Spent a few minutes building a rig to evaluate a LEGO Mindstorms sensor that measures angles. Spent a few hours trying to read the angles from a computer program. Eventually a simple test suggested the sensor is defective. My next LEGO creation needs to “know” its joint angles.
Category: Play
Sinister Reflections
Played with mirrored surfaces at the Guthrie on my walk to meet a friend to go for a walk. The repetition of the George Bernard Shaw panel took me to a sinister place where a pacifist playwright was transformed into a Dear Leader.
LEGO Pneumatic Prototype
Built a quick prototype of a pneumatic mechanism. The yellow baseplates are a new LEGO Technic part that makes it easier to explore a mechanism before incorporating it into a more formal beam structure.
Remnant of WWII
On my cycle ride: World War II guard tower built to protect a Norden bombsight factory. Today, tenants of the old factory buildings include a distillery and a company that develops LEGO military model kits. (The LEGO Company has a strict policy against selling military models.)
Model Railroad Sale
Locked up my bike outside the Twin City Model Railroad Museum. In a dark room where the lights had failed, other nerdy old guys were pointing their phone flashlights at tables filled with surplus models that were on sale. I did likewise, looked, but didn’t buy.
My First Great Ball Contraption
Posted video of My First Great Ball Contraption.
My First Great Ball Contraption
https://youtu.be/MpkWSPPooqs A great ball contraption (GBC) is a [LEGO] machine which receives soccer balls or basketballs from one module and passes them to another module, rather like a bucket brigade. Modules built according to the GBC standard can be assembled into a collaborative display without pre-planning or modification.greatballcontraption.com GBC’s are a whole LEGO subculture, complete…… Continue reading My First Great Ball Contraption
No Video Game Here
Spent way too many hours hacking data streaming out of a game controller. I don’t do video games, I’m figuring out how to use it to control seven servo-motors
Visualizing LEGO
Got back to my Lego Mindstorms robot after resting my brain for a few weeks. Started building a software visualization of the robot to help me understand where to move the joints to position the tip of the robot at a particular position and orientation. Needed a nap afterwards.
AFOL
Did something really nerdy: posted to a technical discussion on an AFOL (adult fans of LEGO) site.