This week we have:

1. An Electric Guitar using the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 to play music. I really like the realistic styling on this model – the unusual angles show that with a little ingenuity you can break out of the “Box like” building approach LEGO often idctates.
2. A stomping Triceratops dinosaur that reacts to your movement. Notice how the cables, which would normally be a nuisance, are used to enhance the model by creating an appearance of a “hump” on his back.
3. A whack-em game which will delight kids both big and small – test your skill in hitting the targets as they pop up randomly. This is a great example of taking a simple concept and executing it well.

As LEGO have announced a total of 12 fan-created bonus models we will have to wait and see where and when the next set of models will be announced…

EV3 Electric Guitar

Read more here at the Lego website.

Next comes R3ptar, a snake that strikes at prey as it drives across your floor. R3ptar is a large model, one of the longest I’ve seen in a while. Again the red tinted pieces are adding to the effect very well here.

Spik3r is a mobile scorpion that seeks out the IR beacon and shoots spheres from his tail. An ingenious linkage mechanism makes the legs move as it drives across the floor.

Finally Track3r (do we see a spelling theme here?) which has an attachment to mount multiple tools, in this case a hammer:

Gripp3r will grab cans using its gripper mounted on the front. Must be a brother of Ev3rstorm given the haircut!

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS (January 7, 2013) – Today The LEGO Group announced LEGO® MINDSTORMS EV3, a new platform for consumer robotics designed to introduce a younger generation to the excitement of building and programming robots while adding new flexibility for its devoted following of robotics enthusiasts. Unveiled for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 is the result of three years of product development by an international team of LEGO designers, MINDSTORMS user-enthusiasts and leading technology experts.  LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, available in summer 2013, will be previewed to members of the global media at Digital Experience! on January 7 and will be demonstrated to CES attendees during the Kids@Play Summit, January 8-11, 2013, in the Venetian Hotel.

Let’s take a peek under the covers and see what the new brick has inside…

EV3 Intelligent Brick

• Stronger and faster ARM9 robotic processor
• Embedded 16MB FLASH memory
• 64 MB RAM plus SD expansion slot
• LINUX operating system, released under open source
• USB 2.0 interface allows for WiFi connectivity
• 4 input ports / 4 output ports allow up to four intelligent bricks to be connected together
• Matrix display with loudspeaker
• Building-compatible button interface with status indication
• Enhanced on-brick programming
• Bluetooth ^® v2.1
• iOS and Android compatible

For starters the new brick packs some impressive processing power; a faster ARM9 processor and more RAM and FLASH RAM will expand the capabilities of the EV3 to handle more complex programs and larger data sets. But what’s this? It runs Linux (let the Slashdot crowd rejoice!) That’s right, the new Lego “toy” you will be able to purchase later this year runs the same OS used in servers, Android phones and high-end computers around the world. Think of the possibilities with that and an army of open-source hackers coding away…One big improvement is the addition of an additional motor port (something Lego Mindstorms users have cried out for) and the support for both iOS and Android natively talking to the device. Your robot partnering with your phone is going to be a huge area for experimentation in the coming years, and I expect to see some significant developments here.

Hardware

• 3 Interactive Servo Motors: 2 large and 1 medium
• 1 Touch Sensor
• New IR Seeker Sensor measures distance, movements and detects objects
• New IR Beacon remotely controls robot from up to 6 feet away
• Improved Color Sensor detects 6 colors plus the absence of color
• Backwards-compatible with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT
• Assortment of 594 LEGO TECHNIC^® elements for easy, more stable building with improved functionality and movement capabilities

The Lego motors return, but in a new form-factor for the EV3. And a new medium motor is introduced that we have not seen before, which will make it easier to mount into smaller models. The IR Beacon is a useful addition as it allows robots to perform search-and-rescue (or seek-and-destroy if you prefer) missions. And a welcome relief for anyone who owns an existing Mindstorms kit; everything is backwards compatible.

What about the models you can build with the new kit? No disappointment there; at launch, LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 will include building instructions for 17 different robots  such as “Everstorm” a Mohawk-sporting humanoid that shoots mini-spheres as it walks (see the picture below), “Spiker” a scorpion-like robot that searches for an IR beacon “bug” or “Reptar”, a robotic snake that slithers, shakes and strikes, all designed to excite and inspire children with the endless possibilities of consumer robotics. To jump-start the fun, The LEGO Group has created a series of “modular builds” designed to help children begin programming and playing within minutes.

Lego themselves have invested a lot of time and energy into making this impressive new product:

LEGO Group assembled a multinational team of product designers, technologists and enthusiasts to evolve the MINDSTORMS platform. Over a period of three years, the platform’s hardware and software were re-imagined while a core team of 12 user-enthusiasts tested the platform limits and co-developed models, applications and an expanded hacking environment.

I was privileged to be part of the team of community “experts” which was assembled by Lego to help in the development of EV3. I’m humbled to have played a small part in the work!

You can read more about the new product on Xander’s blog and also at Lauren’s blog.

For more official news see Lego’s official announcement page.

Sariel’s book is published by NoStarch press, and you can order a copy online at http://nostarch.com/technicbuilder.

As soon as he announced that he was publishing a book I pre-ordered a copy for myself. I was lucky enough to receive a pre-publication copy for review and also the physical copy I ordered myself. Below is my review…

Overview of the book

The book is of a very high quality, with colour graphic images interspersed with text. This is a big improvement over a black-and-white printed book. Sariel has broken the material down into five core sections:

1. The basics (always good to start with this!). In this section the chapters cover the basic geometry of Lego, both studded and stud less. This is familiar territory for anyone who has been building Lego for some time, but it’s good to see it given an in-depth treatment. I tend to build stud-less, and it was valuable for me to see an analysis of the pros-and-cons of studded vs. stud-less building.
2. Mechanics. Making stuff go is what makes building Lego fun! To achieve this you need to understand the principles behind transmissions, gears, pulleys, levers and linkages. This was one of my favourite sections, especially the chapter on levers and linkages.
3. Motors. Lego has released many motors over the lifetime of the product and it’s important to know what is the best motor to choose for a given task. Sariel has done a nice job of summarising the torque and speed of each motor available.
4. Advanced mechanics. Ah you knew the word “advanced” had to show up at some point right? Now we get into the material like how to build steering systems, transmissions, gearboxes and chassis. If you’ve followed Sariel’s work you’ll know that he understands how to push Lego Technic to the limit, and the chapters in this section let this show through. The full-colour illustrations really help in this section given the level of detail presented.
5. Models. Don’t expect building instructions for huge models here – in this section Sariel explains how he approaches the design and scaling of a new model, giving us an insight into his thought processes.

What I liked

• A full colour production – and the paper is of high quality. This is a book that will stay close during my Lego building.
• Breadth of the subject material – a lot is covered.
• Good discussion on transmissions and gearboxes.
• Addressing the pros-and-cons of studded vs. stud less building.

Conclusions

In every field there is a well-thumbed copy of a book that sits besides every workbench or table; this is the book for Lego builders. Alongside Isogawa-san’s amazing Toro-no-maki this book is going to be a reference I’ll use during every building session.

Good job Sariel – play well!

World Robot Olympiad 2012, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

The World Robot Olympiad was held this year in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, at the Sunway Resort Convention Centre. Four hundred teams of children from 34 countries competed in challenges to build robots to solve complex problems. I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest of Lego to present my latest invention; SoundMachine. We were the “robotics experts”, which I always find a humbling title as I consider myself far from expert in building robots

• NeXTStorm and his amazing boxing robots
• Bazmarc and WallE
• Mathias Paul Scholz with his robot shadow puppet theatre and NXT biker gang
• Simon Burfield and his new robotic wheelchair strong enough to carry an adult
• David Gilday and Mike Dobson with their Guinness world record holding Rubiks cube solvers
• Will Gorman with his 3D Lego maker bot and Mars Curiosity rover
• Lasse Laussen and Ken Madsen with their flying Lego blimp C5

Day 1 – Deepavali

Day 1 – Setup

Day 2 – Opening Ceremony

Day 2 – Let the madness begin!

Day 3 – Saying goodbye

Dexter Industries have released a simple yet incredibly useful sensor – a breadboard adapter that allows you to connect your NXT to a prototype project on a breadboard. Definitely a must-have for any advanced sensor work.

Pictures

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Video

I created some videos that show SoundMachine in action. You can see how the notes are built on the plate, scanned in and transformed into music.

Background

The idea for SoundMachine came to me when I was browsing the Processing website and came across a project named “SoundMachines” by a Berlin design studio named The Product. I was immediately struck by the simplicity and elegance of their 3-turntable design, and started to replicate it in LEGO. Over time I achieved a simple working prototype, but was never satisfied with the reliability of what I built. It was time for a re-design.

I came across the Beat Bricks project which was a step sequencer that used a web camera to read 2×2 bricks placed on a 32×32 base plate. The brick locations and colours were converted into MIDI messages. The image analysis and MIDI software was written in Python, and no LEGO NXT was involved. This got me thinking… what if I replaced the video camera with LEGO colour sensors and used a NXT to scan the plate with the bricks???

How it works

SoundMachine is composed of a number of components that all work together:

A SoundMachine scanner box. The SoundMachine scanner scans the music from a LEGO plate and transmits it to my laptop via a USB cable. Multiple SoundMachine units can work in parallel, and each unit can contribute notes to an evolving musical score.

The scanner array is mounted above the plate drive, each scanner unit contains a LEGO Mindstorms NXT which drives a NXT motor to move a plate under an array of 4 LEGO NXT 2.0 colour sensors. As the plate moves under the sensors the colour of the bricks are detected.

A plate is used to “build” the music tracks. The plates are regular blue 32×32 LEGO base plates, and the notes are LEGO 2×2 bricks. White tiles are used to separate the notes on the plate, and the sensors use a black reading to detect the start and end edge of the plate. The standard LEGO colour sensor can detect 6 basic colours, leaving Red, Yellow and Green to encode notes. The notes are arranged in 4 parallel tracks aligned with the colour sensors.

A laptop running Ableton Live (a live music composing and performance program) and Processing (an interactive Java-based programming environment). The laptop plays the music (ideally through attached speakers) and attaches to the SoundMachine scanners using USB cables.

Ableton Live is a well-known music composition and performance program. Used by DJs around the world it is ideal for create live sets by building music loops on-the-fly. Ableton contains a library of thousands of instruments, which are triggered using MIDI messages. Ultimately the sound made by SoundMachine comes from Ableton.

A Processing sketch (essentially a Java program) reads the colour data from the SoundMachine scanner and converts the colours into MIDI messages. The Processing sketch is essentially the “switchboard” in the middle, managing data from multiple SoundMachine scanners, forwarding data to Ableton Live and providing basic play/pause functions. The sketch displays an animated visualisation of the notes that have been read and are currently playing. The sketch provides a simple save/load function to save note data locally.

SoundCipher MIDI library. SoundCipher is a Processing library for playing music and sending MIDI messages. SoundCipher is used to create MIDI NoteOn and NoteOff messages to send to Live.

Code

I’m continually experimenting and adding new features to the code, but here is a working snapshot of what I’ve written so far. SoundMachine consists of a program running on the NXT written in Java for leJOS, and a Processing sketch running on my laptop (in my case an old MacBook).

• BlockSequencer.java: This program runs on the NXT and requires the leJOS 0.9.1 firmware installed. It uses the USB port to send data to the laptop.
• BlockSequencerController.java: This is the Processing code that I developed in Eclipse using the Proclipsing plugin. It uses the leJOS pccomms.jar library to communicate with the NXT. This in turn requires the LEGO fantom driver to be installed. Contact me if you have questions on how to set this up.

It took me a few tries to get the NXT motors to match up to the RockCrawler axles. There is a lot of torque on the axles, and gears and liable to fly off if you don’t brace the construction rigidly. The steering motor simply slots into the center of the body frame. I had to shift the suspension mounts forward by a few technic holes to clear the bulky part of the NXT motor. This meant that the upper body construction doesn’t perfectly line up with the chassis – not too difficult to overcome that problem.

Amazingly the NXT slides perfectly into the rear cargo bay in the RockCrawler. It’s almost like they were made for each other! The drive motors are connected on A and B ports, and the steering motor is on port C. The NXT2WIFI connects to port 4, and is mounted inside the body frame.

Programming

I use leJOS to control the car. The leJOS program builds on my leJOS NXT2WIFI driver that is now part of the leJOS release SVN repository. The nice part is that there is no network initialisation – the NXT2WIFI creates an ad-hoc access point as soon as you turn it on! All I need to do is read the event codes sent by the NXT2WIFI in my leJOS code and convert that into motor commands. Simple!

You can download the code here.

See it in action!

Pictures

Some pictures of the model as I’ve built it so far.

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