Monday, January 25, 2010

Thursday, November 19, 2009

FLL - Competition This Weekend!

Hey everyone- this is Clgfive from one of our FLL team's meetings! Today we are making some final adjustments on our robot, which we may or may not name Jose... Anyway, here are some pictures of the robot:

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

FLL - Big Meeting Tommorow!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that our FLL team is going to be having a big meeting tomorrow where we plan to get pretty far with our programming and in work on our team project. Expect some live posts, and maybe even a video or two... Anyway, Bryce and I are looking forward to it, as well as our other teammates!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

FLL - Some Pic's/Progress

Hey Guys,
Though we are getting a lot done every week, it seems that much of our time is being devoted to eating popcorn...with the new seasoning flavors...well, you get the picture. Everybody is working hard, and the build team is just finishing up with modifying the design of our robot. It's well, kind of complex. Using one of CLGfive's tactics, we have built our robot on a gathering attachment...more on that when we get sooner to the competition. Here are some pictures of whats going on. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Clgfive - Dragster Pics

Here are those pictures I promised of my new, super slow, Dragster!





Friday, October 9, 2009

FLL - More News From Thursday's Meeting

As Bryce explained yesterday, we've decided on the team name, "Brix", and we are starting some T-Shirt design. We've also been making some major breakthroughs in both of our team sectors, Building and Programming as well as The Project Team. Being that I'm on the Building and Programming side, I can't too well explain whats going on with our Smart Moves project (stay tuned for a guest post next week), but I can say that we have made some big moves with the designing of our robot. For obvious reasons, we can't give you specifics, but the gist of our model is that it is built to make tough journeys across the board easier, and complete missions without the need of a third motor. Based on a team decision we may or may not post pictures, but I have a good feeling about our position so far. Stay tuned for more Brix news and some more team centered blog settings!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

FLL - Say Hello To Team Brix!

Hey Guys,
Well, today it was decided that our team name for this year would be team Brix. Pretty cool huh? We are now designing our t-shirts, and will be showing them off very soon!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Clgfive - Dragster Preview

The other day I had the idea of building a motorcycle robot, but due to some restrictions with the size of the NXT brick, it became a dragster- a very slow dragster. I'll post some pictures later, along with some thoughts for the final version.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

FLL - Handy Video

Hello everybody!
I have been searching around, and found a pretty good youtube video explaining the challenges for Smart Moves, 2009. Check it out!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

FLL - New Season, Blog Changes, and Other Updates

Hey everybody! It's that team of year again- yup, that's right, FLL is back! Like Bryce has already explained, some of the new missions are going to be great, and our team is already back into the swing of things. This year our team has a total of 5 NXT bricks, a few of which have already become base models (refer to some posts from the spring). Right now we are mostly working on the field setup and building all the models (of course, I decided to pick the most boring one in the guide wall, figures). By my estimates we will be in full force programming and building attachments by next week. I've got a good feeling about this year based on our team, the changes we've made in planning, the new kids, and the huge head start we have on last year. Not only that, but most of our team already has a seasons experience, and we will be able to start programming right away.
On the other hand, I have some apologies to make. As the admin of this site, I haven't really been doing my job. I haven't been posting, I haven't been building, I haven't even really been checking on the blog. I've been a little bit caught up with some other things in my life, but I think I should be able to begin posting a normal amount again.

Lastly, I want to announce some changes to the blog. We will be adding and changing some of the categories (as you can see, this post is labeled as "FLL" instead of the old labeling), and my site won't be updated as often (it's sort of a hassle to post updates there). We will also have some more guest posts from team members.

I think this should be a good season!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

News - Smart Moves Challange Available

Hey Guys,
Due to a power supply failure, I have not been able to post much lately, but my new one just arived today, so more post on the way! First off, it's official, FLL Smart Moves is now available, and ready for you to pick up. Second, I have just started a new robot, that I think will domanate FLL, and I think our team should use somthing like it. It's called TrII. Why TrII? That's our teams little secret... Why it's called that will be relesed a few months into building, just for safetys sake. Some pics to come...
A few links;
FLL Smart Moves Website
TechBrick
TechBrick has the challenges posted.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

News - NXT Programs Update

Hey Guys,
If you havent been by NXTPrograms.com, they are currently updating their site, to allow projects using the NXT 2.0. As you know, there are supposed to be 10 extra models to build, by going online. They are also listing compaitible NXT one instructions that can be built using the NXT 2.0. Here's a few links:
NXTPrograms.com
New NXT Programs front page
New NXT Programs NXT 2.0 page

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Other People - Robodile and Holonomic Drive

Hey Guys!
After just getting back, I'm posting again. Here with a few things. One is an NXT Holonomic drive, which uses three "legs" to move around, check it out!



Also, I found a page where a team had two weeks to design and animal sort of robot, and they made a crocodile! It's sortof like CLGfive's robot, except it lifts its legs up, and moves them forward, using much gearing. Check out the website here, and a video down below.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Opinion - Stealing My Idea?

Has LEGO stolen my idea? Or is it just a freak coincidence? Watching the video from Bryce's last post, I noticed this alligator robot... and how it moved. If you look closely you will see little legs spinning around, propelling the robot forward. I don't know if anyone remembers Frogger (my little hopping robot that was finished but never really worked, so I sort of abandoned it), it worked on the same concept- rotating legs pushing in forward. So what do you think? Did LEGO steal my idea? Post a comment below with your thoughts.

Friday, July 3, 2009

News - Mindstorms 2.0

Hey Guys,
Its finally here. NXT 2.0 has finally went live on the Lego website, and is now avaiable for purchase! Check it out here, and check out the Toys R' Us Video demonstrating the new bots!
Here's some pics of the new box, and whats included. We're very excited, and our FLL team will be purchasing NXT 2.0 this build season, so coming soon!
Contents...
Back...
Technology...

Friday, June 19, 2009

Bryce - RobotC

Hey Guys,
As CLGfive said, our schedules are indeed winding down. RobotC is coming along great, and I have recently purchased the program. It's great! I'm almost finished with the sensing challenge, and will soon be moving onto variables (finaly!). Also, I am using the forums on the RobotC website for help. Check them out if you get a chance, and If you just want to see what RobotC is about, check out their home page. Hopefully, I'll have that challenge completed soon. Some Links:
RobotC Homepage
RobotC Forums

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Clgfive - A Warning... And Some Updates

Today I thought to myself, "Hey, you haven't worked on your NXTs in a while, better get working..." After this thought I realized it was true- I was giving myself a warning to get working! First off I need to get something straight: if you guys don't post a comment to this post including a link to a program using BlueTooth remote controlling, I will have to start working on something else. It is something I don't really know how to do, and need YOUR help to improve on. Some other things are that I'm planning to film some cool just fun NXT videos, possibly involving some freestyle Tri-Bot... more on that in the next few days. I haven't been replying to a lot of comments, lately, and that is also going to change. Oh, and for all you long time followers of the blog, don't worry, things are looking up. Our schedules are winding down, leaving us with a little more time to post these days. I know Bryce has been working on some cool stuff with Robot-C and I've had tons of time to plan cool projects for the future (they're confidential, of course). Anyway, post those comments below!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Other People - Robotic Arm

Just another cool creation... don't quite know what the RCX does though...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Bryce - FLL Update

Hey Guys,
With school almost over, much studying is being done, so I have not been posting much. But, I have a little update on whats going on at FLL now! Check it out! Also, I am currently building a robot to compete with CLGfive's Ball Bot. More on that soon.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Other - Clgfive's New Camera

Guess what- today I reaceaved my new Canon VIXIA HF10 video camera! Be ready for awesome HD video from now on in all my videos!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Opinion - NXT-G

A lot of people debate over programming preferences. Many more advanced programmers who use RobotC or Lejos often thing of NXT-G as stupid and childish, saying how you can learn no programming skills through the software. I disagree. For you to understand why, I will make a connection to learning a spoken language. There is a grammar and there is spelling. What NXT-G does is it teaches you the grammar, basically how to program, but not the spelling, the code used to program. Post a comment below with your thoughts on the topic.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Bryce - RobotC Update

Hey Guys,
Sorry for not posting, I am currently working on a huge challenge for RobotC, and I'm working on the last part of the program. I can now program Ultrasonic, Light, and Touch sensors. Hopefuly I'll have the challenge completed soon. Here's a quick vid...

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Other People - Voyager

Here is just another neat robot I found on YouTube:

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Clgfive - BlueTooth RC Programming

Hey everyone! I've been programming my JoyStiq project for a few days now, and I've been having trouble with the stuff that really matters- the communications. If you have or can find a program for any joystick remote controllers out there, please post a comment with a link below. It's all up to you!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Other - Anouncement

If you live in the US you know it is Memorial Day Weekend. I just want to let everyone know we won't be posting this weekend, but on Tuesday we will start up full force again, posting everyday like we had been.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Opinion - Instructions

If you're like me, you probably got your first LEGO set at the age of about five and spend days trying to figure out how it goes together. By seven you started to get the hang of things, and by eight a hundred dollar set was a hundred minute job. What do all three stages have in common? Instructions. When you buy a LEGO kit you usually want to follow the instructions and build whatever it is you bought. And that's fine; its fun, and it comes out looking great. What I can't stand (that's not the phrase, more like "dislike") is people (Bryce, just to name one) who build NXT projects from other people's instructions. To me, that's not satisfying. Robotics and engineering are about designing your own models, not copying other peoples models centimeter by centimeter. Now, I'm not saying copying ideas is wrong, quite the contrary, actually. Copying ideas is what keeps people going, it helps people succeed. I just think that copying a model exactly as it was is wrong, especially if you try to take credit for it. Post a comment below with your thoughts on the topic. Remember, there is open posting, so anyone can post a comment!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Bryce - Hit and Run

Hey Guys,
This is my first program that I have made using RobotC programing! It is called hit and run. The object? Simple. Run foreword, hit an object, and then run back. Check out the video! I am currently working on a challenge that came with RobotC, coming soon.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Clgfive - Future Project

While I continue to work on the Joystiq programming, I thought of a new idea for the future: a motorcycle! I've seen motorcycles made with LEGO before, but they all double up on the wheels so that they can stand up. Mine will be simple; two skinny wheels with a bunch of gearing and two motors powering the wheels. It will rely on pure speed and balance to keep itself up. Below is a picture of the "exoskeleton", that is, without motors and sensors and what not. Stay tuned!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Bryce - Robot C!

Hey Guys,
I have just started attempting to program in Robot C! I am currently building Tribot, so that I can test robot C. More news coming soon!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Bryce - Gearbot Final Build!

Hey Guys, I have "finished" Gearbot. It's official. I'm still working out some kinks in the steering, but all in all, it's a good robot. The gears work well, and I used TM4040's steering mechanism for the front end steering. Meanwhile, TM4040 is making another bot! It works very well, and I'm not sure what exactly it is, but its cool. I'll have a pic in a day or two.

Clgfive & Bryce - FLL Update

Hey everyone! With summer right around the corner, expect to start seeing more and more FLL posts. Our team will be buying the FLL Smart Moves kit when it comes out so we can start building in the fall, and we are starting to work out the legistics now. We are trying to decide on names, groups, organization, and loads of other stuff to get ready for the season, but it is coming up. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Bryce - What Next?

Hey Guys,
I am just wondering, what do you all think I should build next? I always make the decision, now its up to you! Post a comment depending on what you think! (Possibly something hard, that's going to take me a while)

A humanoid?


A random build that has no point?

Monday, May 4, 2009

Clgfive - JOYstiQ Update 1

Today I have made up my mind, and after trying a few things I am just going to use Tribot as my test vehicle for JOYstiQ. That way I can post all the project info and stuff without having to worry about another build. Should be done soon, and I will keep you updated!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Bryce - Gearbot!

Hey Guys!
Sorry for not posting, I will be posting every day or two from now on, but anyway, I am almost finished with Gearbot, and that video of Treadbot is taking forever to finish edditing! Coming soon. Anyway, check out this video of Gearbot, I have since then added the 2nd drive motor and more gears, and am now working on the steering, I am going to use somthing like the Self Parking Car Steering.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Clgfive - JOYstiQ Preview

Hey everyone! Today I bring you the finished joystick remote control project I like to call JOYstiQ. It offers one "action" controller, one directional controller, and one speed controller. The video below is a Blogger exclusive, meaning I won't post it to YouTube, only my loyal readers can watch it. Soon I will have a demo car built so I can post the "official" demonstration video, but for now here is the controller called JOYstiQ (Like the name? Post a comment below!)

Monday, April 27, 2009

Clgfive - New Joystick Project

I took apart NheXT last night, and started to add motors to my video-game style controller (see previous posts), when I encountered a problem. The motor was too hard to turn with those little joysticks, so I am stepping it up. Below you will a picture of the new joystick handle I build, which will work in the same way a classic video-game joystick would work. It is basically a long rectangular prism with a touch sensor on the top and the cord running down the interior. Now all I have to do is build the mechanism that reads its motion and its all done! Tommorow I will post I detailed plan of the process I will go through with this project. Stay tuned!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Clgfive - Final Decision

My decision is final- I am going to disassemble NheXT and work on a new project for a while. Don't worry; I will be returning to the project sometime soon, but I've just been aggravated lately staring at the robot and saying to myself "There is nothing I can do to it." Now that I have diagnosed the situation and know what will need to be done to it in the future, I feel confident in taking it apart and starting a new project, probably one involving my RC Controller I built (see previous posts). In the meantime, I will continue to give updates and post the usual stuff. One final memorial service to this robot:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Bryce - Treadbot News

Hey Guys,
I have just finished recording over 40 minutes of video! All of my Treadbot! The video will be long, but that's alright, in other news, I've taken apart the Bot, and I'm now working on Another Ballbot. Coming soon! I have video and images of the Gearbot at school, and will post them tomorrow, until then, keep building!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Bryce - Gearbot and Treadbot News

Hey Guys,
So sorry for not posting, I've been on vacation for the past week. And, yes CLGfive, you are correct! I am working on my third build of Gearbot, and its coming along great. It's going to take a while more, maybe a few weeks to complete. I am going to take apart my Treadbot, but only after taking another, better video of it doing multiple task. After that I am going to work on another Ballbot, a better one (of course).

Monday, April 20, 2009

Bryce - Gearbot 2.0 Preview

Hey guys- and guess what? This is Clgfive! Yes, I know I am posting a Bryce post, but I can explain. So, today I had some extra time to kill so I popped by FLL for like 45 minutes and just sort of ate some popcorn and checked out what everyone was doing. While there, I noticed Bryce working on his Gearbot 2.0 which I can assure you will be way better than 1.0. Sadly, I didn't get a picture (maybe Bryce can do that), but I did learn a little about it. For one, apparently it is his third try at the build. Also, he told me that he has changed the gearing for a more stable and reliable build. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

News - New HiTechnic Site Design

For those of you who haven't been to NXTasium lately, HiTechnic has completely redesigned it's site. Now it looks much more proffesional over the old, basic, amateur looking site.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Other - Post Through EMail!

Hey everyone! Guess what- I just did this post through email! And, well, that’s pretty much it…

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Clgfive - NhexT Legs

NhexT, my RHex simulator, is a tricky build. You see, the combonation of a massive dead load and legs that only cover one side of the motor don't mix- actually the legs kick out and it can't even stand up. So now I am in a dilema: start from scratch, move on to another build, or figure out a way to fix this thing. And I want your help. Post a comment below saying what I should do, and remember that open comments means that anyone can vote. I want to make up my mind some time this week, so post sooner rather than later!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Other People - 350 Climate Connections FLL Run

Hey, all! I've always loved to watch other teams FLL runs, and I am seriously looking forward to posting my own on YouTube once the new season starts. Here is a cool video of a round getting 350 points! If you have a YouTube video displaying an FLL round of yours, post a link to it below, and if you want I can feature your video in a post!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Clgfive - Video Game Style RC

Today I come to you with a little something I built yesterday- it's a base model for my remote control er I am building with my second NXT. Sadly, I can't do much more with it right now than what I have already done, only because the motors and NXT brick I need are being used for NhexT (see prior posts). By the way, sorry it is taking so long, I have figured out the communications but the legs and motor situation is still bothering me. Anyway, you can look at the picture below. It works by transferring the rotation of the two single directional joy-sticks. The sensor you see is a touch sensor that will activate an action I set it to. For now, here is a picture:

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Other - Results Are In!

The results are in on our organization poll! Check out the sidebar for results, and post a comment about what you think!

Other People - Easter Egg NXT

Hey Guys
While looking on the NXT Step, I stumbled across this. An Easter egg colorer. It actually paints your Easter eggs! Really cool, check it out! Here's building instructions, a video, and more pictures.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Opinion - Super NXT?

Hey all. Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I get pretty busy in the spring! Anyway, today I am coming to you with another one of those ask the audience posts. I've heard alot of talk about this Super NXT, especially over at The NXT Step (see sidebar)and I've been wondering; what is it? If anyone out there has any info let me know, and if you have decoded the clues at the NXT Step please leave a comment below!

Bryce - Gearbot 1

Hey Guys,
I have recently been wanting to get better at gearing. I decided to make a gearbot! It works, kindof. I am currently working on build 2.0 Coming in about 1 week.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Bryce - Gearbot

Hey Guys,
I have been working on something new (again)... a Gearbot! It has many gears, (for me) and it uses one motor to go foreword, and one more to turn. Just a fun build, and its helping me get used to gearing. Here's a pic:
P.S. I haven't added the Brick yet.