Subject:
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Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:30:27 GMT
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Viewed:
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11582 times
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In lugnet.boats, Brian Davis wrote:
> In lugnet.announce, Michael Huffman wrote:
>
> > The challenge was then thrown out for GFLUG members to construct
> > a floating vehicle from LEGO that will be able to maneuver across
> > a pool using LEGO-only power.
>
> Cool. Although since the festival takes place at Downtown Disney, I think
> you really should have had a race across the entire lake. Serenity could
> handle it:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7gQdt7Cu8
>
> And I've got the 2.0 version (using two blue hulls... and mounting a camera
> that can view above or below water) all built (around here, unfortunately,
> the water is starting to freeze).
Very nice; I like your design! Since it was our first challenge, we figured we
still needed someone in the pool, just in case something went wrong... We had
one boat capsized, one boat take on too much water, & a few circle out of
control.
> > * Always remember try out your boat in water before the event.
>
> Further note: the center of mass is an important concept, as is the center of
> boyancy... and they're not the same thing :).
Yes, that came up in follow-up discussions. :)
> > * Water-proof your electronics! Can't stress this enough.
>
> Or, since I'm not sure there's a true all-LEGO way of doing this... make
> *darn* sure it won't sink. One potentially helpful almost-within-your-rules
> suggestion? Fill the boat hulls with styrofoam. It really doesn't change
> the "LEGO" aspect of it, but it does assure that if the hull starts taking
> on water, it can't take on very much, so the system still floats even if
> swamped.
I think it'd be allowed... within reason. The initial problem was this part
would take on water:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=50821c01
Since the top half didn't snap on well to the bottom half, it would take on
water quickly. So we allowed for tape. But I could see filling it with a type
of foam or by adding styrofoam would be a great benefit from keeping it from
sinking... so it doesn't break the spirit of keeping it dry (afloat) instead of
improving performance.
> > * The Advance Heap: The second race will be for those boats that can do a
> > "pool lap" (ie. go from pool side A to pool side B, then back to pool side
> > A). Similar to the America's cup, your boat will sail around buoys or
> > maneuver around obstacles in the pool.
>
> Two suggestions here: try it autonomously (a lot of fun... and *boy* do you
> have to trust your programming), and try sailboats.
Great ideas! We talked about sailboats afterwards, but we didn't think it would
work without portable fans. :) But I could see it working with a few shop fans
by the pool side... otherwise the race would take forever (very little breeze
the night of the event).
> Do you have any video?
Yes, maybe. Since it was at night, we'll have to see how well the video comes
out. I didn't take the video; I've asked if we could get a small segment of the
race up on YouTube if it looks good. I'll let you know.
--Mike.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
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| (...) Thanks - like you said, simple sometimes tends to be a good approach, and while I only had the red hulls there wasn't a lot of mass budget to "overbuild". (...) That I *completely* understand. I just haven't had the luxury of a warm pool to (...) (15 years ago, 14-Nov-08, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.boats)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: LEGO Powered Boat Race
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| (...) Cool. Although since the festival takes place at Downtown Disney, I think you really should have had a race across the entire lake. Serenity could handle it: (URL) I've got the 2.0 version (using two blue hulls... and mounting a camera that (...) (15 years ago, 14-Nov-08, to lugnet.boats, lugnet.robotics)
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