Black NXT Tank

[KimT]

My brother (who isn't into LEGO) sent me this

of an awesome Tank made with the new limited edition Black NXT module.

I am stunned - such an amazing design and programming by the maker

"You may fire when ready!"

[Front]

The Zhamor sphere and launcher (Bionicle) are quite nice equipment for making motorized shooters.

The slow-motion stuff at the end of the video is quite funny.

[soc399]

That thing is awesome. It seemed better at knocking down the walls by itself than under remote control.

[Darth Legolas]

Holy megabloks that thing is freaking amazing! it's almost like it's all-terrain. The only design flaw is to find all of those Zamor thingies once they've launched.

Bravo!

[Asuka]

An impressive work. And a simply cool and intelligent weapon of massive brick destruction... wonderful!

[Darth Yoda]

Wow... That blew my mind.

[Natman8000]

Perfection. I love it so much! Where did he get so many Zamors?

[Bfahome]

That thing is freaking sexy. <3

I absolutely love that Zamor launching system. <3 <3

[Legoman]

Oh my goodness that thing is.... Amazing!

I want one

[Ras_Al_Ghul]

The only design flaw is to find all of those Zamor thingies once they've launched.

did you notice in the credits at the end he had not one but two people credited as "sphere chasing"? lol

[prateek]

This is the most amazing thing I've seen on EB to date Did your brother make this? If he did, ask for instuctions. I want one

Edited March 15, 2009 by prateek

[KimT]

This is the most amazing thing I've seen on EB to date Did your brother make this? If he did, ask for instuctions. I want one

Erhm...no he didn't.

He sent me the link for it.

Some guy posted it on YouTube - my brother isn't that much into LEGO anymore (he never left his dark age).

He just likes technic and sometimes he roams YouTube for neat stuff like this.

[Svelte]

This really is amazing. Since I would have no idea how to even begin to do this I am doubly in awe

And it dooes to show, every part has a use - even Zamor spheres!

Thanks for sharing, KimT. And KimT's brother!

[prateek]

Erhm...no he didn't.

He sent me the link for it.

Some guy posted it on YouTube - my brother isn't that much into LEGO anymore (he never left his dark age).

He just likes technic and sometimes he roams YouTube for neat stuff like this.

OK thanks anyway. I did a NXT thing lioke this few years ago but it was just a small robot like 1/4 the size of this That must be over $50 worth of zamors

[CP5670]

Very impressive. The hailstorm name is quite appropriate.

My favorite part of it is actually the small camera. I wonder where he got that camera and how it interfaces with the NXT.

[brdavis]

Hi there. I'm actually the guy that put Ogre together... and I'm very pleased folks have liked it this much! Steve Hassenplug has been nice enough to host a webpage of Ogre here:

http://www.teamhassenplug.org/robots/OGRE/

Which includes links to the video (and a time-lapse video of Ogre "self assembling"), and a link to the Brickshelf gallery with construction pictures... so now if you really want one, you can build it yourself :).

My favorite part of it is actually the small camera. I wonder where he got that camera and how it interfaces with the NXT.

I picked up the camera at a hobby store - it was being sold for model train folks to put inside their trains. It was about $90 US, which wasn't too bad... and a lot of fun on various models. It does not, however, interface with the NXT. It's just there to give a "ride along" view. It turns out Ogre actually is under better control when commanded by the NXT, because using the HiTechnic IRLink, you can control the PWM power settings on the PF motors (something you can't do from the small remote). Yes, I've got a lot of those spheres - bought in packs of 10 whenever I happened to find them on sale. I've probably got about 200 of them... in all likelyhood more like 300, with at least 100 lost around my house (the cats love 'em). I actually just shipped this to the FLL Festival in Atlanta, GA, a couple days ago... I couldn't go, but I suspect there will be hundreds of Zamor spheres bouncing around there in a week or so.

--

Brian Davis

[CP5670]

Welcome to EB. That camera sounds very cool. I've always wanted something like that. Does it transmit a real-time feed that you can see on a computer or something?

The new PF train remote lets you adjust the speeds manually, so that might be more convenient for controlling something like this.

[brdavis]

Welcome to EB.

Thank you!

Does it transmit a real-time feed that you can see on a computer or something?

It transmits the image at a high frame rate (looks like 30 fps) at 2.4 GHz to a small receiver. The receiver has two standard RCA outputs, video an audio, so you can plug it into most TV's in an instant, or plug it into a video capture card and display it on your computer (I've not tried the second, but I've seen something similar done). I ended up hacking a very small "eyepatch" display, so it's possible to walk around with one eye in a "virtual view", but I really need to improve it. Honestly, I'm surprised that sort of adaptation hasn't come out of the RC market (or LEGO itself), as it's amazingly fun.

The new PF train remote lets you adjust the speeds manually, so that might be more convenient for controlling something like this.

True, but it seems aimed squarely at the train market - cranking the speed up and down one 'click' at a time is perfect for trains, but not exactly what you want for treaded vehicles, and the fact that it looses its centering in some cases is an issue as well. I agree, better than the old remote in the ability to do fine control, but I'm going to have to play with one to figure out how useful it will be in this application.

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Brian Davis

[Blakbird]

True, but it seems aimed squarely at the train market - cranking the speed up and down one 'click' at a time is perfect for trains, but not exactly what you want for treaded vehicles, and the fact that it looses its centering in some cases is an issue as well. I agree, better than the old remote in the ability to do fine control, but I'm going to have to play with one to figure out how useful it will be in this application.

I've posted a thread over at Lugnet about the new PF Train controller and about how it is not really useful for Technic creations. I've excerpted some of it below:

I just got back from Brickfest in Portland and was lucky enough to see the unveiling of the new 10194 Emerald Night train and the new Power Functions elements which can be used with it.

I’m not a train guy, but I had been anticipating the release of this remote in the hopes that it would allow better and more precise control of R/C Technic vehicles and other MOCs. After most people left one evening I spent a fair amount of time driving the Emerald Night around the track with the new controller to figure out how it works and how I might adapt it. Note that I am NOT an electronics guy and have not read the PF protocol, I was merely testing it from a practical standpoint. I’ve jotted a few of my observations below. Based on my conclusions, it will not be very useful for controlling vehicles other than trains. Feel free to add your own thoughts.

• The control is not infinitely variable. The control wheels have detents which offer a set of discrete power levels. From what I was able to determine, there are 5-7 of them. While this would work for an R/C vehicle, it is less than ideal.
  
• The signal is not continuous. When you move the dial, a short duration signal seems to be sent out. This makes sense for trains for a couple of reasons. You don’t want to have to have the remote on the whole time the train is running. You want “fire and forget”. Also, if the train is out of line-of-sight, such as in a tunnel, you wouldn’t want it to stop. So the train just keeps going with the last setting until it gets a new signal. This would not work well for R/C vehicles. First of all, the failure mode of getting out of range would be your vehicle driving off into oblivion. It also means that to slow down after driving, you couldn’t simply let go of the control. You would have to reverse the direction (or hit the emergency stop). This could be partially rectified by setting up a spring return system on the controller except for the next point.
  
• There is no absolute link between control wheel position and speed. Signals seem to all be relative. In other words, when I turn the wheel 1 click clockwise, it sends a +1 signal. It sends -1 for counter-clockwise. It does not send, for example, “Power Level 5”. This means that if your vehicle is out of range when you move the wheel, nothing happens. It also means that you have now lost your center point. So even if you spring loaded steering control to center, one missed IR packet would result in your steering now being off.
  

From what I understand of the PF system, a proper R/C system for vehicles is possible, but this new system is clearly geared (no pun intended) toward train control.

The new Li-Po battery, on the other hand, could be quite useful.....

[Parax]

Honestly, I'm surprised that sort of adaptation hasn't come out of the RC market (or LEGO itself), as it's amazingly fun.

cough, cough, cough

please excuse the interruption.. Resume the Lego!

Parax

Edited April 9, 2009 by Parax

[KimT]

Welcome brdavis

I am happy that you've joined us and I still hope it's ok that I posted this creation of yours here?

Now by all means do show us more of what you've done

[brdavis]

cough, cough, cough

please excuse the interruption.. Resume the Lego!

The thing is the cost; the camera costs maybe $90 retail, and a video goggles around $150 retail. That means an add-on virtual reality system like this should probably be commercially viable around $200 or so. Indeed, the "Spy Car" system I hacked for the single-eye LED screen cost under $100 all together (RC car, camera, controller, display). In the VTS car you posted, the only additions beyond that are a motion controller (we have that; it's called the NXT with a gyro or accelerometer) and two servos to control the camera. I'm really shocked by its price.

What I'm talking about isn't a system designed into a single vehicle; it's a reasonably priced goggle-based virtual reality system and spy cam that can be retrofitted to anything" LEGO, RC cars, small airplanes, etc. If I can hack it in my garage for under $100, I'm amazed there isn't a nice production version for $200 all told... and I've yet to find it.

As to posting this creation here - Absolutely! I put it out there so others could enjoy, post it where ever you want. A couple days after I put out the video it got picked up by some significant blogs, and you should have seen the YT stats fly. It seems there's a lot of overgrown kids out there who always wanted a functional LEGO tank :).

Heck, if you want other outlandish creations, check out my LEGO recreation of a mechanical computer. Not sure if that's on-topic for you guys or not, but it certainly is one of the larger creations I've made so far:

Huh, perhaps you're right - I guess I should announce some of these things here. I'm usually just over on LUGNET.

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Brian Davis

[Klonoa]

Wow, that's so incredible! That has got to be one of the coolest LEGO creations I have ever seen in my entire life.

...I love the ammo loading system!

[KimT]

Brian Davis

Do like this instead:

[brdavis]

Do like this instead:

Embedded is nice, but there's a less subtle reason I did it as a direct link. With embedded YT videos, the viewer has no direct access to the "information" text... and if you look through my videos, you'll see that (1) I use that fairly extensively, and (2) lots of people ask questions that are clearly spelled out in the info text... either because they are seeing it embedded, or really can't read :). Perhaps I'll change eventually, just habit I guess. Nice simple embedding feature, however - thanks for the tip!

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Brian Davis