Having refined the LEGO gantry crane’s mechanics sufficiently, I’ve turned my focus to machine vision. This introduces software challenges that I’m tackling in small doses.
Category: Play
Pieceful Thanksgiving
With Dwight immersed in his Sunday plant-care routine, I assembled the first 400 pieces (out of 800) of a LEGO dried flower centerpiece for Thanksgiving. The end result, though lacking some apparently superfluous parts, seems OK to me.
Symmetry vs. Function
Today I had to accept symmetry in my LEGO gantry crane isn’t always achievable. Here’s the hoist and grabber subassemblies, operated by pneumatic pistons. Scissor mechanisms are inherently not symmetric in operation, so I had to consider choosing symmetry in either the extended or closed positions, not both.
Not Quite Ready for Its Closeup
The latest, but not the final, iteration of my LEGO gantry crane. I periodically work and rework mechanisms, frame structure (thank you Pythagoras), or Python program, but it often sits waiting for a fresh idea.
When LEGO Parts Come Out of Hiding
Sunset is generally the best time of day to reunite with small LEGO parts I’d dropped.
Sweating the Small Stuff
I’ve been agonizing over best practices for attaching a LEGO drive chain to a carriage. Today, I was inspired by online instructions for a forklift truck that uses a chain to lift. I attached the chain to one link of a tank tread, and inserted the ends of the link into the holes of Technic beams. Easy!
AFOL* Inspiration
There’s always something new on our weekly Sunday morning walk: today, LEGO inspiration. There’s going to be some heavy lifting at this University of Minnesota heating plant. *Adult Fan of LEGO.
Unstructured Mondays
I like to leave Mondays unstructured. Started the day slowly, reading and sipping coffee. Went for a bike ride with more coffee and a donut. Took a nap after lunch. Finally, successfully connected a PlayStation controller to my pneumatic hoist and gripper via a computer program.
Software Incompatibilities
Worked on my LEGO gantry crane. Spent way too much time trying to get different versions of different software to play nice with each other across three computers.
Gantry Crane: Progress Update
Prototyped the x and y axes of my minimal gantry crane. Next up: z axis (hoist) and a pneumatic grabber. I’ve written a Python program to pull it all together and to interface with a PlayStation controller to help me test as I build. The final product may look nothing like this.