Automated City vehicles

[JopieK]

Hi guys and gals,

my students are working on an automated city. They have an automated train etc. but now they want to automate vehicles. Are there any existing ideas on how to do this (e.g. with small power function M motors). Challenge is to make them minifig size (because of the trains).

Johan

[MetroiD]

Does it have to be an orthodox LEGO-only solution? If not, I believe there could be some potential for using the Faller Car principles or even the entire system, which railroad modelists usually apply in order to include 'moving' cars in their layouts. Even a 4-wide LEGO car should have enough space to include the mechanics that go inside one of these 1:87 vehicles, as well as a magnet of sorts - and then it's completely up to you to decide how to wire the layer below your baseplates in order to achieve the desired effect, while using Faller's setup. Besides, for the magnet piece you could even go as far as using an actual LEGO element

I must say I hadn't considered this possibility before, and now that I've put it out there, it sounds like a thing I'd love to try out and see if I can make it happen! Hopefully, you could give it a go and let me know whether it really works.

[JopieK]

Does it have to be an orthodox LEGO-only solution? If not, I believe there could be some potential for using the Faller Car System principles which railroad modelists apply in order to include 'moving' cars in their layouts. Even a 4-wide LEGO car should have enough space to include the mechanics that go inside one of these 1:87 vehicles, as well as a magnet of sorts - and then it's completely up to you to decide how to wire the layer below your baseplates in order to achieve the desired effect, while using Faller's setup. Besides, for the magnet piece you could even go as far as using an actual LEGO element

I must say I hadn't considered this possibility before, and now that I've put it out there, it sounds like a thing I'd love to try out and see if I can make it happen! Hopefully, you could give it a go and let me know whether it really works.

It doesn't need to be just LEGO but Faller isn't suitable for different reasons. One of the reasons is that LEGO. That faller car is much lighter etc. They build arduinos inside to make the system intelligent and work together.

[F0NIX]

Well, yes, I have actually thought of this for some time and started with these:

MOD: 7848-1: Toys R Us City Truck

MOD: 3221 LEGO City Truck

WIP: Micromotor car

MOD: Motorized 9390 Mini Tow Truck

The two first was done with Power Function and M-motors. The two last is with micromotors.

The next thing you need is something to automate the steering...

You could either use the Faller Car Principe or put in some Arduino Nano (or something like that) into the car to automate the steering. A fellow Brikkelauget member, Ostehovel, is working with a project with something like a Faller Car but have a sensor connected to the Arduino that senses the magnetic strip under the road and follows it.

[rriggs]

What kind of scale do you want to end up with? Would the LEGO Racers Remote Control cars from a couple of years back work? They did some smaller RC cars (8183/8184 were the set numbers) which may help. They had regulcar LEGO System studs rather than the frames of the larger RC cars.

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8183-1

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8184-1

Of course you'd have to get hold of them from somewhere as they have been EOL for a while now.... Anyone know the part numbers for just the motors/remotes?

Cheers

Rog

[sofo13th]

@JopieK

My version of the solution:

And this folder on Brickshelf.

Hope it will be useful. :-)

Edited April 6, 2012 by sofo13th

[MetroiD]

Well if Faller won't do the trick, I'm guessing you're left with the PF motors. Which do provide you with some pretty decent options! I notice that people have already supplied links to some motorized vehicles in minifig scale, so here's another one: a

school bus (the EB thread also contains links/vids to other PF automated mf-scale vehicles) built by one of my fellow LUGgers. I hope that's the kind of inspiration you're after.

[JopieK]

I think that I Will let them work with those examples first. I guess indeed that PF is the best option since they need to do some programming and follow a line.

[Alexgri]

How to programm PF motors??

[MetroiD]

I think JopieK means NXT Mindstorms programming, in the vein of tracker / tracer robots? If so, I'm not sure that could be squeezed into a 4-wide vehicle but would love to see JopieK and his students prove me wrong.

[F0NIX]

The good thing about PF (Power Functions) and NXT is that there is a IR-transmitter for the NXT that works very well with the PF system. So you can control a PF-car from a NXT.

But there is no way to send signals from PF to the NXT from a sensor. (Not any way I know of...).

If you have other ways to control the whereabouts of the vehicle back to the NXT you can have a fully automated car driving around in the city.

[Alexgri]

I read you use Arduino: I suggest you to make your own programmed motors modifying lego bricks and create a system of steering.

Some mine classmates are programming a robot with python and arduino which follows a path made with a black tape: the robot has an optic sensor and is very precise doing its work.

That's all, I can't help you more than this :(

[TJJohn12]

Another option would be a magnetic drive system underneath the streets, similar to this:

It's been a dream of mine, but right now I don't have the space to create it. A chain drive with magnets attached at increments, along with a matched pair magnet under each vehicle should do the trick.

Just another option, far more mechanical than programming based.

-John

[Ralph_S]

Another option would be a magnetic drive system underneath the streets, similar to this:

It's been a dream of mine, but right now I don't have the space to create it. A chain drive with magnets attached at increments, along with a matched pair magnet under each vehicle should do the trick.

Just another option, far more mechanical than programming based.

-John

I like that idea much better. PF motors and battery box are chunky things, that you can just about squeeze them into a more-or-less minifig scale semi-truck or bus. An NXT is big that is bigger than any minifig scale vehicle that would look sensible in a city.

A system that drives the vehicles from underneath through thin road plates -you could also have a small train running underneath it rather than a chain- means that you can have much smaller vehicles.

I know I've seen somebody do it. The radius of the curves in the road plates is much smaller than that of the train track, and he even solved that by a separate guidance rail that followed the road and that guided an arm with the magnet that was hinged to the train. I've spent a bit if time searching the 'net for it, but can't find it.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Alexgri]

A system like this?

[Athos]

How do the magnets connect? And will they work through the thickness of a plate and a tile?

Steve

[Imanol BB]

This is not in the Town forum, but it is at minifig scale, you might find it a bit interesting: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=137674

[Legoboy22]

I think I have an idea. What you could do is what Lego does for legoland. You could use an electronic system to tell the car where to go on the road if you have enough space under your test layout.

[Imanol BB]

That is a very interesting system, do you have any more information of pictures to show about it?

[Legoboy22]

Here is a quote taken from http://www.cllw.co.uk/attractions/miniland/animation.php

"The cars, lorries and buses all appear to move and steer on their own, never leaving their set paths, yet not using any rails. How on Earth do they manage that? Beneath these paths are cables that emit a low-level radio wave specific to each vehicle - the vehicle picks up this signal, and uses it to steer. When the vehicle reaches one of the charging points dotted around it's track, it stops. One of the computers registers this, and a timer is started. When the timer reaches zero, the power to the charger is cut, and this signals the vehicle to continue along it's path. Outside park opening hours, the vehicles stop on the charging points and recharge fully overnight."

[Imanol BB]

That is a nice system, the only problem would come with the size of the components, but it is still a good idea.

[PicnicBasketSam]

I recall that JKBrickworks did a bus that followed a magnetic strip taped to the bottom of a baseplate, but I can't remember what he used to power the thing. Anybody know?

[Phoxtane]

I recall that JKBrickworks did a bus that followed a magnetic strip taped to the bottom of a baseplate, but I can't remember what he used to power the thing. Anybody know?

Power functions to power the bus, and I believe a train magnet on the steering followed a wire taped to the underside of the baseplates.