pic: Lego Launcher

[Tytus Gerrish]

thia idea is officaly stolen. im tAking this an putting it on a crab drive and terrorise the cochroaches and lizzards at night.

[Rohith Surampudi]

I too shall steal this, but i will end up attempting to make new Lego gears with a CNC machine so i can create miniature AM shifter transmissions.


on a serious note, thats awesome, how effective is it?

[Donut]

That's cool. Since I have no experience with those balls; are they squishy?

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Tytus Gerrish

thia idea is officaly stolen. im tAking this an putting it on a crab drive and terrorise the cochroaches and lizzards at night.

I figured you'd like it Tytus. I'd like to see it in action if you get around to building it.

Originally Posted by Rohith Surampudi

on a serious note, thats awesome, how effective is it?

Actually, I was rather impressed when I put new batteries in the RCX. I started with an old pair that had been in it since last November, and it was okay it shot about 20 inches from 2 feet. Then I put in a new set of Duracell Ultras (for all you FLL mentors there is no substitute for Duracell Ultras) and it was almost shooting over the goal. Only problem is that since the motors are geared so far up, it takes 2 or so seconds to recharge for the next shot.

Originally Posted by Donut

That's cool. Since I have no experience with those balls; are they squishy?

Nope, they're hard, but they are pretty light so I assume they're not solid.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

You may also want to try either the balls from the Robosports kit (if you have them or can find them) or maybe nerf balls (the ones from the ball shooters). Those balls are lighter and have some squish to them.

I may try building a ball shooter now. Maybe once the NXT kit gets here.

[Nitroxextreme]

Def something I might do.....

If I still had my legos....they got donated to the FLL team we mentor

[techtiger1]

Now only if Lego has a camera to see that infamous green light . Very cool nice job on it I knew it was only a matter of time someone came up with a Lego model like this. What is the rest of the robot going to be? Please do keep us posted on the progress.

-Drew

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

Now only if Lego has a camera to see that infamous green light . -Drew

Lego doesn't but Charmed Labs does and Botball uses it.
Charmed Labs
Botball uses this interface exclusively now for their competition replacing the Handyboard system with each team receiving two of these in their kit. I believe the only place one can buy it though is via botball as the store on the Charmed labs site has listed them as out of stock for at least six months now.
XBC robot controller electronics
This controller uses pwm type pin sets for motor and sensor connections. One can clip the ends of the standard lego connectors and solder a new connector. If you clip the lego wire in the middle you get two, a bit shorter, motor connectors.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Lego does have a camera.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by Ogre

Lego does have a camera.

Yes they do but it is only linked to a computer and not the robot control system. I've got one. What the previous post was after is a cmu type camera connected to the controller to 'see' color targets.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by Rohith Surampudi

I too shall steal this, but i will end up attempting to make new Lego gears with a CNC machine so i can create miniature AM shifter transmissions.


on a serious note, thats awesome, how effective is it?

In a sort of serious note if one has a Dimension 3d printer, you could manufacture new gear sizes for Lego robots.
3d printers
This has given me an idea for a project for next year as I hope to be adding one of these to my design class equipment list next year.