This is extremely entertaining. 600 hours of construction over 2 years. 21 feet long.
I love Lego’s…
From Design News link
Awesome!
…umm…well… my head hurts after that…
That was the most nuts LEGO contraption I have ever seen. I couldn’t even picture designing and building that.
If you want to see more, search youtube for “lego GBC”… creating “Great Ball Collectors” with Lego’s is a pretty popular hobby, it seems!
The same guy made an even bigger one that is even more impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWd3vgLaA_M
Now I’m beginning to wonder…
Maybe I could have my FLL team(s) take a season or two off and work on something like this. The amount of knowledge and experience they could gain would be amazing! This has a level of creativity, engineering, design, and whimsy that I doubt I could replicate with FLL.
Please understand, I am NOT degrading FLL, I’m just saying that this type of system is a whole different beast. It has potential to stimulate the mind of these kids in a way that is quite different from FLL.
Wow, something to ponder.
the Great Ball Contraption is actually a fairly common type of model in the LEGO fan community. There is a standard spot to place the start and end of each module, as well as a standard average speed to move the balls. This way, anybody can build modules and then join together at an event or something and make one large GBC. It’s quite fun, really.
Too bad our Rebound Rumble robot didn’t have the accuracy this has, or the rate of fire (around 2:20)
Brickworld Chicago-land is next weekend in shaumberg Ill. I can guarantee there will be GBC modules there, live, up-close and personal.
I like the Lego 360-degree 3D mill.
I second this. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it out this year, but in 2010 and 2012 when I attended, there was GBCs. Pretty cool to see in person if you can go. I highly suggest going to Brickworld if you can. I think for the public entry it’s $10.