Sunday, October 20, 2013

Fall Renovation

Lately I have been doing a lot of work on a custom skin for this blog. It isn't 100% glitch free yet or completely finished, but I still wanted to apply the changes so far and see what you think. If you see any problems or would like to give some feedback please do so here. Hope you guys like it!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

LEGO GBC - 5 Modules

Sorry for the long gap between posts, I just have been really busy this summer! Anyway a few months ago I started building a GBC, I didn't put a whole lot of time into it so it took a lot longer than it normally would to finish. After about three months of on and off work I finally finished it! More will be posted below.
I first decided to build a Great Ball Contraption after being inspired by many other great GBC builders such as: AkiyukyYiharua, and LegoGBC just to name a few. I first built the "Ferris wheel" module, then I built the "Mechanical chain" module, after the first two modules were completed I started putting it together. Then I started adding more modules, until I had finished the loop. After that I fixed out all the glitches and created the program for the NXT module.
Here is the video of my GBC in action:
Overall I wouldn't say this is my best creation ever, but it was one of the ones I am most proud of. Also I am planning on making a 2.0 version sometime in the near future which should be A LOT better then this one, so stay tuned! 

Additional information and pictures can be found here

Monday, January 7, 2013

EV3 - The Newest Mindstorms Generation

Today Lego Education released that they have made another generation of Mindstorms, called: EV3

The Lego Education Mindstorms EV3 set.

Here is Lego Educations Offical news release:


January 7, 2013 – Today, LEGO® Education announced the LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 platform, the next generation of robotics for the classroom, continuing 15 years of MINDSTORMS robotics technology for education. The EV3 platform was created based on feedback from more than 800 educators worldwide and provides relevant robotics curriculum and technology for teaching computer science, science, technology, engineering, and math through a hands-on experience with sensors, motors, programming, and the programmable EV3 Brick. Students can now build and program a fully functioning robot in a single 45-minute class period.
The platform includes customizable curriculum that is digitally delivered and installs directly into the LEGO Education MINDSTORMS programming software lobby. The built-in digital workbook can be used by students to capture their work as they progress through the lessons, making it easy for the teacher to follow students’ progress and assess their work.
The EV3 platform includes Design Engineering Projects, a curriculum package with 30 hours of classroom instruction. The structure of the activities in the Design Engineering Projects curriculum follows the engineering design process used by scientists and engineers in many industries. Using videos of real-world robots as inspiration, the students are given a design brief that challenges them to develop, design, and share their solution. Throughout the process, students learn through combining and applying science, technology, and math disciplinary skills as they engineer their design solution. This structure is designed to help students develop the creative-thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills required for success in school and beyond.
The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set comes with the EV3 Brick, rechargeable battery, sensors, motors, large brick selection, a new ball wheel, and building instructions. The intuitive software platform for EV3 is based on National Instruments LabVIEW™ graphical programming software, the same technology that powers some of the greatest innovations on the planet, and includes new data-logging capabilities that allow students to collect, graph, and calculate their data. Also available is the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set, which enables students to build larger-scale, more complex robots. For easy classroom management, both the base education set and the expansion set have storage bins and sorting trays.
LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 is now available for preorder and will ship in the fall semester of 2013. 

More pictures and information can be found here


It looks totally awesome! Although I must admit I am a little disappointed with the higher price, I will still be saving up for one though.