The Brothers Brick » Technic

LEGO sorting machine built from LEGO

Andrew — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:26:24 +0000

The BrickIt team in Denmark has built a robotic system to sort LEGO bricks. The “Dynaway Sorting Plant” uses 28 Mindstorms NXT motors, 7 processors, 4 color sensors, and 14 touch sensors, and took over 250 hours of programming time plus 800 hours to build. The result is an amazing system that separates 2×4 and 1×2 bricks by both shape and color and then moves the pallets full of sorted bricks.

Read more about the sorting machine on BrickIt.dk.

LEGO Mindstorms “Time Twister” digital clock by Hans Andersson

Andrew — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:49:09 +0000

Solving Rubkik’s Cubes isn’t the only thing that LEGO Mindstorms robotics are good for. Swedish robotics builder Hans Andersson has built a digital clock that even “blinks” with each second.

Check out more of Hans’ robots, including a Sudoku solver of all things, on TiltedTwister.com.

Thanks for the link, reader Thomas!

Meet Pokey the Technic Triceratops

Josh — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:09:16 +0000

Remi can build dinosaurs, no question about it. I saw Pokey at BrickCon last year but these new pictures were just posted online. Pokey is even more awesome in person. Very awesome. You can see the entire set here, including BrickCon pictures.

(My apologies to Alyse if she built Pokey. The tags said “Remi” so I went with that.)

It’s Mine!

gambort — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:26:47 +0000

One of the rarely-mentioned advantages of mining equipment is that it is so huge you can build it in technic and have it be minifig scale. As Arjan Kotte (Konajira) illustrates in this delightful pair.

LEGO Technic Starcraft 2 Banshee

Josh — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:06:27 +0000

This banshee, by Antti Havala, is incredibly gorgeous and that isn’t something you can say about a lot of Technic builds. Sporting four rotors, two motors, adjustable rotor pitch and two LED headlights, this Banshee screams for attention.

You have to watch the video too. It’s pretty sweet.

Many thanks to Glory_Forever for the heads up!

As the world turns…

Caylin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:05:39 +0000

I do believe the Iron Builder competition is heating up just a tad. Guy Himber posted a still photo of his brilliant Orrery, to compliment its moving counterpart. It’s just as lovely stopped as it is moving.

An orrery, to quote Guy, is “…a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the solar system in a heliocentric model. They are typically driven by a clockwork mechanism.”

This completely fits that description.

Edulyoung’s Pegasus automaton soars on alabaster wings

Andrew — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:00:03 +0000

This pegasus sculpture by Edulyoung is beautiful enough to highlight here, but the Technic pedestal reveals there’s more to this flying LEGO horse than pretty white bricks.

This video of the pegasus in motion quite literally took my breath away.

Via Legobloggen.

1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen by vmln8r

Andrew — Mon, 16 May 2011 02:40:56 +0000

Continuing our theme of German automobiles, Vimal Patel (vmln8r) takes us back to the 19th century with his Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1886 — an entry for both the April LEGO Technic Challenge and the LUGNuts Autos aus Deutschland challenge.

Vimal’s car is remote-controlled, with working gears, chains, pistons, flywheels and differentials.

Massive 20-module Great Ball Contraption goes on forever

Andrew — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:12:48 +0000

I generally don’t have the patience to watch Great Ball Contraption (GBC) videos, but I couldn’t tear myself away from this amazing 8-minute engineering marvel by Japanese builder akiyuki.

Nannan suggested I post this because I could read up on some of the design descriptions akiyuki writes about on his blog, but really, this thing speaks for itself and therefore I have nothing meaningful to add…

Doors opening… please stand clear

gambort — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:26:10 +0000

Esben Kolind is one of the few LEGO builders who can combine excellent working features and nice looking designs. A browse through his Youtube account is sure to please those of a technical bent and those who like pretty train models. His latest intercity train expands on his old ideas to feature three simultaneous working doors through some superb compact technic design.

If you are interested in knowing more follow the discussion at Eurobricks.

Rotating Technic creations

Nannan — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:05:03 +0000

Here at TBB, we enjoy posting an occasional animated gif to keep our readers mesmerized. Blakbird just released over two dozen of them of his favorite Technic creations by builders around the world. See the gallery on Eurobricks and pray that your computer won’t melt.

Massive Tow Truck Attack

gambort — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:31:39 +0000

Yet again we should thank our Technic guest blogger Peer Kreuger (mahjqa) for this one.

If you’re interested in technic, you should know about Sariel. He’s a very productive builder, who takes his time to document his building process and share his techniques. He’s also equally proficient at both system and technic building. So if we’re talking about lots of functionality crammed inside a single unit, it’s probably best to mention his latest creation:

The complete story (and it’s a big one) can be read here. And if you want to see it all at work, better check this out:

Sure, the video takes it’s sweet time, and we’ve seen the ~~Black Cat~~Troll Assault Wagon before. Still, this is a worthy upgrade and a magnificent build.

EDIT: As Paul mentions below this is not actually based on the Black Cat, it’s based on the Troll Assault Wagon. Or at least that’s how I read his comment ;)

Octan Racing Le Mans prototype race car by LegoExotics

Andrew — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:21:24 +0000

This Le Mans race car by Jens M. (LegoExotics) goes so fast we missed his red, white, and green streak of awesome when he first posted it.

The Technic scale lets Jens achieve a lot of detail in a relatively small space, like the lovely blue and tan square or those little antenna thingies.

Via LEGOBLOGGEN.

It’s a wonderful mess

gambort — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:30:51 +0000

Once again Peer Kreuger (mahjqa) has sent us a technic guest blog. Thanks again to Peer.

Some of our readers may already be familiar with LEGO Great Ball contraptions or GBCs for short. It’s a collaborative project where each participant builds a single maching with one purpose; to receive balls and move them to the next machine. When you get a couple of them, you can link them together to form a loop, and get one giant moving factory. Want to know more about that? Look here.

Then there’s folks who build selfcontained units, like Sqiddster has done. This is his third attempt, and it’s densely packed with all kinds of mechanisms. Don’t read this, watch the video instead.

LEGO Technic Antikythera Mechanism – an ancient computer replicated in LEGO

Nannan — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:25:17 +0000

Andrew Carol built a working replica of the Antikythera Mechanism astronomical computer that dates back to 150 BC. The design was discovered in a shipwreck and is now brought to function for the first time — at least in LEGO. The video below is simply astounding. You can read more about it on New Scientist TV.

Thanks for the tip ~~Brad~~ everybody in the known universe!