Tag Archives: MINDSTORMS

LEGO Mindstorms NXT Turing Machine celebrates Alan Turing’s 100th birthday

Alan TuringToday is pioneering British computer scientist Alan Turing’s 100th birthday. Turing was instrumental in developing early computers, and worked during World War II to successfully crack the German Enigma machine. (Sadly, Turing was prosecuted for being gay in the early 1950s and committed suicide soon after, at age 41.)

One of Alan Turing’s key contributions to computer science is the concept behind his Turing machine, “a hypothetical device representing a computing machine” (according to Wikipedia).

Jeroen van den Bos & Davy Landman of CWI in the Netherlands write:

Abstract models are just that, an abstraction of something. In order to really show how simple the fundamental model of a computer is, we have developed a physical implementation of the Turing machine, using LEGO Mindstorms NXT.

LEGO Turing machine

Here’s a videos of the machine in action:

LEGO Turing Machine from ecalpemos on Vimeo.

Read more about the LEGO Turing machine on the team’s website.

Motorized Kenworth Road Train

Paul (Sariel), one of the greatest Technic builders, seems to achieve the impossible by building a remote-controlled Lego truck capable of hauling a load of almost 20 pounds. Don’t believe it? Take a look at the video below.

Thanks for the tip vmln8r!

LEGO Friends + NXT = A Little Bit of Awesome

Anika Vuurzoon has combined two very different areas of our LEGO hobby and crafted a very cool, animated version of the Friends robolab. I would love to see the NXT used like this in more themes. Way to step it up, Anika!

via Legomymamma

LEGO sorting machine built from LEGO

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.

Leveling up in Gears of War 3 & Skyrim with LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots

Though I prefer to earn my experience, medals, and achievements the old-fashioned way, I never cease to be impressed (and mildly amused) by those who design LEGO robots to accomplish their video game goals.

Guy Himber built a robot to get the Onyx Active Reload medal in Gears of War 3 (watch him get the medal).

Meanwhile, Justin built his own robot to max out his restoration level to 100 in Skyrim.

What do you think? Fair play or hax0rs?

LEGO Mindstorms “Time Twister” digital clock by Hans Andersson

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!

New CubeStormer II solves Rubik’s Cube in 5.3 seconds

We featured Mike Dobson‘s first Rubik’s-solving CubeStormer last year. Now, Mike has teamed up with David Gilday to create an updated version that scans the cube, creates a solution, and then manipulates the cube to solve the puzzle.

Read more about all the technical details on YouTube.

Lego milling machine

Arthur Sacek developed a milling machine made using only Lego parts and a drill. The video shows the machine sculpting a 3D face from a block of floral foam.

Thanks for the tip aabbee 150!

LEGO and science: robot cat for scaredy rats

LEGO Mindstorms (and indeed regular technic) are a not unusual sight in science laboratories. Unfortunately I’m not lucky enough to need ‘work LEGO’ but I have looked jealously into labs that do. Typically it’s used to automate simple procedures or make quick reconfigurable rigs.

The Kim Laboratory of the University of Washington use LEGO in a novel way: to test fear in rats using the aptly named Robogator. This is certainly the first time I’ve seen LEGO used in neuroscience and I have to admit the idea of testing fear using a bright colourful toy robot is pretty clever and amusing. They have a few videos too.

Physorg have more details and I, in an astounding reversal of the usual, found the link on Boing Boing.

LEGO 3D scanner used to generate 3D LDraw parts

Did you know you can make a 3D laser scanner out of LEGO bricks and a few custom parts? No? Nor did I until today. Did you know you can then use your LEGO model to scan LEGO parts and turn them into 3D CAD LDraw parts to make virtual LEGO models out of? Amazing hey?

Phillipe Hurbaine (philo) is well known for his clever software, hardware, LEGOware and general LEGO-mechanical skill but I have to say his latest work just takes the cake. And as if making a 3D scanner wasn’t enough he has actually used it to model some LDraw parts. I think this is probably the best working LEGO thing I have ever seen.

Massive chess set is playing for keeps

Chess is one game that forces one to strategise and to think and plan in advance, forcing the brain into utilising all that grey matter into maximum overdrive. Team Hassenplug takes it to the next level by crafting a monster project with over 100,000 LEGO bricks that cost well over $30,000 for not only a supersized version of the game but also one that’s interactive thanks to integrated LEGO MINDSTORMS. This fully programmable system allows two human players to challenge one another or even select a computer opponent to play against.

Click here to see it in action

LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX solves Rubik’s Cube in 12 seconds flat

Mike Dobson has created “CubeStormer” — the world’s fastest Rubik’s Cube solver. Watch it to believe it.

CubeStormer uses the older MINDSTORMS RCX robotics system, hooked into Cube Explorer software.

Thanks for the tip, Carter. I’d passed this up when it made the rounds on the ‘net about a week ago, but this MINDSTORMS Rubik’s Cube solver is different indeed.