TooMuchCaffeine

I spoke to soon...

2008-12-20T14:42:00.002Z

My previous post on fixing my NXT firmware was somewhat premature.

Despite doing everything I was supposed to do to sort the problem, and all on a new PC, I still have a clicking brick for a NXT.

Needless to say, I am not in the best of moods about this.

Might be reduced to posting LDD models of robots that I can't build myself...

Right then... let's get building again

2008-12-08T20:01:00.004Z

Hooray! Finally got my new PC and I've managed to get my NXt firmware reset.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions as to how to sort it out - unfortunately none of the fixes worked. Clearly something to do with my PC - but sorted now.

Building some stuff at the moment and will post soon.

Clicking Brick Syndrome - AAAAAARRGGHH!

2008-05-26T11:34:00.004+01:00

My NXT has got the dreaded "clicking brick syndrome".

Not happy, especially as none of the forum fixes or Lego patches have worked for me yet.

Very frustrating, as I was halfway through programming my latest robot - a robotic bartender which I am very pleased with.

If anyone has found any new ways of dealing with this problem, I'd appreciate a heads-up...

Little Joe - LDD file now online

2008-04-16T21:48:00.005+01:00

The LDD file for Little Joe is now available online here.

If you do build Little Joe, please let me know how you get on.

Little Joe - a Lego robot biped

2008-04-13T18:47:00.004+01:00

This is Little Joe - a Lego robot biped walker.

He was originally supposed to be my entry for the NXTlog biped competition, but didn't get him finished in time. However, I am mightily pleased with him, even if he did take longer to get walking than planned.

Little Joe was inspired by one of Joe Nagata's excellent walkers (link to site at bottom of page), but the design has altered pretty significantly from the original - I think the feet and ankle elements are about the only unaltered sections left.

Anyway, Little Joe is named as a tip o' the hat to Joe Nagata for being one of the best NXT builders out there and an inspiration to the rest of us.

First Day at Robot School

2008-03-16T19:19:00.004Z

Ok, so it's not Mindstorms.

But it is Lego, and they are robots...

My latest creation is a bit off-topic for this blog, but I like it. First vignette I've made and I'm quite pleased with it.

SynKrow - a lesson in humility in robot form

2008-03-08T19:42:00.003Z

I've had enough of this robot, so I've just decided to take some photos and take it to bits. I don't often give up on stuff, but this has been months worth of kicking ideas about, building, rebuilding and tinkering - and it still won't work. Very frustrating.

Saw a few synchro-drive robots on tinterweb and liked the idea of building one. Bought 3 more turntables on Bricklink and started going.

Fairly quickly abandoned my original idea of 4-wheel drive, and moved to having power going to the diagonally-opposite wheels. This worked fine, and SynKrow drives in a very reliable straight line.

However, getting those wheels to turn direction without the robot slipping round has proved absolutely impossible. The turntables turn, but the robot slips and ends up pointing off the true right-angle turn I wanted. I've now tried about six different methods of turning the turntables, or positioning the wheels - the best version is in the pictures, with the wheel 'contact patches' mounted as close to the turning centre of the turntables as I could get. However, even with this setup the robot moves around rather than sitting solidly still as the 4 wheels shift orientation.

I give up. If anyone has a decent design for a synchro drive robot like this, point me in the right direction so I can put myself out of my misery...

UniBot 2: LDD file now online

2008-02-13T22:11:00.004Z

The LDD file for UniBot 2 is now available on NXTlog here.

If anyone builds UniBot please let me know how you get on, and I'd be intrigued to see what you use it as a base for.

For anyone who hasn't seen this robot before, the good thing about it is that it 'frees-up' a motor from turning duties - giving you two motors to build mobile robots with higher functionality than if you'd used two robots for turning.

UniBot 2 uses only pieces out of the NXT retail set, and should still leave you plenty of bits for the rest of your robot.

UniBot 2 - a single-motor turning robot

2008-02-02T22:56:00.000Z

I was forced into rebuilding UniBot in order to take a photo of it for nxtlog. However, I've never liked a straight rebuild so took the opportunity to improve it. Very pleased with the results - much more stable and strong, and no 'wobble' as it drives forward (a problem you can clearly see on the video of UniBot1).

After seeing some of the discussion on the nxtasy forums regarding the first UniBot, I thought I would add some better "attachment points" and use only elements from the NXT Retail Set. This should help people with only one NXT Set (myself included) potentially build some "higher functionality" robots - as using UniBot as a mobile base effectively frees-up a motor from turning duties, allowing for more complicated 2-motor mechanisms on top.

I'd love to hear of anyone who uses UniBot2 in this way. Please give me a shout if you do.

The LDD file for UniBot2 will be available on nxtlog shortly.

UniBot - a single-motor Lego robot that can turn

2008-01-24T11:43:00.000Z

Here is the video of UniBot in action (if you can really call a few turns 'action'!)

The instructions will be up soon here, and after a bit more tweaking I'll post the LDD file on nxtlog.

UniBot - a single-motor robot that can turn

2008-01-23T22:26:00.000Z

Been slightly obsessed recently with trying to build a robot that could drive and steer with just one motor.

Thanks to 222doc's excellent description of a floating worm arrangement on the nxtasy forums, I started messing about with that.

Got a robot built called UniBot which can drive forward and turn in one direction - all off one motor. Rather pleased about that.

Will have video on here shortly, and will get the LDD file finished soon so others can build UniBot too.

ChopperBot - Lego NXT Helicopter Simulator

2008-01-06T12:40:00.000Z

The LDD files, building guide and program are now available for ChopperBot.

You can find them on NXTlog here.

If you do build ChopperBot then please let me know how you get on.

Ride of the ChopperBot - a Lego NXT helicopter simulator

2007-12-30T23:35:00.000Z

It's finished! Check this out and keep an eye out for the LDD.

NXT Lego Robot Helicopter (kind of)

2007-12-29T23:56:00.000Z

Over the last couple of days I've put a helicopter simulator sort of thing together. The chopper at the end of the arm "flies" with the pilot controlling it via the NXT buttons and touch sensor.

Very pleased with it's performance and will have a video of it on YouTube soon. Also managed to pull together an LDD file of it and have used that to start putting instructions together - watch this space!

Lego Bulldozer - I got one!

2007-12-29T12:54:00.000Z

And it ROCKS. Oh yes.

Looking forward to working out how to incorporate the new PF motors into my robots, but having too much fun driving it around and shoving stuff to take it to bits yet.

And that's that...

2007-12-27T00:23:00.000Z

Righto...

Finally finished off my entry for the NXTasy.org challenge.

Had quite enough of "serious robots" for the time being. It's back to daft contraptions and pet-scaring Daleks for the foreseeable future.

Watch this space...

Theo Jnr - Lego NXT line-following walker robot

2007-12-26T12:57:00.000Z

Here is video of Theo Jnr completing a circuit of the test mat oval for the NXTasy challenge.

He's pretty slow - clocking in at a sedate 80 seconds for the lap, but I'm rather pleased with his smooth and stately progress round the track. I know the challenge doesn't close until March, but I kind of feel that this is as fast as Theo Jnr will get and, rather than tweaking this robot, I want to get on and build some new ones.

The LDD file which you can use to make building instructions for Theo Jnr is now available on NXTlog.

Have thoroughly enjoyed building this robot for the NXTasy challenge, prompted me to complete my efforts to build a Lego version of one of Theo Jansen's walking machines.

Video of Theo Jnr in action

2007-12-24T13:16:00.000Z

Meet Theo Junior...

2007-12-23T09:34:00.000Z

Hello everyone, meet Theo Junior. He will be my entry for the NXTasy.org challenge.

He's based on the walking machines designed by Theo Jansen. I love these things and have been trying to get a Lego version built for ages. Finally nailed it and am amazed at how smooth the walking action is.

Will have video soon, and hopefully an LDD file (although that will be a complete pig to do). In the meantime, if you fancy building one of these, here's the leg arrangement I finally came up with after much experimentation.

At the moment, Theo Jnr will complete a circuit of the oval on the test mat in just over a minute. Clearly not going to be fast enough to win the challenge having seen some of the times people are talking about on the nxtasy forums, but he'll hopefully not disgrace himself.

Sepp - improved bridge-laying robot

2007-12-15T23:20:00.000Z

Fraengg got in touch again about a new version of his robot Sepp. He is kind enough to credit my bridge-laying robot Madison as the inspiration for his, but Sepp is way better than Madison ever was.

Much respect.

Tina: the concertina bot - LDD file

2007-12-14T11:32:00.000Z

Hello...

After a prompt from a comment, I've put the LDD file for Tina on nxtLOG. It should be available shortly amongst my projects on there.

Enjoy.

dogWALKER: a little robot dog

2007-12-02T19:03:00.001Z

Been quite some time since I built anything, been starting a new job in the real world...

However, here is dogWALKER, a little four-legged walker which I turned into a dog.

He's got an interesting transmission setup which you can see better in the instructions which can be found here

Alternatively, the LDD file should be available on NXTlog shortly.

Lego NXT Dalek

2007-08-13T09:34:00.000+01:00

Here's a Dalek I built with Mindstorms Lego over the weekend. The first time I've tried to combine studless with normal bricks. Bit of a pest, but it turned out ok I think.

Genuinely a bit sinister when it starts moving. Brought back all those "behind the sofa" moments...

Sepp: someone else's bridge-laying robot

2007-08-11T11:23:00.000+01:00

Got contacted by "fraenggnxt" on YouTube. He said he'd been inspired by Madison, my bridge-laying robot, and had built one of his own.

His robot is called Sepp, and it's fantastic. Much more reliable than Madison was, and faster too. Uses tracks instead of wheels, which is interesting and something I might have a go at.

Check out his robot here.

The original vid for Madison is over on the right of the page.

KILO: Holonomic robot building guide

2007-08-06T15:10:00.000+01:00

Hello!

Finally finished a building guide for KILO, a holonomic Killough-platform robot.

Acknowledgements go to Philo's Rama, Steve H's Omni and billy259 and GhostInside's nxtlog projects for inspiration.

I know there are quite a few of this style of robot out there, but I thought the wheel arrangement I came up with was different enough to merit posting, and there seem to be no other instructions online (that I could find anyway!) for this kind of project.

Building guide is here, and video of KILO in action can be seen over on the right of the page.

New Biped Robot

2007-07-31T20:36:00.001+01:00

Here is a new biped walker robot I built last night. Video of it walking is over on the right.

It uses two wheels to move the NXT brick backwards and forwards, moving the robot's centre of gravity from leg to leg.

The two turntables underneath act as 'hips', turning the torso above and making the other leg move forward.

The turntables are linked together with a large gear, and initially I thought I would just have one motor driving both legs and only having a motor in the other leg for balance. However, I found it moved much smoother when both motors were driving the movement - much less slippage.

This biped is pretty slow, but walks in a reliably straight line.

LDD instructions for TINA the concertina bot

2007-07-19T21:41:00.001+01:00

Been playing about with LDD a bit more, trying to get the hang of it.

Today I put together some instructions for TINA the concertina-robot. Still find LDD's instruction-generating thing quite amazing.

As with quadWALKER, there are already photo instructions on nxtlog for this robot, but I think the LDD ones are better.

Check out the instructions here.

Currently working on some other LDD building guides for new robots. However my holidays finish this weekend so working to pay the mortgage might get in the way of Lego stuff for a few days.

Mister Slink: Lego Snake/Worm Robot Thing

2007-07-19T15:20:00.000+01:00

Knocked this robot up last night. Love the way it moves - not remotely efficient, but most entertaining.

Video of Mister Slink is on right hand side of page.

LDD instructions for quadWALKER

2007-07-17T01:21:00.000+01:00

Been messing about with Lego Digital Designer's new Mindstorms pieces. Very impressive.

Using it is a bit fiddly, especially if you're used to more forgiving camera controls in other 3d apps.

To get the hang of playing about with it I put together some instructions for the walking base of quadWALKER. There are already photo instructions on nxtlog for quadWALKER, but I think these are much better.

Trickiest part of putting this together in LDD was using the 'hinge' control to get the pinholes in the legs lined up properly.

Thoroughly impressed with the way LDD generates instructions though. It's like magic.

Check the instructions out here.

Hello!

2007-07-16T15:49:00.000+01:00

Well hello...

This blog page is initially just to provide a video host for my robot vids without sending anyone from nxtlog over to YouTube.

Will hopefully get some instructions up here soon. In the meantime, watch the vids and let me know which robot is your favourite.