Posts Tagged ‘LEGO’

LEGO MINDSTORMS 51515 Unboxing

Posted: October 27, 2020 in Engineering, LEGO, News, Robotics
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October brought a new LEGO MINDSTORMS set to the world. The Robot Inventor 51515 brings some new elements, a new system, and a new color scheme. LEGO was kind enough to send me a set to explore and share. Below is the first video in my series, unboxing the set and my initial thoughts.

This is the first part of a series of videos covering the new kit. From unboxing, to programming, to experimentation and build, check back over the next few weeks as I share this awesome new set!

The set is a lot like Spike Prime. You might want to check out that post to hear my thoughts. If you want to get your hands on the set, you can follow my Amazon affiliate link to get a set. Using the link helps keep this website going and you can use it to search for any purchase as well.

Live Stream: LEGO Spike Prime and Expansion Set Unboxing

Posted: May 4, 2020 in LEGO, News
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Let’s talk Spike Prime! Have you heard of it? It’s a new robotics  kit from LEGO Education. I figured I would  share an unboxing of the new sets. I thought we would cover my thoughts and some comparison with the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. I’ll being talking about things to consider with the parts, sensors, and electronics and how it might be useful in FIRST LEGO League. This will be a great video for any FIRST LEGO League coaches out there and I encourage you to comment during the steam and after to keep the conversation going!

Video link is above.

  • Thursday, May 7th, 2020
  • 7:30 PM Eastern Time
  • Video will be available on YouTube after the stream (probably by Friday morning)

LEGO LIVE NYC 2018

Posted: February 21, 2018 in LEGO, News
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February 2018 welcomed a new official LEGO event in the USA: LEGO LIVE. This event celebrated community, creativity, and of course those iconic bricks. I, along with Kyle (aka Builderdude35), Justine, and Jon took charge of developing an interactive LEGO MINDSTORMS Booth. Besides showing off some exclusive MOCs, our both was also home to an epic LEGO MINDSTORMS Sumo Challenge!

Our sumo challenge invited guests to modify the tracker robot that can be built with the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set. Once modified, guests could program the bot with the use of colorful blocks. This idea is hardly new, having previously been used other projects, such as NXT P-Sumo with RFID cards, and color blocks with the EV3 Fix-It Factory. This approach provides an easy interface to program a robot while at a show, without the need for lots of laptops or iPads.

After building and programming their bots, our guests were invited to compete against each other in our sumo right. Yours truly spent the majority of the event announcing matches and celebrating these matches, but traded off with Jon and some of our assistants. With thousands of guests per session, we hosted several hundred sumo matches!

While sumo was a huge draw for the booth, we also came with some unique EV3 MOCs. Kyle brought his hallmark grunt while Jon brought his incredible LEGO birds. Justine showcased her EV3-ified Millennium Falcon. I brought Creep3r. Just naming a few. With so many bots, it was a struggle to keep batteries charged and man all the tables! Not bad for this small group.

The booth often had a wait of 20 or 30 minutes to play sumo. Our MOCs provided a great distraction for kids and adults waiting in line. We were able to catch one calm shot before the crowds and it was impressive to see what 4 AFOLs could create in their spare time!

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Even with all the crowds and robots to maintain, we still found time for fun! There were some human-sized minifigs walking around and Justine and I were able to score a selfie with LEGO Lady Liberty!

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It was a great weekend and come Sunday night it was hard to believe it was over. Packing up, we were all sad to leave.

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As cool as LEGO LIVE was, I was disappointed to leave one MOC behind. I haven’t showcased this creation yet, but here’s a sneak peek for those of you who read the whole post! Stay tuned for more!

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Maker Tip: Sorting LEGO

Posted: November 30, 2016 in LEGO, Maker Tips, News
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My favorite building platform is LEGO. I have boxes of LEGO Technic. I frequently build robots and then take them apart. To make finding the right part easier, I sort most of my LEGO. The image above is a small stash of my sorted LEGO Technic parts.

There are three stages to my sorting scheme. First is what you see in the picture, little bins holding small quantities of parts. I typically use these bins to build a model as they are handy and portable.

Bins work well for small amounts of parts, but if your addicted to LEGO like I am, you probably have way more parts than you can fit in bins. Inside the cardboard box you see in the photo (and several others around my apartment) is a similar assortment of parts, but in bags. Each type of part gets its own bag and these bags hold the overflow of parts. For larger projects where I need a lot of one part, I will usually pull the bags and keep them handy. Some parts, like LEGO Technic pins, I keep in soda bottles. I find it is easier to fill up a 2 liter bottle with black friction pins and pour from that. Bags have a nasty habit of friction pins all over my work area.

My last level or sorting is something I affectionately call MUL or Miscellaneous Unsorted LEGO. MUL is typically a box (or now 3) of past projects or sets I have parted out to get sorted. A few times a year (and I am in the middle of one right now), I take all my MUL parts and sort them. Most of the time parts go directly to a bag as I like to keep my bins stocked.

While I sort parts by type, I do not sort by color. While I would love to have that much organization, it simply isn’t practical for me to spend the time parting things out that far. I also do not have that many parts on hand (although I’m sure my brother, parents, girlfriend, and apartment maintenance manager would disagree).

I enjoy keeping my LEGO parts sorted and organized. It lets me build without having to dig for a part. This is just one method of organization and I know many other AFOLs sort their bricks as well. It is software a work in progress as it has evolved over time. I am always open to new sorting ideas!

PSA: Major LEGO MINDSTORMS Software Update!

Posted: October 20, 2016 in Engineering, LEGO, News
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If you have launched EV3-G recently, you probably discovered that there is a new update! LEGO has released version 1.2.2 to address the “VM Program Instruction Break” bug. Be sure to update your software to the latest version. The bug did not affect the firmware on your EV3, just the compiler in EV3-G.

The Seshan Brothers, over at EV3Lessons.com, have an excellent overview of the bug.

You can download the latest versions of the LEGO MINDSTORMS programming software here!

LEGO at World Maker Faire

Posted: October 19, 2016 in LEGO, News
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LEGO was all over World Maker Faire! Besides FIRST LEGO League, LEGO was a common sight. LEGO provides a flexible building platform and Makers love LEGO. While it might not ship in a final project, the iconic, modular bricks provides an unmatched ease of use for prototyping. This has been one of my favorite posts to write, showing off all the awesome creations of the community! Follow me after the break to check out more of the LEGO sights of World Maker Faire 2016!

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LEGO MINDSTORMS Aerial Camera Bot

Posted: October 13, 2016 in Engineering, LEGO, Robotics
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As I mentioned last week, I want to share a really fun robot. Sorry for the delay in this post, but I needed to make a quick video of the footage for Youtube. The Maker movement is all about fusing different mediums to create something unique. For this ROBOT MAK3R, that means mixing 3D Printing, LEGO MINDSTORMS, Spider Wire, and a GoPro action camera.

Capturing events is always a challenge for me. While I am displaying, I am typically very busy answering questions and meeting everyone. I really wanted a way to document these awesome events that still allowed me to be social. Sounds like a robot to me! With some on-site programming I was able to achieve this goal! While the bot needed a bit of tuning, movement along its wire was smooth and pan and tilt controls worked as designed! Not bad for a quick build! Check out the footage from World Maker Faire 2016 and learn about this awesome bot after the break!

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World Maker Faire 2016

Posted: October 5, 2016 in News
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This past weekend was World Maker Faire 2016 in New York. Maker Faire is a celebration of creativity, technology, and invention. I was lucky to attend the event again this year, showing off some LEGO robots at the ILUGNY booth. While the booth was constantly busy, I was able to explore and see some truly amazing projects. Follow me after the break for more photos from this incredible event!

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Maker Tip: RTFM – Read The Fine Manual

Posted: September 28, 2016 in Maker Tips
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20160928_211917679_iosEveryone knows they should read the manual. But let’s be honest, we don’t. Maybe it’s because you’re already an expert in that new gizmo you just bought or maybe you just don’t have time. Rarely do we want to follow instructions unless something is really wrong.

For a maker, the manual or instructions is a great source of creativity! I love reading LEGO instructions. I learn new building techniques that help me make better creations. For example, a bot I am taking to World Maker Faire this weekend has some components that are modified from a LEGO set. I built the part according to the manual and then decided to enhance it and tweak the design to fit my project.

This works beyond LEGO sets. Remember that radio I took with me to the Caribbean? I modified the schematic to add in the transistor. I could have also made other tweaks to change frequency or power output.

So the next time someone says RTFM, don’t feel offended. Look at it as an opportunity to learn something new, a starting point for your own creativity, or a solution to a problem.

Book Review: LEGO Power Functions Idea Book Vols. 1 & 2

Posted: November 25, 2015 in Book Reviews, Engineering, LEGO, News
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These came in a while ago, but with all the travel this fall, I have been behind in my posting. I wanted to get share my review before the holiday season started as these are certainly must-haves for any LEGO Technic builder!

Before we dig into the books, let’s talk about the author, Yoshihito Isogawa. Yoshihito is one of the best Technic/MINDSTORMS builders out there. He hosts countless workshops in Japan and is always creating! What is so cool is that his creations can be used in so many different projects! They really are a great starting point. I highly recommend his LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Idea Book.

Now let’s talk about the LEGO Power Functions Idea Book Volume 1: Machines and Mechanisms. The first volume’s focus on machines is spot on! Many of the modules, for lack of a better term, are innovative ways to mount LEGO Power Functions motors and transfer power in a useful way.

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As you can see from the example page, there quick little projects provide lots of photos and a bill of materials. While the book does not give you step-by-step instructions, much of the design is easy to figure out. More on that later.

The various machines Yoshihito provide lots of attachment points. I spent a few hours building some of the mechanisms from his book. I learned some good building techniques and I can really see myself using them in upcoming projects.

LEGO Power Functions Idea Book Volume 2: Cars and Contraptions is probably the more useful book for me. Many of the robots I build move. Cars and Contraptions shows some really unique drivetrains. These ideas would be super useful for FIRST LEGO League teams.

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I rarely uses LEGO Power Functions in my drivetrains. These ideas will certainly change that. The beauty of LEGO Power Functions is that it super easy to integrate into a robot. While the motors are not encoded, they do provide a lot of power in a small package. These presents a unique design challenge and something that I am looking really forward to exploring.

My favorite part of this book is that it doesn’t give the entire design. So many of us are attached to building instructions. I love idea of just sharing pictures and letting others build off that idea. Yoshihito does exactly that. I found myself having to improvise when I couldn’t quite figure out how to make something or lacking a part. This was great fun and just added to the enjoyment from these books. The various models are simple enough that you get by with just photos, but yet also open ended so that is room to make your own take on everything! I would highly suggest this approach for anyone who feels that step-by-step instructions are too simple, but not quite ready to create from scratch.

Long story short, I would highly suggest both of these books and they should make it on to any holiday shopping list! Yoshihito is an amazing LEGO builder and it is truly a gift that he is sharing these ideas with the global LEGO community!

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