Make: Online: LEGO Archives

LEGO Archive: LEGO

July 2, 2009

LEGO combination safe

June 15, 2009

LEGO tank has full interior detailing

There's so much amazing work coming out of the AFOL* community these days that it can be hard to single out any particular work as outstanding. Nonetheless, mad_a0's mini-fig scale tank, with full interior detail, is, well... outstanding. Bravo! Via The Brothers Brick.

*That's "Adult Fans of LEGO" for you non-blockheads out there.

June 4, 2009

Ignite: "The Secret Underground World of Lego"

In this Ignite rap, Hillel Cooperman talks about his, and other adults', Lego obsession. Caution: Mild adult themes and the ol' F-word is dropped halfway through.

You can subscribe to Ignite:
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Ignite

May 28, 2009

Lego bar chart at Google I/O

Last night, a bunch of the MAKE team went to San Francisco to put on a little Maker Faire preview for attendees of the Google I/O conference at the Mascone Center. Besides MAKE/Make: Online, and Maker Shed, there were folks there from adafruit industries, Instructables, Evil Mad Scientist Labs, Sternlabs, Cyclcide, and more. We had a good time, met some interesting people, and convinced (hopefully) a bunch of them to join us for the Faire this weekend.

Here is one of the cool devices demoed at the Google I/O Conference Sandbox, It's a dynamic Lego Bar Chart built using the Lego Mindstorms NXT System.

Lego Bar Chart

May 10, 2009

iPhone controlled LEGO robot

BattleBricks posted awesome building instructions on how to get your own iPhone controlled LEGO robot working!

This is a demonstration of iPhone to Lego NXT Robot communication via the Safari browser and Lego's Light Sensor. To build this, you'll need a laptop, two iPhones, and a Lego NXT Robotics Kit. First, build your robot. Second write some Java LeJOS Robot code. Third write some Google Web Toolkit web application code. Fourth, plug in your iPhone into the robot, and use either a browser or another iPhone to drive the Lego Robot!

April 27, 2009

Mini Maker Faire at Hillsdale Mall

MAKE HQ reports that they had a nice turnout and a fine time this past weekend at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo. Our compadre Kent Barnes took these photos and has more in his photostream. It was a great opportunity to reach out to people who might otherwise not have previous exposure to MAKE. We'll be doing a few more of such events in the future, so stay tuned. Thanks for takin' the snaps, Kent.

Kentb's Photostream

Lego motor shield for Arduino

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Joining the modular forces of Arduino and Lego, Greg and Rael built the above-seen motor shield with a convenient plastic brick interface. Head over to Flickr for more project pics.

In the Maker Shed:

MotorShield for Arduino Kit

March 22, 2009

LEGO NXT 3D scanner

LEGO hacker Philo Hurbain needed a way to model some of the more complex LEGO parts for use in the LDraw LEGO CAD program. Most LEGO parts are easy to model, but something like the tiny LEGO frog, shown above, is a little more tricky. Philo's solution: a 3D scanner made entirely of LEGO, save for a needle that's used as the probe.

I am a LDraw parts author, and as such I am always interested to find new ways to model LEGO parts. Many parts have a clear geometric structure and are relatively easy to create, but parts like the frog pictured above have no defined geometric shape and are very difficult to model. I toyed for a while with the idea of a 3D scanner... The solution came with 2008 LEGO Technic sets that include a new part, the linear actuator. These nifty device convert the rotation movement of a motor into a linear movement. Coupled with the high resolution of NXT encoder, I had all the elements to build a 3D scanner, precise enough for my purpose.

...

The probe module (red/yellow) moves the probing needle back and forth as well as up and down. When the probe needle touches the object, the location of the contact point is recorded. The object module (white/blue) is able to move back and forth the object and rotate it. All the movements combined provide either a cartesian or a cylindrical scan.

If you're interested in making one of these, Philo has posted the MLCad files for the device, the pbLua source that operates the NXT brain, and instructions for turning the scan coordinate log into a usable mesh.

NXT 3D scanner [via Dan's Data Blog]

March 15, 2009

LEGO Mendocino Motor

Here is a variation on the Menocino Motor project. The Mendo Motor is a solar-powered magnetically levitating motor invented by super maker Larry Spring, of Mendocino California. This is a great project to do with high school kids. The Motor incorporates woodworking, electricity, magnestism, troubleshooting, and can also be used as a way of teaching computer-aided design.

What solar energy projects do you do in school or at home? How do you show solar energy? How would you explain the function of this motor? How do you use LEGOs to prototype designs? What is the best project you have done with LEGO? Join the conversation in the comments and add your photos and video to the MAKE Flickr pool.

February 6, 2009

Death by LEGO

These would make great Halloween decorations/projects! Check out the Death by LEGO photo set by monsterbrick, via Who Killed Bambi?

More:

LEGO sneakers

January 29, 2009

The LEGO Turing machine

Andnissen writes -

A TV Shop themed demonstration of a Turing Machine made in LEGO Mindstorms. It was made as part of a project at computer science at Aarhus University.

January 27, 2009

LEGO valve stem cap

Instructables user imaseahawksfan made these LEGO valve stem caps for his motorcycle. I think they look great, and this technique is easily translated to all sorts of valve stem caps. I'm thinking they would look great on my bicycle!

LEGO Transformer: Barricade

This amazing Transformer is made entirely out of LEGO. There isn't a lot of information about the build, but there are more pictures of the completed project on the web site. I thought the police car was nice, never mind that it transformed into a giant robot!

More about the LEGO Transformer: Barricade [UniqueDaily]

January 26, 2009

LEGO sneakers

I can't say how comfortable these might be, but what a great LEGO pair of chucks!

More:

Cardboard Shoe Show in NYC

January 25, 2009

LEGO Swimming Pool Insect Terminator (SPIT)

Bluetoothkiwi documents his LEGO Mindstorms Swimming Pool Insect Terminator (SPIT) - it's a great example of the process of problem-solving.

Swimming Pool Insect Terminator (SPIT) is a special self powered autonamous floating robot that locates and destroys small clusters of bugs that float on the top of swimming pools. We used LEGO MINDSTORMS to build this. LEGO TECHNIC wheels are used as floats. The only non TECHNIC part that was used in this project is a can of inspect spray. The robot uses the light sensor to detect the presence of insect cluster while the Ultrasonic sensor is used to avoid bumping into the side of the pool by telling the steering motor to turn. When the Light sensor detects a cluster of bugs it tells a motor to push the button on a can of Insect spray. Another motor is used to power the SPIT forward. The project was a success and we learned a lot from it - though there are still a lot of room for improvements.

January 14, 2009

LEGO announces new digital products

This is definitely one for the remake category. In fact, I think these have already been remade, right? I remember the LEGO Dulcimer and midi guitar, but I don't remember a LEGO MP3 player? I think it would be a lot of fun to make a whole bunch of these types of products from old sets of LEGOs.

Digital Blue and LEGO have announced a licensing agreement that will bring several LEGO branded kid's tech products to market. The line is scheduled for release this summer and will include digital cameras, video cameras, MP3 players, walkie talkies and other electronics.

More about the official LEGO digital products

January 7, 2009

Robotify a remote control car

Recently I have been taking apart and rewiring some remote control cars that I picked up at the town dump or local yard sales. Some of my students have also been in on the fun, and we are aiming to make them into programmable robotic cars. Take a look at the photos and see what is inside the cars.

Currently, we are working with the yellow Lego RCX's, but it seems like this idea could be worked out with just about any processing platform. Make Controller, Basic Stamp, Arduino, ATTiny or...We can give them sensing abilities by using photocells, pressure switches and other sensors. One of the thoughts that brought this on was the desire of students to go beyond the Lego system, looking to work with other materials.

The Lego connectors are good, but not very universal. By using aluminum or copper tape, it is relatively easy to make a more compatible wire connector. Students can get some experience with soldering and working with systems without having to make the entire vehicle themselves. It seems that the yardsale or dumpscore cars are a good place to start, but often they have other issues from being played with. Often the worst of them have been driven on the beach with some pretty heavy salt water corrosion. By getting a good collection of relatively inexpensive cars, there can be a good level of consistency in materials, and a greater level of compatibility in parts.

This project seems like it has some good long term potential. The gear train for the rear drive wheels is much more sophisticated than would be realistic to make in most shops, the steering assembly is pretty solid and proven, and the chassis is a great way to hold the thing together. Some of the issues to resolve are: What else can be done with the remote control radio transmitter and receiver? How can you drive larger motors with a small microcontroller?

Have you messed about with remote control cars? What success stories do you have of controlling dc motors with microcontrollers? Do you have documentation of great projects done with your students, kids or on your own? What are the possible pitfalls in a project like this? What is the best way to program the Lego RCX, Interactive C, LeJos, Logo or something else? If you had access to a group of students and a few or dozens of small, cheap remote control cars, what would you do with them? Add your thoughts and comments below and contribute your photos and videos to the Make Flickr pool.

January 2, 2009

Electricity Exploration Kit Concept

This morning, Ed Baafi, Amon Milner, Jacob William, and a number of the youth leaders at Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn developed an idea of how to teach electricity to youth with a new kit idea.

What we are looking to do is reinvent the Alternative Energy module in the summer program. The kit will be flexible enough that experimenters can have hands-on experiences with power generation, storage and output. We also hope that they will be able to add on various technologies as they become available to the experimenter.

The Electricity Experimenters' kit helps promote exploration and understanding of the ways that people can use store, and generate electricity. A focus is made on allowing the user to interchange a number of different modules for generating, making use of and storing small amounts of electric current. These modules will enable youth to gain hands on experience with creating, storing and using energy for personal exploration.

The result of exposure to this kit is that we want people to be able to think, say and believe:

I can make a choice between clean and nonclean generation and the electricity is the same.

and:

I can make my own electricity without harming the environment.

How do you teach electricity? What do you do to help people understand the systems in their lives? What could you add to this kit idea to make it better? What information would you want people to have when they do experiments with electricity? Do you have any existing projects that could be used with a kit like this? How would you make the physical objects? What activities would bring out valuable learning outcomes when experimenting with electricity generation, storage and use? How can we use modifiers like voltage regulators and resistors in ways that don't confuse experimenters? What do you tell or show people that helps them understand the workings of a multimeter?

Add your comments to the discussion, and post your photos in the Make Flickr pool.

December 26, 2008

LEGO NXT inch worm

Dave Parker shares the building and programming instructions for this LEGO NXT inch worm on nxtprograms.com - the movement is really unusual.

December 24, 2008

LEGO ball contraption

Andrew sent us a link to his LEGO ball contraption. It consists of conveyor belts, lifts, and sawtooth mechanisms. He plans on bringing this to one of the Great Ball Contraption events.

Having recently gotten back into Lego, and wanting to build something cool that I could also bring to Lego events, I decided to make a few Great Ball Contraption (GBC) modules. Inspired by the action of the three all put together, this video became a fun project to see how dramatic moving little soccer balls around a circuit could be...

A little more about the LEGO ball contraption

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