JLiu15 Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Experimental MOC combining Mindstorms Robot Inventor and Control+. Features drive, backing alarm, arm elevation, bucket tilt, and a pallet fork alternate attachment with manually adjustable fork width. Functions/features: Drive (4x medium angular motors; 1 per wheel) Arm elevation (C+ L motor) Bucket tilt (C+ L motor) Manually adjustable fork width (on pallet fork attachment) Backing alarm Ever since I had heard that the new Mindstorms Robot Inventor is cross-compatible with Control+, I made a goal of creating a MOC combining them. A skid-steer loader seemed like a good subject to start for me - I wanted the drive to be as direct as possible, without connecting the wheels on one side with gears to a single motor. This meant 4 motors for the drive and 2 motors for each of the arm functions - perfect for the 6 ports on the Robot Inventor hub. The building process started with a base for the model - 4 medium angular motors each connected to a single wheel via a planetary hub. The motors were sandwiched between 2 11x15 Technic frames, creating a robust structure. The Robot Inventor hub is placed behind this part, and the C+ L motors for the arm functions are located above the drive motors. The chassis was kept as flat as possible with everything kept low to lower the center of gravity. Just in front of the Robot Inventor hub are two gear trains that transfer drive to the arm elevation and bucket tilt functions. Thanks to the use of planetary hubs, the model had plenty of torque and is able to climb some steep slopes without any issues, as shown in the video. Aesthetics wise, the model has a simple yellow/black color scheme. My original inspiration for this model was the CASE SV340, so the color scheme had some resemblance to that. Building the bodywork was quite discouraging at first due to it feeling like a building a box on wheels, but the model's looks really came together as the arms and rear body panels were installed. I also used plates and tiles to cover up bare pin holes and make the model look more finished, especially on the roof but also in other areas like the front windshield pillars and the top of the arms. Additionally, the model includes a handful of new 2021 panels, such as the small 3L curved panel and the 3x7 flat panel. As for accessing the Robot Inventor hub, there are 2 discreet switches in the bottom rear of the model that press the power and Bluetooth buttons on the hub. As everything is done from my iPad after powering it on and connecting it via Bluetooth, I don't have to look at the screen or press the left/right buttons. The status sounds from the hub allow me to know if the hub is powered on, connected, or powered off. As for controlling the model, I created a simple control profile in the Robot Inventor app using its code blocks. Two sliders control drive, and the arm functions are controlled using buttons. Additionally, a backing alarm sounds when driving in reverse. This feature is only controlled by the left slider, as I found that controlling it with both will essentially cause two backing alarms to play over each other. One issue I had is that the drive motors often don't start all at once - there'd be a noticeable delay in one or more of the motors. The C+ motors for the arm functions, however, work fine. I'm not sure what causes this, but this will definitely be something to consider for my next Robot Inventor/C+ hybrid MOC. Overall, I'm decently satisfied with this MOC. It was an interesting experiment in combining Robot Inventor and C+ that largely went according to plan. As someone who builds Technic MOCs, the new Robot Inventor hub is far better than the EV3 brick - it's got much better form factor (it's even a stud lower than the C+ hub), uses rechargeable batteries and is therefore much lighter, and has 6 ports that aren't restricted to motors or sensors. The only downsides IMO are the color (as teal doesn't blend well with most colors in Lego Technic) and the bright screen, but that can be easily covered up as I've done here. I definitely have plans for more Robot Inventor/C+ hybrids in the future, whether that be a Robot Inventor hub MOC with C+ motors or a C+ hub MOC with Robot Inventor motors. Photos: Video: Quote
Zerobricks Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Very nice, clean build. You wrote you are powering the wheels directly from motors. Which motors are using for driving? Quote
iLego Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Wow, such a clean build ! Can't imagine so many motors and the hub is stuffed inside. Quote
JLiu15 Posted January 22, 2021 Author Posted January 22, 2021 3 hours ago, Zerobricks said: Very nice, clean build. You wrote you are powering the wheels directly from motors. Which motors are using for driving? Thanks! 4x medium angular motors are used for driving; you can see it in the video. Just now, iLego said: Wow, such a clean build ! Can't imagine so many motors and the hub is stuffed inside. Yup, tried to make it as compact as possible. Quote
Jurss Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Nice loader. Desing is simple and clean. That count of motors used is something. Most probably whole main frame is made from motors. It would be interesting to see some belly picture, or something from internals. In terms of lego, it may be heavy duty, but as such, it is more like large scale model. I remember, that I built something similar some time ago, and I realised, that it was my first ever topic here Quote
JLiu15 Posted January 22, 2021 Author Posted January 22, 2021 7 hours ago, Jurss said: Nice loader. Desing is simple and clean. That count of motors used is something. Most probably whole main frame is made from motors. It would be interesting to see some belly picture, or something from internals. In terms of lego, it may be heavy duty, but as such, it is more like large scale model. I remember, that I built something similar some time ago, and I realised, that it was my first ever topic here Yup, essentially the entire base of the model is made of motors. You can see a bottom view in the video, as well as internals in the WIP topic: As for the "heavy duty" part, my inspiration for this model was the CASE SV340 which looked pretty heavy-duty to me. It looked significantly larger than most skid-steer loaders I've seen. I didn't want the name to be too generic either, but I remember back to 2018 when the 42079 wasn't really "heavy duty" as the name says lol. Quote
Jurss Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Yes, that CASE looks littlebit different than others. Somehow I missed that WIP topic. Quote
JintaiZ Posted February 1, 2021 Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) Very nice loader! Amazing functionality for the scale! Edited February 1, 2021 by JintaiZ Quote
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