New poll!

OK everyone, I need some ideas.  I need to know that if I had to change LEGO-X's name to something else, what would it be?  Have an answer?  Enter it in at the poll HERE(link).

Thanks!

jojoguy10

8043 Custom Set is finished!

YAY!  I bought pieces form Bricklink, found the building instructions on LEGO.com, and I put it together and it looks like this:

Pretty cool, huh?  You can see the progression pictures on my Picasa Web Album (higher quality).

This build cost me about $55 for the parts I had to buy.  I think it was worth it :-)

jojoguy10

A special MOC...

Lately I haven't been building a whole lot, but I decided I want to build something that may get noticed!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Justin Lan's robot"][/caption]

This robot is by a guy who does a LOT of RCX robots and projects!  You can see more robots that he made at his website.

[caption id="attachment_737" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="NeXTSTORM's Synchro-drive"][/caption]

This robot is made by NeXTSTORM  who also builds some AMAZING robots!  His wheel base turns MUCH faster than mine.  It also looks very cool :-).  You can see more of his awesome MOC's at his website.

OK, now that I've shown you some background info, let's move onto my creation spec's

• 4 wheels


• 4 small turntables


• about 400 parts


• Uses the HiTechnicTouch Multiplexer for the four touch sensors attached


• 1 NXT


• 3 NXT Motors

OK, now for some.......PIC'S!

I don't have a video (YET!), but one will come soon.

I have other ideas to make it better. One of the cons of this MOC: when the wheels spin, the robot goes off-center a bit (because of the rubber tires). So, I'm going to get a total of 4 3L differentials and put those in each wheel. Another idea is to add an all-around "touch sensor".

I also have a simple program that makes it go forward until ANY of the touch sensors are press, backs up, turns, and loops. I wrote it in NXC :D

jojoguy10

P.S. Podcast (hopefully) coming soon!

Got any ideas for the next LEGO-X podcast?

There's a place to share them!

Here is a place you can go to submit ideas for the LEGO-X podcast! You can check it out HERE(link)! I'd LOVE to see some ideas!

jojoguy10

I'm SOOO sorry LEGO-X!

I feel terrible right now.  Have you ever forgotten somebody's birthday?  I have.  LEGO-X's!  on February 6th, 2009 I started a blog that talked about LEGO's, Lego news, and I still had my brother as a contributer.  Time's have changed since then.  I now have SIX podcasts!  Here are some interesting facts from my Google Analytics report as of July 8, 2010 to NOW.

Most visit's in one day: 108
Total visits: 7,392

This had been a GREAT 365 days for LEGO-X! Please keep on dishing out ideas and comments and maybe even complaints!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEGO-X!

jojoguy10

New chatbox!

We've been getting some spam from the other chatbox. I had to fix that. Hopefully, if I have to< I can delete bad chat messages. All for a better LEGO community! Thanks!

jojoguy10

Motor Speed vs. Motor Power

 

 

Reposting from My Blog.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_230" align="aligncenter" width="497" caption="Polled at a Motor Power Output (%) every 5% increase, over a motor rotation of 720 degrees each. Motor Rotation Speed vs Motor Power Output (%) for NBC/NXC Firmware 1.28. As you can see, it's a pretty linear."][/caption]

 

I was interested in how fast the motors would spin (in the air for the first tests, to not let gravity/load/friction/etc affect the results) depending on what I set pwr in the NXC function OnFwd(outputs, pwr).



I wrote a program (download here) which logged the time it took to spin the motor at 720 degrees (in one experiment), and with a starting pwr value of 5, increasing by 5, until it reached 100. It was tested on the NBC/NXC Firmware 1.28.

It seemed to be linear, and I did a little "analysis" (if you can call it that), and came up with the graph on the right, which represents the ratio between Speed and Power. This ratio is about 7:1.



Next, I tried it with the robot on the ground. The results were pretty much the same (linear), as you can see in the image to the bottom left. Of course, it slowed down a bit, as can be expected.

I still haven't figured out how this is useful, but if you can suggest reasons for why I haven't wasted my time (which I actually like doing, believe it or not), please tell me in the comments. Now I'm adding meaningless text just to fill this line, so my blog post looks good. :)

 

If you want a copy of the program and data, you can download it here. [LINK]

 

 

[gallery]

 

 

First LEGO-X Review: 7158

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="414" caption="Hero Factory 7158 Furno Bike!"][/caption]

Woo hoo!  From my FLL team that I co-coach, here is the 7158 Hero Factory Furno Bike!  This is a great set!  Though it may seem small, it's actually quite large!

Parts:

Here are some parts I thought were VERY cool to have!  (I will name them by my names/Bricklink #)

*) 2 of the new Technic tires (88517/88516)

*) 2 Axel-4 with stop (87083)

*) 3 Axel and Pin connector triple (63869)

*) 2 Red Zamor Spheres (bb194)

The tires/wheels were my FAVORITE pieces!  They are kind of like the old RCX wheels (white rim, black tire).  Though their grip isn't as good as the RCX ones, they look much more stylish!

Building:

The build experience was fairly easy.  It took me about 15 min. to complete.  In terms of how hard it is (1 out of 10 [10 being HARD!  1 being Duplos]) I'd rate it a 3 or 4.

Playability:

I like to play with toy motorcycles :).  I like to sit on the floor and spin in circles acting as if I'm the side-cam in a movie.  I've had lots of fun playing with this set, and I think pretty much anyone would too.

Overall:

Overall, I think that this set is a good start for Technic builders (even though it's Hero Factory).  It's easy, and has LOTS of great parts to start of your collection!

Rating:

I will now rate with 5 stars being the most:

Playability: * * * * *

Building experience: * * *

Building Ease: * * * *

Parts assortment: * * * * *

Thanks for reading the first ever LEGO-X review.  I always though that reviews were sort of like X-rays.  So, from now on, I will now call them

X-views!

jojoguy10

Building 3 new Custom Sets soon (hopefully)

Hello everyone!

You what I do for fun when I want a new set, but I don't have enough money for?  That's right, I make them anyway :) .  I'm planning to build 3 new customs sets pretty soon: The 8455 Backhoe, the 8421 Mobile Crane, and the 8258 Crane Truck.



For the 8455 I need a few more parts:

• 3 Pneumatic Cylinders, 1 Small bucket, 1 10x18 Bucket, 3 Engine Crankshafts, and 2 56x30 Tires

For the 8421 I need a few parts too:

• 2 Bionicle Bohrok Shoulders, 1 Buggy Motor, 8 62.4x20 tire and hub, and 2 small wheels

The 8258 Crane truck needs the most pieces:

• 3 Drive Ring extensions, 2 Linear Actuator holder (The horseshoe style), 4 1x13 gear racks (the new ones), 4 Panel Plate 1x5x11, 1 steering wheel, and, again, the 62.4x20 tire and hub.

So, I looked around, and I can get ALL of these parts for around $100 (somewhat including Shipping & Handling).  Maybe around my birthday I will have at least the mobile crane done (that's my most favorite of the three).

Have a great 2011, and Play well!

jojoguy10

108 views! Thank you EVERYONE!

YAY!  Yesterday, LEGHO-X got 108 views!  30 people went to the Podcasts page, 23 people saw the 1st LEGO-X podcast.  COOL!  This is LEGO-X's new high-score!  Thanks everyone!

jojoguy10

New poll!

Hello everyone!

First, Thanks to ALL of the poeple who posted about my podcast (To name a few, Xander and Shep).

Second, I have a new poll I'd like everyone to fill out!  It's about the 7th LEGO-X podcast!  Have any awesome ideas you just HAVE to share?  Now you can!  It's just to the right sidebar!  I'd LOVE to see your ideas!

jojoguy10

The 6th LEGO-X podcast is OUT!!!

Here it is...after a long upload and editing proccess, it's here!  Tell me if you liked it in the chatbox!

Thanks for watching!
jojoguy10

Podcast will be up today! Soon...

I am currently uploading my 5th installment of the LEGO-X podcast right now as I type this.  Here are the spec's:

• Total running time: 23 Minutes, 13 Seconds


• Cool Effects Used: Green Screen (Chroma Key), Reverb (Echo)


• Total Production Time (From first recording to end): about 2 weeks to record, write the script, and edit.

Hope you enjoy it when it comes out!  It should be out around 11am (GMT-8, Pacific).

Stay Tuned!

jojoguy10

Welcome dGPS!

Hello everybody!

It's been a while since I've posted on here!  From Dexter Industries, they brought out their new GPS Sensor! We have been beta testing this for maybe 2 months!  I have a couple of ideas on how to test it :-)

1. Robot that goes around in the snow


2. Robot that draws a specific points (depending on what coordinates are)


3. Maybe a robot that will track a line on where I've gone (like a real GPS!)

Well, it's snowing over here right now, and it's about 20 degrees Fahrenheit (about -5 degrees Celsius), and I wanna make a SLEDDING ROBOT!  Maybe just a simple tracked robot that crawls in the snow!

The podcast is coming off at a slow start.  I can't start recording till about December 4th.  So, I'm just perfecting the script right now (since all of the news that I HAD written is now old news).  I made that promise that I will post it BEFORE Christmas, and I will try my hardest to make it that way!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

jojoguy10

Lego-X got a new look!

Hello everybody!

You may have noticed by now, but Lego-X has a new look and feel to it!  Do you like it?  I got it from a guy who makes WordPress themes, and his LEGO site is The Lego Directory!  Check it out!

Also, I have been getting ready for the next Lego-X Podcast! Here are some hint about what's going to be in it:

• Christmas


• Famous People


• Fast Building

That's all I'm gonna give you!  I will try to get it up BEFORE Christmas comes around!  Play well!

jojoguy10

Podcast 5 update!

Hello everyone!  I'm sorry I haven't been blogging a lot lately :( .  But, I've been working on the latest LEGO-X podcast!  So far, I have an interview planned, some basic news for other websites/blogs, a special LEGO-X feature, and more!  Stay tuned!

jojoguy10

New poll about next video podcast!

Hello everyone! I have a question for all of those of you who listen to my podcasts': How do you listen to them? How WOULD you watch my newest one? Go to the right sidebar, and answer! This will make it easier for me to convert videos and sounds, etc.

jojoguy10

I have made a small change...

Hey everyone.  I made a small change to LEGO-X that will reduce spammers in the comments.  So, I have made it where you have to create an account for my blog, then you can post a comment.  You can find the log-in button below the chatbox, and you can register there too.  I hope this helps LEGO-X, but if there's something you want changed, comment, or put it in the chatbox to the right.

jojoguy10, out!

Another datalogging experiment - GPS

Well...I made a new datalog experiment using the beta version of the Dexter Industries GPS sensor!  I logged the latitude, longitude, velocity, and heading, all with just one sensor!  It was about a 25-min. drive.  And, the sensor tracked us all the way from point A, to point B.  Here are some graphs for you to see:



It may be kind of hard to see, but by looking at these, we can see a few things.  First, we can see that I was traveling mostly North and East.  Second, we can see how many left and right turns I made.  We can see where I stopped and was going.

Thanks for looking at my website!

jojoguy10

*Special* "Datalogging" a rolling tube

Hell0 everyone,

I'm here with a special presentation of my own!  I have created a datalog situation, where I roll in a pipe (or tube/barrel), and the NXT (with a HiTechnic Accelerometer sensor on it) records the 3 different axis.

[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignleft" width="754" caption="(click to enlarge)"][/caption]

There is lots of info we can pick up from this graph.  First, we can see that, the X and Z axis are going crazy, but the Y axis is staying, relatively, in the same spot.  Why?  Because I positioned my NXT upwards (meaning, I had the accelerometer sensor facing forward, so the Y axis was pointing left/right [ends of the barrel]), so the Y axis didn't show much data, because it wasn't used very much in this test.  But, if I had positioned my NXT, so that the Accelerometer sensor was pointing left/right (ends of barrel), the Y axis would show more change. We can also pick up from this "Rolling......" segment if the fact that each spike, is 1 revolution for the barrel. So, if you count the X spikes, you will see that there are 14 spikes. So, 14 spikes = 14 revolutions, which you will see in the video.

The second thing we can pick up from this graph, we can see the highest (or, in the X axis state, lowest) point in the axis lines: Z: 459 (~2.25 G's), X: -444 (~-2.25 G's), Y: 332 (~1.5 G's).

Third thing, right after the "Rolling......" part of the graph, you see a bunch of jumps and spikes in the Z axis.  That's because, if you see the video, you will see that I ran down a hill, and into some rocks, so those spikes, are the bumpy rocks and the hill.

Last thing you can pick up from this graph, you can see different jumps in the graph, and therefore, know what's happening.  For instance: the constant up and down movements made by the X and Z axis in the middle of the graph, are made from me rolling.  And, near the end, where the Z and X axis curve a bit, and the Y axis jumps, that's where, at the end of the "ride", it went slowly from upside-down to rightside-up.

I have also calculated the speed at which the barrel was going: ~10ft/s. The barrel is 9ft in circumference, and the time it took to go 1 revolution was 0.9, so, it was going about (~) 10ft/s.

Here is a little 30 second video that shows how I made the data (I started the program around 0:12):

Thanks for reading!

jojoguy10