SL3IGH: a Christmas robot

[AVCampos]

Here is something I built for the MCP Program, using exclusively parts from set 31313: This is Santa Claus' sleigh, pulled by his faithful reindeer Rudolph!

Rudolph pulls the sleigh by using the same leg mechanism I came up with for

: a simplified version of the Klann linkage. Besides the large motor for walking, there's another one for (very roughly) adjust the angle between Rudolph and the sleigh to allow for curves, and a medium one for making Santa wave his arm.

Of course, Rudolph has to have a red nose! The colour sensor, set for reflection mode, gives the nice redness. Like with

, I made a point of using the infrared sensor "upside down" for Santa's eyes, to avoid the "aggressive" look given by the lines printed on the sensor. I tried to have the EV3 prominently displayed, with its side ports for USB and SD unobstructed, and reserved space for the rechargeable battery.

I really like how the robot turned out to look: it was fun trying to make the most of the 31313's relatively limited assortment of parts (for example, some dampers for Rudolph's hooves would be most welcome). On the other hand, I really wasn't able to make it work well: with an EV3 loaded with batteries, a large motor, a medium motor, and assorted parts, the sleigh got really heavy for Rudolph to pull, even with wheels underneath. Also, the steering is just too abrupt for direct remote control, and I couldn't find a way to gear it down while using the available parts and still look cool.

Here is the video of it in motion.

And here are some more pictures. If you want to see any detail or other angles, just ask.

I hope you like it!

[camaudio]

put a ratchat on those wheels and itll move (forward) nicely

[Lakop]

Great! You're very close to something special. I can see little children being fascintaed with that in the lego store!.

H

[Rockbrick]

...just when you think you've seen everything made with lego... simply amazing

[Rook]

Got to say I love this!