to help them prototype their innovative ideas. For showcasing a compelling reason needed to power the prototyping process, winners will receive a LEGO Prototyping Kit, including a LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 kit, one thousand LEGO bricks and elements, access to a LEGO MINDSTORMS Expert Builder and the book, Spirit of Invention: The Story of the Thinkers, Creators, and Dreamers Who Formed Our Nation . The challenge opens today and runs through July 13. For more information visit www.LEGO.com/Maker . ...

On brickengineer.com , there's a nice online article today on the usage of LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT for prototyping at the NASA: the KnuthLab LEGO Exploration Rover developed by the Knuth Cyberphysics Lab acts "as a testbed for robotic intelligence and navigation software" ,  as the page states. Read the full article here .

Here are some cool videos to follow up on Jim's post about these great new wheels from Rotacaster. By sparramc: A Lego Mindstorms NXT Autonomous Quad Rotacaster Killough Platform Omni-Bot By xandersoldaat: Rotacaster Test 2 (visit his blog for other test videos) By bazmarc: LEGO Space Police Sentinel - Rotacaster - Mindstorms The official page to find more info on these Next Generation Holonomic Robot Wheels by Rotacaster can be found here:  http://www.rotacaster.com.au/robot-wheels.html

The wonderful folks over at HiTechnic have released a new offering that will interest electronics beginners, science teachers, and advanced tinkerers with a very cool way to play, learn, and create! HiTechnic's Experimenter's Kit A with the Solderless Phototype Sensor Board will enable you to go far beyond what LEGO has in mind for the NXT. The HiTechnic Experimenter's Kit A is a clean and easy way to integrate the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT with the world of homebrew electronics and circuits while keeping your NXT warranty intact. Crack into the potential of the NXT without cracking the NXT! Control something with the NXT...Have something control the NXT! Prototype the next big 3rd-party sensor! Bend the NXT, some circuits, and your mind! HiTechnic has added The Experimenter's Kit Handbook…a fantastic guide full of detailed step-by-step projects teaching beginner electronics and sensor prototyping on the included Solderless Breadboard. This handbook provides a wonderfu...

Here is a fantastic example of how the NXT can be used as a prototyping device. You can see in the 2nd half of the video where this group has used the NXT to try different approaches to the problem. They start out with a 2 wheel mobile robot, but later decide to move to a setup with strings to pull the router around. I would hate to see a 2 wheeler with a blade getting out of control! :) While the final product doesn't appear to have an NXT in it, it is great to see the evolution of a idea from concept through to a real product. More info here : The device is the brainchild of DK Ahn, a designer and graduate of London's Royal College of Arts. -- Damien Kee www.domabotics.com

I love a lot of the complex, massive LEGO robots out there... but sometimes what really impresses me is thinking outside the box. I recently ran across this example of using the NXT as anything but a "toy"... but as a serious way of rapidly generating a solution to a real problem. This group needed a way to torture test a DVD player, and rather than generating some special solution, they turned to the NXT, and quickly tossed together a solution to the problem. When the player ejects the DVD, the NXT robot gently grabs the disk (sensing it with the light sensor), and then after a short time reverses and re-inserts the disk. And when they're done torturing the drive? 100% reusable parts. I like the way they're thinking. -- Brian Davis

Sometimes I just troll around YouTube, and find odd things. Well, this time I found one that's gotten my curiosity up: Yes, I tried to talk to somebody I know "inside", but I'm not getting any answers as yet... -- Brian Davis

Reader Joel S. shared this item with me via email: "Researchers working through Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab have devised a new kind of security system that aims to block observation attacks and could be used to prevent snoopers from catching a glimpse of your PIN when you use an ATM. They used Mindstorms NXT as the platform to do their prototype." Read the article here .

HiTechnic has released its Prototyping Board - from its website: "The HiTechnic NXT Prototype board is available in two models, one with a prototype grid to solder your designs creating a permanent sensor or device interface and the solderless design that plugs into a solderless breadboard so you can quickly create many designs and reuse your electronic components." Also available in addition to the two boards will be a parts kit (avail. Dec 3) . So, the big question is: what will you do with it? Take some time to read the product page descriptions here - there's a LOT to read.