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!
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.
This smart-looking piece of equipment was made by Marek Markiewicz (aka M_longer), and is actually in minifig scale. The real Caterpillar 24M stretches over 46 feet long, and has a 24 foot wide blade! Marek’s Lego version is equally impressive, though, featuring a pneumatically operated blade and rear ripper, and functioning steering and articulation. Marek has even made a cool video to showcase the moving parts in action.
When I haven’t been working, sleeping, building, or blogging, most of my waking hours over the past month have been spent playing Gears of War 3.
It’s hard to miss Marcus’ Hammer of Dawn taking out the Corpser, but watch for some cool details like aiming the frag grenade and a Retro Lancer execution.
The making-of film itself has some excellent stop-motion sequences:
I spent a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday at BrickCon building 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van, assisted toward the end by an able young spacer (I build slowly — really slowly — savoring the build, or something). Marshall Matlock has managed to squeeze the build into a minute and a half.
This life-sized LEGO Gears of War Lancer Assault Rifle by PLUM B already has the looks to fit a C.O.G. soldier, but it also features a clip-fed firing mechanism that shoots rubber bands — perfect for taking out the paper Locust horde. If that’s not enough, the saw blade on the front of the gun is motorized for slice-and-dice action. See it all in the video below:
A team of 22 model builders from Enfield recently built a full-scale Ford Explorer for the opening of the new Legoland in Florida. It took them approximately 2500 hours and used around 380,000 bricks! The Explorer will be on display in front of one of the new park’s attractions, the Ford Driving School.
Check out the time-lapse video:
Ben Beneke is one of the greats of LEGO train building, with even his old steamers still standing out as some of the best. I’d been wondering what had happened to Ben recently (he usually posts at least one new train a year) but apparently he’s been spending time making excellent animations using LDraw and POVray. An animation like this is really hard to do in POVray. I know, I’ve tried.
In 2005, LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi built a massive Venator-class Star Destroyer for Star Wars Celebration III. At 8 feet long, it was the largest LEGO model most of us had seen at the time, and set the bar very high for the likes of Mark Kelso. However, in order to build the Venator strong enough to ship from Enfield, Connecticut to Indianapolis, Indiana, Erik and his fellow model builders had to glue the model and incorporate a steel frame (FBTB has a great interview with Erik). Now, six years later, Sylvain Ballivet has built his own version of Erik’s Venator, except that it’s built from 100% LEGO elements with no glue.
Sylvain’s Venator by the numbers:
Check out lots more photos on Flickr, and this awesome video that really gives you a sense of the scale of this beast:
Those who’ve been around the LEGO community for a while may know I’ve been planning a LEGO version of the Ghost in the Shell tank (from the movie) for quite some time. In fact I posted my first CAD version 5 years ago after starting it nine months before that.
I won’t say it’s finished now (because I doubt I’ll ever consider it finished) but, after nearly six years from starting it, I think it’s ready to share in the brick. It’s close to fully articulated although the middle legs don’t move left/right (to improve strength). The torso is on a ball joint as is the head for maximal poseability.
Vimal Patel’s (vmln8r) Lego monster truck does all that a monster truck can do, including jumping the shark, crashing through brick walls, and smashing cars.
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!