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Hi Everyone,
My brother, Arvind, and I have been building and programming with LEGO for many years. We focus on LEGO robotics (MINDSTORMS, Boost, etc). We have built dot-matrix printers (Pix3l Plott3r), a LEGO 3D Printer, a multi-player game (Pac-Bot), and lots of other interactive MINDSTORMS designs that have been displayed in many cities and countries, and on various LEGO social media channels. We are known for our website, EV3Lessons.com where we teach others to program with MINDSTORMS. Arvind and I were also made MINDSTORMS Community Partners (MCP) by the LEGO Group.
Most recently, we were both invited to Copenhagen for LEGOWORLD 2018. We got to show our work to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the owner of LEGO.
You sir, have accomplished quite a lot in your short life. Are you interested in joining this group? Perhaps you could finish “the Claw” idea for which I acquired parts and then pursued no further.
Yes, I would love to connect with local LEGO builders. The Claw is a good build for MINDSTORMS.
Arvind will be making his own account as well. He and I are hosting a FIRST LEGO League kickoff on the evening of August 1st at the Sarah Heinz House. If anyone in the group is interested in coming, let us know.
I would love to connect with local LEGO builders.
Then you have come to the right place! 🙂 Welcome. We have several people in the group who do impressive things with motors and Power Functions. I don’t know how much MINDSTORMS we have going on but we would love to learn more and hopefully incorporate that into some of our future displays.
He and I are hosting a FIRST LEGO League kickoff on the evening of August 1st at the Sarah Heinz House.
I presume the FLL meeting will be geared toward getting FLL teams started, because that is the day that the new challenge will be released. The specifics of running an FLL team are not within the realm of what we typically do, however incorporating more automation into our displays has been an unstated goal of ours and undoubtedly makes the displays more interesting. I am sure that your enthusiasm and expertise in LEGO robotics can be invaluable.
What LEGO goals do YOU have for this summer?
One of our goals this summer was to redesign EV3Lessons.com and spin-off an FLL-specific one (FLLTutorials.com). Those are done. 🙂 We are also in the process of helping our RLOC (Registered LEGO Online Community) get setup (webpage, etc).
Of course, we know you are probably more interested in builds. Right now we are working on reviewing LEGO BOOST for LEGO. Boost allows you to “bring to life” LEGO models. For example, last week we tested out Boost + LEGO Arctic Scout Truck. We have been collaborating with Hispabrick Magazine (a LEGO fan magazine in Europe) to write lessons for Boost. Our third lesson for them will be published this fall.
MINDSTORMS is certainly a great way to automate displays. Most of our models are interactive designs in which we invite the audience to play with the models. Our last big project was Pac-Bot. You can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/legomindstorms/videos/1457224394383522/. Our plan is to reuse the basic concept of a multi-player game, but design different interactive games.
That Pac-Bot is an awesome project and to top it off, you got to show it off to the company owner. There are many adult LEGO builders whose crowning achievement would be simply be to have Kjeld appreciate their creation for two minutes. 🙂
That Pac-Bot is an awesome project and to top it off, you got to show it off to the company owner. There are many adult LEGO builders whose crowning achievement would be simply be to have Kjeld appreciate their creation for two minutes.
Thanks! It was a lot of fun to create with Sanjay (I’m his brother).
Kjeld is a very inspiring person to talk to. He probably spent about 30 minutes with the both of us, so we were really honored.
If anyone in the group does want to incorporate MINDSTORMS or Boost into their builds and has questions, feel free to ask us. We have both been using MINDSTORMS since 2011 and teaching programming for them since 2014.
The FLL Kickoff on August 1st is more for those who are already a team. We have an astronaut coming (this year’s theme is space). We are organizing the event and helping teams understand the missions (the LEGO models) as a support to the local FLL community.
Arvind, thanks for the offer to help. When most current LUG members were younger, LEGO sets with electricity were uncommon and sets with microchips were unimaginable. You and your brother have more robotics experience than the entire LUG combined, sort of like comparing Woody and Buzz Lightyear. 🙂
After watching the video, I concluded that you were using light sensors as inputs because eliminating a mechanical interface between the user and the game made it less likely to break. Was that intentional in your design?
About the Claw idea, I originally intended to use an old set called Control Center, set number 8094, a claw like the one in the Crawler Crane 42042, and 100 Toy Story martian minifigs. Acquiring these parts was the last step that I completed but someday I hope to revisit the project. 🙂
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=5592#T=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}
The EV3 components are very sturdy and rarely get damaged due to use. We have displayed our work for 3-4 days straight and have have 1000s of kids come and go (including little kids). Never had anything break ever over the years. We do keep an eye on things though.
There are color sensors in the flooring to represent the white dot Pac-Man eats. Pac-Man has a colored panel under it and when it drives over the color sensors, it is detected. The game keeps tracks of how many dots/color sensors Pac-Man has captured. In the mean time, the ghost players are trying to catch Pac-Man and every time they do, they score a point (also using color sensors). All of the sensors and MINDSTORMS are networked together to keep track of the score. We have a Raspberry Pi networked to the whole system to keep track of the scoring and display it to players. A game takes about 3 minutes to complete (someone is usually a winner by then). The controllers are also EV3s using ultrasonic sensors so that all the kids have to do is wave their hands in front of the control (in the right direction) to move their player. We decided that joysticks out of LEGO might break over 4 days of use with excited players.
If you would like to borrow an EV3 or collaborate with us to make an EV3 version of your claw, we would be happy to.
Welcome, Sanjay and Arvind!
I actually bought some NXT bricks from your mom off Craigslist several years ago, and was aware of your FLL experience. Glad to have you reach out! As the guys are saying, your expertise could help take some of our builds and displays to a whole new level! I, too, am excited about the possibility of a playable Claw machine, but Greg and I didn’t have the knowledge (nor the time) to bring that dream to fruition when we first got excited about it.
Kjeld is great; I didn’t get to meet him individually but got to see him at the LEGO House opening ceremony that was set up for Ambassadors and paired with Skaerbaek Fan Weekend last year – what a trip that was! I’m sure yours was amazing, as well. Did you get to spend time in Billund at LEGOLand / The LEGO House while you were in Denmark?
You and your brother have more robotics experience than the entire LUG combined, sort of like comparing Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
Lulz, Greg always makes me smile. But this is accurate.
Welcome, Sanjay and Arvind!
I actually bought some NXT bricks from your mom off Craigslist several years ago, and was aware of your FLL experience.Kjeld is great; I didn’t get to meet him individually but got to see him at the LEGO House opening ceremony that was set up for Ambassadors and paired with Skaerbaek Fan Weekend last year – what a trip that was! I’m sure yours was amazing, as well. Did you get to spend time in Billund at LEGOLand / The LEGO House while you were in Denmark?
Yes. We sold our NXTs to be able to buy EV3s when they first came out to upgrade equipment for our FLL team. We retired our team in April of this year after winning World Champions, but we still support FLL teams globally.
If anyone in the group would like some help or information about incorporating MINDSTORMS into your projects, we are happy to collaborate. Our mom also interviewed Akiyuki recently. He incorporates MINDSTORMS into GBC modules.
That’s great that you were able to go to Denmark as well. Yes, we were in Billund for a few days before LEGOWORLD Cophenhagen and spent time at LEGO House. We also got to meet Jørgen Vig Knudstorp that trip. It was very memorable.
We decided that joysticks out of LEGO might break over 4 days of use with excited players.
Agreed, its ingenious to use an interface that does not require mechanical contact. LEGO trains, as simple as they might seem, don’t run consistently for hours at a time, even with a 9v power supply. Also, the GBC guys can tell you about plastic dust that accumulates from gears wearing against each other while the machines are running for hours. These problems are small potatoes compared to what an excited person would do to a manual control stick in a video game simulation.
Also, the GBC guys can tell you about plastic dust that accumulates from gears wearing against each other while the machines are running for hours.
We have that issue too in the printers we make. Our dot-matrix printer and 3D printer run for hours each day…there is always dust and gears wearing out. We switch them out after a few events. Our first printer had a pen holder that was held in place with a tire (to move the pen up and down to draw). The tire would wear out after a few days. Our newest printer uses LEGO markers which have studs on them.
If some of you (@greg, @philmatt24) want to work on the automated Claw, Arvind and I would be interested. We are good at building with Technic and MINDSTORMS, but have little or no experience with System. Therefore, we could help with the electronics/mechanism/arm, but would need others to make it look like a game/vending machine.
A kid in Australia made the attached Claw. We helped him remotely with the programming a couple of years ago.
Mechanical engineering, motion and lighting in LEGO and are not natural to me, and I’m glad to see that kind of thing, even if I’m no good at it.
Most of our builders are System based, so gathering Technic expertise would make *all* of our builds better, and yours too from us! I know I’d love to swap core techniques so I know what Technic parts are the most versatile and useful, and what to invest in.
It seems to me that Technic focuses on function, and System focuses on form. That melding is very exciting to me, and the most recent builds like the Bugatti, the Saturn V, and the roller coaster are signals that LEGO design is reaching an evolution point at the top end that is fairly accessible for even the medium skilled builder.
Thoughts?
Yes, I would love to connect with local LEGO builders. The Claw is a good build for MINDSTORMS.
Arvind will be making his own account as well. He and I are hosting a FIRST LEGO League kickoff on the evening of August 1st at the Sarah Heinz House. If anyone in the group is interested in coming, let us know.
I’m in. It’s a Wednesday night show, and very convenient for me to stop over after work. As a Space guy, INTO ORBIT sounds right up my alley.
Most of our builders are System based, so gathering Technic expertise would make *all* of our builds better, and yours too from us! I know I’d love to swap core techniques so I know what Technic parts are the most versatile and useful, and what to invest in. Thoughts?
We use a lot of panels, frames, gears, and Technic System elements in our printers and games (in addition to the MINDSTORMS components). Here are a few projects that have been featured by LEGO that use a lot of these elements.
Pix3l Plott3r
Holiday Card Plott3r
M3MORY GAM3
I’m in. It’s a Wednesday night show, and very convenient for me to stop over after work. As a Space guy, INTO ORBIT sounds right up my alley.[/quote]
Great. The first half will be an Astronaut and a space industry engineer speaking to the teams. Then Arvind and I will go through the INTO ORBIT LEGO models and missions for the year.
just sayin – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUpZ5iY5CMM
just sayin – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUpZ5iY5CMM
Yes this would not be the first person to make a claw machine. Perhaps Neil’s suggestion that the old 8094 Technic Control Center set is worth more as a collector’s item is good advice. Of course I already have a hundred “ooo, the Claw!” aliens, so perhaps a nonfunctional model is just as good … although I think that has been done also.
Yes this would not be the first person to make a claw machine. Perhaps Neil’s suggestion that the old 8094 Technic Control Center set is worth more as a collector’s item is good advice. Of course I already have a hundred “ooo, the Claw!” aliens, so perhaps a nonfunctional model is just as good … although I think that has been done also.
@Arvind and I have gathered some RCX bricks, sensors, motors and cables if you are interested in completing the dog.We would be up for getting the claw working as well. If you want to make it with MINDSTORMS instead, we can help with that too.
perhaps a nonfunctional model is just as good … although I think that has been done also.
It has, and we’ve posted it somewhere around these parts, ‘member?
…but ours will be functional, and better. Just as soon as we get around to it. 😉
So shortcuts were taken here (and it’s not LEGO), but it’s still a fun (and at times poignant) video, and possibly inspirational to our project idea:
Also, there are new sets with oooOOOooo aliens that tie in with TS4, so they’ll be available…
I’m still interested in adding real world interaction, and coding for simple and advanced play into my builds at some point.
@sanjay, could you, and perhaps even members of the LEGO League, come out to a quarterly meeting sometime and discuss how System builders like me could best get started in an economical way, and what systems, parts and techniques are used most often? This is an entire segment of LEGO that is alien not just to me, but I suspect to a good number of our club. In return, we could show how we refine our System techniques. Because of our club’s membership, perhaps it would be better for us to move one of our quarterly meetings to you, as a welcome change of pace and big opportunity to look at LEGO from a different perspective. I can’t speak for LUG leadership, but it seems like a reasonable idea at first glance.One of LEGO’s corporate presentation slides stated “System and Technic are not friends.” But they’re not enemies, and I for one want to learn what’s out there in a thread or forum section dedicated to one or more of these systems here on the forum too.
Thoughts?
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