Impressive LEGO® Builds
By Poppy Mosbacher. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
Some people set the bar high when they're playing with LEGO®, taking on ambitious projects that push our understanding of what the little bricks can do.
The Electrical Engineering department at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science have created a bridge laying robot using two LEGO® Mindstorm NXT microcomputers that communicate with Bluetooth.
Using servo motors, linear actuators, colour sensors, touch sensors and ultrasonic sensors, the robot can unload a bridge across a ravine, drive over it and then reload the bridge without any assistance from the creator.
We enjoyed watching the video at double speed. To access the playback speed settings, click on the gear symbol on the video toolbar.
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NeilP43 has transformed a LEGO® Helicopter kit from a flightless model to a fully remote control vehicle. “The challenging part with this build is keeping as much of the original LEGO® model look as possible, while squeezing in all the electronics,” says NeilP43.
"I've tried to avoid glue at all cost. The only place it really needs it is the rear motor blocks onto the arms. Everything else is using the magic of LEGO®."
For the first flight, NeilP43 didn't know if the model would fall apart, but as you can see in the video below, it was a success.
A guide showing how it's made is available on Instructables.
Keeping with the flying theme, Arthur Sacek has made a paper airplane maker completly out of LEGO®.
For a behind the scenes look at how the machine was made check out the video below.
Poppy is a maker and writer. She loves getting tech into the hands of people who do traditional crafts. She is helping set up a makerspace in Devon and was a director of BuildBrighton makerspace.
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