Grease - Summer Nights Lego Stop Motion Animation
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Memes
This is for my wife, probably only she would understand:
Then again, maybe not 
The Killough Platform Explained
Posted by Rich | Filed under Holonomic Drive
Over at TechnicBricks there is a fascinating post that does a great job of visually explaining the Killough Platform to the uninitiated. As you know I am a big fan of holonomic drive robots and if you are new to the concept, they do a great job of explaining the theory without over complicating the discussion.
Tags: holonomic, Holonomic Drive, killough platform
Lego NXT Rocker-Bogie Suspension
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Rollers
One of my many Lego NXT project ideas is to build a Rocker-Bogie system similar to the Mars Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity rovers. It turns out a similar mechanism is ipresented by Brian Bagnall in his book titled Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains.
While I wait on that book to move from my Amazon wish list, to my shipping list, I found a few interesting videos:
And a site by Kevin Knuth where the rocker bogie suspension has already been built. Kevin’s site has a few more video examples.
A Beautiful Implementation Of The Holonomic Drive
Posted by Rich | Filed under Holonomic Drive, Lego
As you can probably tell, I like the holonomic drive as a platform for robotics. Be sure and take a second to check out this version of the platform with a very simple but effective wheel design:
Lego Mindstorms NXT Split Chassis Steering
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Mistakes, Rollers
Here is an idea I have been playing with for a little while. Instead of simply doing a car with regular steering, I wanted to try a split chassis design where the front of the car rotates in the direction you want to turn. Here are two attempts, but I abandoned any further design after driving both around with my phone via bluetooth. The steering is too inaccurate to use for an autonomous robot, but it is fun to drive.
Lego Mindstorms NXT Segway
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Rollers
The other night I was researching building a balancing Segway like robot with the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. I wanted a robot that could balance on two wheels and could move forward and backward. I also wanted the robot to recover when “pushed”.
I was familiar with Steve Hassenplug’s Legway built on the Lego RCX platform, but I wanted to tackle the challenge with the NXT. Luckily, I found Philo Hurbain’s NXTWay. I was intrigued enough to build a copy and try out the programming.
It is quite hard to get the balance right and in the end I created a very aggressive robot that I can push around and it will mostly right itself. Here is the video of the final creation.
Lego Mindstorms NXT Holonomic Drive - Killough Platform - Rev 2
Posted by Rich | Filed under Holonomic Drive, Lego, Walkers
I updated my Lego NXT holonomic platform a bit. The main changes revolved around the orientation of the motors so I could get true 360 degree movement.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lego Mindstorms NXT Holonomic Drive - Killough Platform - Rev 1
Posted by Rich | Filed under Holonomic Drive, Lego, Rollers, Walkers
I have been working on a few different designs for a holonomic drive robot. A true platform like the other killough platforms made from Lego would probably contain wheels that rotate differently, but I wanted to publish this design because it is interesting.
I tried two different versions that you can see in the movie below. One version uses wheels but I also built this platform into a three legged walker.
Lego eBay Search Script
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Site News, Technology
If you look in the navigation on the right hand side on my home page, you will notice a new goodie. I integrated an eBay search script. Check out the post the have fun searching eBay for Lego.
Lego Mindstorms NXT Synchro Drive
Posted by Rich | Filed under Lego, Rollers, Synchro Drive
I have been working on creating a new Synchro Drive for the turntable that comes with the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. I have the basics worked out but I need to refine it a bit so I de-constructed it on video so I can start over.
