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It has to be said (since I had one previous run-in with the legal department of the LEGO company, but that's neither here nor there), that this page is in no way affiliated with the LEGO Company (Canada or otherwise) and is not endorsed by the aforementioned company.
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***February 18, 2005***
My second GBC!
Not nearly as nice as the first, but it's an experiment.
This one uses a 'stepping system' to raise the soccer balls to the proper level.
See a video of both GBC's working together here
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***February 15, 2005***
It's been a while since I've updated this part of my website! Anyway, Steve et Co. came up with a fantastically fun idea for Mindstorms/'bot making! They call this idea (ready for this?), "The Great Ball Contraption!"
The idea, simply, is to build a LEGO contrption that moves LEGO soccer balls from a hopper to another hopper. That's the rules. How you move the actual LEGO soccer balls is entirley up to the designer/builder.
K, there are a few other miscellaneous rules for width, height, and specifications, but, by and large, not too much limits placed on your version of a GBC.
See Steve's homepage regarding the GBC here.
See a little video of my ball pump here
So here's the pics of my first GBC! It's what's called in the business a 'Ball Pump'
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The ides is that a brick is moved around in a circular direction. When the brick is moving down, a ball falls on top of it. Then, when the brick comes around and starts coming back up on the other side of the rotation, the brick pushes the ball up the chute.
Works quite well if I do say so myself. Even made it see-thru so y'all can see how the 'magic' is done! I had to redesign the hopper such that it won't get jammed up if there's many soccer balls in it. I'm still not completely satisfied with the hopper--occasionally it does get jammed up if it's full.
Other than that, it's pretty god for my first attempt at a GBC.
Thanks Steve for the awesome idea!
Note that this GBC doesn't use a Mindstorms brick. However, future GBC's that I plan on building will be using the RCX, so that's why it's here on the Mindstorms page.
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***June 1, 2003***
The rtlToronto group has an impromtu get-together to test out the viability of LEGO Pipe Racers... |
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After a quick trip to Home Despot, we're back to Calum's to throw a maze of pipe together.
First the cutting... |
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And more cutting...
And then putting together. |
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John had the beginnings of a pipe-driving 'bot there. He tested, and found a 'few weaknesses' with his design--but great start... |
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