Subject:
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So why build robots out of LEGO in the first place?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 7 Jan 1999 00:29:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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987 times
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I have made the following personal observations about LEGO, and why it is my
medium of choice for robot building.
LEGO is very easy to assemble. You can figure out what you want beforehand,
without really needing to worry too much about difficulties that may arise
during the physical manufacturing process.
LEGO has such a variety of pieces, that it is very rarely actually necessary
to resort to physically machining your own components. On the occasions that it
is, it can often be improvised with readily available stuff such as popsicle
sticks, rubber bands, something that might cost a buck or two at Radio Shack or
a hardware store, or some other simple thing.
LEGO is suited to learning new things without being pressured. You can
experiment and tinker with different ideas without necessarily being committed
to any of them. When you find one that works well or that you particularly
like, you can almost instantly incorporate the design into anything that is made
of LEGO.
LEGO is very easy to disassemble. You can easily cannibilize any older
model for parts with the full knowledge that they can always be rebuilt if you
get more certain types of pieces.
LEGO is sturdy. Without requiring any permanent or semi-permanent
adhesives, a well constructed LEGO model can withstand more of a beating for its
mass than one might expect just to look at it.
LEGO is just plain fun. Who can argue with this one?
Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with building a Rug Warrior, or any of
the other numerous mobile robot kits that are out there. However, they just do
not afford the flexibility and especially the reusability that LEGO has.
Moving back to a subject more in line with the original subject of this
thread, in my original post, I was not so much lamenting the limitations of the
RCX itself (well, maybe a little... but that wasn't the point I was actually
trying to make). Rather, I was primarily expressing frustration over the lack
of viable options in the way of a robust microcontroller board that fully
integrates with LEGO in the same way that makes LEGO so much fun to work with in
the first place.
Just my 1.3 cents worth.
> > Mark
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: So why build robots out of LEGO in the first place?
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| Mark Tarrabain wrote (...) my (...) <snip... a number of good reasons with which I agree (except for the Popsicle sticks and rubber-bands... good-god Man! have you gone _mad_? :) (1) (...) the (...) actually (...) lack (...) with in (...) Ahhh! (...) (25 years ago, 7-Jan-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Working around the 3 output limitation
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| This is a little ramble on the subject. The ideas in the later posts of this thread are in my opinion what Lego **is**. It is innovation in the face of "limited" options. It is creativity and problem solving. When I bought my Mindstorms it said (...) (25 years ago, 6-Jan-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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