Lego Mindstorms and Technics Scene in Malaysia

FLL 2011 Food Factor Challenge (Update)

2012-01-09T17:07:00.002+08:00

FLL 2011 Food Factor Challenge will be held this weekend. In this edition, the participants were given shorter preparation time as the competition will be held earlier. The previous editions of FLL were held after Chinese New Year.

Nevertheless, both school teams under our watch, Light Warriors (Sekolah Sri Suria) and LEGO Logic (Sekolah Sri Cahaya), are busy doing final preparation for the competition. Both teams are under pressure to produce good results at this edition of FLL. In previous edition, both teams have won Judges Award and Rising Star Award respectively. In addition, Light Warriors had also won Best Overall Robot Design Award in FLL 2009.

It is also surprising that there is little promotion effort by FLL Malaysia organizer, SASBADI. There is no link nor any information on FLL from SASBADI website. The official Malaysia FLL Facebook page is also inactive.

2012-01-09T16:53:00.003+08:00

A "practical" robot idea you can construct with LEGO MINDSTORM - RoboShart!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T13:24:00.001+08:00

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

FLL 2011 Food Factor Challenge

2011-11-29T20:21:00.001+08:00

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) 2011 Food Factor Challenge is confirmed!

Date: 13 - 15 Jan 2012 (Friday - Sunday)
Venue: Taylor's Lakeside University Campus, Subang Jaya
Organizer: SASBADI Sdn Bhd
Website: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2011foodfactor

Note that FLL 2011 is traditionally held in USA first before Malaysia, and not held simultaneously worldwide for some reason. The challenge and topic remain the same for other countries worldwide.

Here is the Food Factor Teaser from the website that describe the challenge:

Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams improve the quality of food by finding ways to prevent food contamination? In the 2011 Food Factor Challenge, over 200,000 9-16 year olds from over 55 countries will explore the topic of food safety and examine the possible points of contamination our food encounters – from exposure to insects and creatures, to unsterile processing and transportation, to unsanitary preparation and storage – then find ways to prevent or combat these contaminates. In the Food Factor Challenge, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT to solve a set of Food Safety missions as well as research, develop, and share their innovative food safety solutions. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values.

We will be coaching two school teams for this challenge: LEGO Logic from Sekolah Seri Cahaya and Light Warriors from Sekolah Seri Suria. We wish them best of luck!

LEGO in Google NYC

2011-11-04T00:09:00.000+08:00

Google NYC is Google's second largest office nestled among the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan. It is host to 2,500 employees, the second-largest number of Google engineers.

Google NYC is a place full of classic tech and LEGO whimsy. One entire wall in the office is devoted to LEGO art and LEGO creation. It was a struggle not to stop, stay and play.

Source: Mashable (link)

LEGO Man may be released from custody

2011-10-29T12:59:00.000+08:00

The 45.5kg, 2.5-metre-tall mysterious Lego man that was found on a Florida beach in U.S. may soon be sprung from a holding room.

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight said the Lego-man could be freed from the shed where he's been kept for two days.

The giant Lego appeared on Siesta Key beach Tuesday morning.

"No Real Than You Are" was written on its shirt, along with "Ego Leonard" and the number 8.

Local newspapers report the name "Ego Leonard" is the name of a Netherlands artist, but it was not immediately clear who was behind the work.

The story of the Lego man has gotten worldwide attention.

Knight says the Lego man is being well kept and hopes the giant fiberglass man can be placed on display somewhere in the community.

Source: The Star (link)

Giant LEGO man washes ashore on Florida beach

2011-10-28T14:04:00.001+08:00

Police in Florida have been left baffled after an 8ft tall LEGO man turned up on a beach.

Weighing 100lb, the giant LEGO man appeared on Siesta Key beach on Tuesday morning.

Bearing the cryptic message "No Real Than You Are" across the shirt, the words “Ego Leonard” were also visible of the outsized toy replica.

Ego Leonard is the name of a Dutch artist, but it is unclear as to whether Leonard is behind the toy stunt or if it is the work of an imitator.

LEGOLAND officials said the LEGO man was a counterfeit and is not endorsed by the company.

The mysterious plaything will remain in the protective custody of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office until it is claimed.

A similarly gigantic LEGO man was washed up on Brighton beach in October 2008. (link)

A giant, smiling Lego man was fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort in 2008

No one knew at that time where the colourful model, with Dutch writing on, came from either.

One resident said: "It must have fallen off a boat. The children love it."

Source: Mirror UK (link)

Ping Pong Robot made in China

2011-10-11T23:32:00.002+08:00

A robot hits back a ball at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 9, 2011.

Human-like robots developed by Zhejiang University in East China made debut on Sunday. The two robots as shown can capture the track of the ball by a camera installed inside before making reactions. The robots, 160 cm tall and weighing 55 kilograms each, took the university four years to develop. The university also aims to develop robots that can do housework.

The robots are able to track the movements of a table tennis ball and play back through a motion control system equipped with a built-in camera and an intelligence processing unit.

A robot plays pingpong with a visiting journalist at Zhejiang University.

Reference: XinHuaNet (link)

Ford Explorer in LEGO!

2011-10-04T10:29:00.000+08:00

Fancy a unique bright red Ford Explorer SUV at half of the usual weight?

Ford Motor Co. and the LEGOLAND Florida theme park has formed a partnership with unveiling of a full-scale Explorer replication with LEGO bricks. The bright red LEGOLAND Florida edition Explorer will be on display at the new 150-acre LEGOLAND them park in Winter Haven, near Orlando.

The LEGO Explorer’s debut took place at the car maker’s Chicago assembly plant, which normally turns out real Explorers.

Crafted by 22 Ford employees, the Lego Explorer is made up of 382,858 LEGO bricks. It took 2,500 hours (about three and a half months) to complete. The structure weighs 1,203 kg and is supported by a 348 kg interior aluminium base.

LEGOLAND Florida, which opens Oct. 15, is designed for kids from the age of 2 to 12 and has more than 50 family-oriented rides, shows and other attractions. The park has exhibits that use more than 50 million LEGO bricks and is divided into 10 zones with different themes.

In 2004, a life-sized LEGO replica of a Volvo XC90 was built, also for a LEGOLAND in California.

LEGO Life of George

2011-09-30T08:16:00.002+08:00

I won RobotC 3.0 Licence giveaway!

2011-09-21T16:05:00.001+08:00

I never win anything in my life... probably because I dont join anything :p

Anyway, today look what I won?

Haha... fine fine... it is a 1 in 3 chance in winning!

Eric

Starcraft 2 Seige Tank

2011-09-19T22:42:00.000+08:00

It is too awesome not to blog this...

RobotC 3.0 is out

2011-09-19T10:37:00.003+08:00

I have tried and played with RobotC 2.0.

It was simple to use as I do have a programming background. But I didn't do much with it since it is not NRC or FLL legal.

Now they have just released a new version, the RobotC 3.0.

Read a V2 -> V3 log on all the improvements (link to botbench pdf)

What I found most interesteding is the new Virtual Robots World (VRW) module look interesting, allowing users to program and simulate without actually needing a physical NXT robot. This could be great for students to practice programming at the comfort of their home.... or for those who needs a little more time at their own pace.

However the new RobotC and Virtual Robots World module does come with either an Annual license or a Perpetual license (free updates till next majar revision).

Download their free trial and give it ago.... I know I will...
[Download page here]

LEGO in Haemophilia Camp

2011-09-12T15:58:00.003+08:00

Participants of the 3rd Asia Pacific Hemophilia Camp were creating a model building with LEGO pieces during the Asia United Challenge group games session. These young people were eager to live life their way and not let haemophilia stop them from fulfilling their ambitions.

Co-hosted by the Taiwan Haemophilia Society and Bayer HealthCare, the 3rd Asia Pacific Haemophilia Camp was held in Uni-Resort of Mawudu in Hsinchu county, Taiwan, recently. It brought together those affected by the condition, to learn and share about haemophilia, and build friendships with fellow patients. The camp also aimed to motivate, encourage and empower patients and their caregivers. Over 100 participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and China attended the camp.

The camp also aimed at motivating participants to live life to the fullest. Through the “Asia United Challenge” indoor group games, they had the chance to meet and befriend many other people like themselves, all living with the disorder and making the most of life despite the condition. The campsite was transformed into a hive of activity as participants tackled challenges at each of the six games stations: LEGO-building, a musical performance, piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, decorating a giant postcard, designing an outfit and a trivia quiz plus landmark mix-and-match. The kids learned to work as a team in order to complete the tasks.

Haemophilia is a blood disorder where the blood lacks a protein and therefore cannot clot properly, leading to spontaneous or prolonged bleeding, especially in the muscles, joints and internal organs. When this happens, ugly bruises develop.

Source: The Star, 10 Aug 2011 (link)

Thermal Infrared Sensor Review (Dexter Industries Sensor)

2011-09-10T16:08:00.003+08:00

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIR) is one of the latest sensor produced by Dexter Industries. It is able to measure the temperature by detecting the radiation emitting from the object. The amount of infrared radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature, thus the TIR is able to measure these emitted radiation. You should read up a little more on Thermal Imaging (Thermography) to have a better concept on how it works.

Here is a picture of a Thermal Image, captured using very expensive thermal imaging equipment, NOT our TIR sensor. However the concept is the same, it captures the emitted infrared radiation, and converts it to an image.

Here I have a simple program that takes the value from the TIR sensor and output it to the NXT display. Please note that if you are using NXT Education software, the units is in Celcius, while the NXT Retail software is in Kelvin instead.

The following is what I have tried to measure:-

my hand/body: 33.5°C

34°C when I measured my hands using a thermometer. Strange but I always assume that our body temp is 36.9°C

my router modem: 36°C
my laptop: 44°C (without Laptop cooler)
ice: 1°C

Emissivity is a measure of a material’s radiating efficiency. Theoritically only a black body will have an emissivity of 1, thus almost everything else we measure is should be less than the actual temperature as it should have a emissivity value of less than 1. Check the emissivity list here. Please note that human skin has a value of 0.99.

There is a special block that Dexter Industries have produced to modify the emissivity value for the objects that you'll be measuring.

Here I have made a very simple software to measure the temperature of objects while the vehicle is moving. I have used the Data Logging feature available from the NXT Education's software.

The above is the measured temperature when as the vehicle is moving along for 10 seconds. Any idea what is it?

It is actually the heat produced by both my legs as the vehicle is moving in front of me. The lowest point is about 26°C (ambient) and the peak temperature is about 32°C (my legs).

I have written an equivalent for those that don't own the NXT Education's software. The above NXT-G equivalent writes the temperute to a text file as the vehicle is moving across.

Here is a simple experiment that I had devised. The first cup on the left is hot water, the centre is room temperature and the last cup is actually a frozen cup of water.

The above is the data that I have received from the text file data, and then using excel, I have plotted the data using a colour scale. Please note that the actual measured temperature of the hot water was about 75°C (using thermometer) while the ice is 1°C (using TIR on ice directly). However when measured from the side, the temperature seems to be off by almost 10°C. I'll have to check the emissivityof these plastic cup and retry the experiment.And note that the centre cup didn't show up, because it was at room temperature!

Overall the TIR sensor is pretty good and sensitive. It is able to pick up my body temperature even when the ambient is only about 5°C different within 10" of distance.

I will be posting some of the NXT-G software up in the next few days as well as do a few more experiments.

MoonBots 2011 Winner Announced

2011-09-03T10:32:00.000+08:00

A congratulations to the MoonBots 2011 winners

1st Place: LegoAces
2nd Place: Team Just Ducky
3rd Place: Lunar Lords

The following was quoted from the MoonBots website on Techno Inventors, our very own Malaysian Team from Sekolah Seri Suri:-

"Techno Inventors - The I’m So Excited Award - And they just can’t hide it. If we could harness this team’s enthusiasm and energy we could solve the worlds energy crisis. Outstanding work all the way around."

You could visit Techno Inventor's website for full details of their MoonBots competition and their video page.

Here is a video of their actual mission that they did. Not the best, but given the complexity of the mission, and the limited time they had, it is job well done.

GPS Module Review (dGPS by Dexter Industries)

2011-08-27T18:11:00.000+08:00

Are you bad with directions?
Do you constantly check-in on social networks like Facebook Places or FourSquare?
Do you have an Iphone, Android phone or any other smart phone?

Chances are, you would have already used, or own a GPS if you answered yes to any of the above.

So what can the GPS module bring to LEGO Mindstorms NXT that I couldn't already do on my Smartphone?

Well for starters, the GPS is actually quiet an advance piece of technology. By calcualting the distance to each satellites in space, it would be able to triangulate its current location. You should read more about the concepts and theories on how it actually calculates its location at the wiki site here.

However, this advance technology is no use if you don't understand or know how to utilise it.

The good thing about the getting the GPS module for the NXT Mindstorm is that, you'll have to write your own codes, rather than just downloading the apps and run it on the phone.

You'll need to know a little GPS concepts, and lots of creative ideas on how to implement or use it.

The review that I will be doing today would be based entirely on the NXT-G blocks that have been provided by Dexter Industries. In the photo above, I have both the dGPS module writting the to the NXT display, while on the right, I have HTC Desire with a GPS app, obtaining it the current location coordinates. If you are able to look closely, both of them are actually giving out different coordinates... of by a few decimal points.

View GPS for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT in a larger map

I have plotted both the coordinates on Google Maps. As you can see, both shows a different location, about 10 feet apart. Which one is more accurate? Well both is off by a little, as in one if off to the right, while the other is off to the left. I would need to check this with a few more location to determine which is the most accurate.

In the same map, I have also plotted a path that takes me around the KT town area. The path is marked in red. I have also attached the NXT-G files used to log the data, as well as a KML Path Creator at the end of this post.

You'll have to download 2 custom NXT-G Blocks available here. One you have downloaded and added it into your NXT-G software, you'll be to use it under the Advanced tab.

The first Block is the GPSRead, where it is able to extract all the information from your new dGPS module to your NXT. You could either write it to your NXT Display or even a text file on your NXT.

I have modified one of the sample codes to both display the information on the screen as well as write it to a file. When you write the coordinates to a file, with fixed interval, you'll be able to plot a path, as shown in the Google Map above (red path).

The next Block available is the NXTNavigation block. Given a destination coordinates, it will return the distance and angle to the destination from the current location. The usage is a little different from the GPSRead block, but it has it own purpose.

Overall the dGPS module is excellent. To log on to the satellites is pretty quick on a clear open sky (less than a minute), but takes up to a few minutes if it is very cloudy. The response that I am able to get, even at 1 second interval is acceptable.

I'll have to do more advance vehicle or robots to fully utilize the dGPS module's full potential.

Resources:
Download and view PDF Instructions on how to Collect and Upload data to Google Maps.
Download the NXT-G file for data logging here.
Download KML Path generator here.

dGPS Preview (Dexter Industries Sensor)

2011-08-24T17:09:00.001+08:00

I have just received the dGPS that is made by Dexter Industries.

I have been playing over the last few days. I have been using it to collect information, that I later convert and upload directly to Google Maps

Attached here is a Google Map with me driving around the town where I stay. Used the sample codes available at Building Blocks (taken from Dexter Industries resource/downloads) and have modified it a little.

I will continue to modify the NXT-G codes, making it easier to use. Before uploading the finished NXT-G codes here.

I am also in the middle of editing a special Excel file that will auto generate the KML file used by Google Maps. Easier to manipulate the data for upload.

I will do a full review over the next few days, completing the NXT-G codes as well as any other files created.

Stay tuned!!

Moonbots 2011 - Prototyping & Robot Design

2011-08-07T20:59:00.000+08:00

What I love about LEGO is that, given similar (or even same) parts, the possibility to create something seems to be infinite. So many possible solution for the same task...

The following is more of a Photo blog, of our attempt to prototype and design a vehicle for our Moonbot mission.

We started off with trying 2 basic design

Tank Track based, with 2 driving motor.
Car Based (4 wheel) with a front steering system.

A very quick tank track based prototype done. After a few runs over the Moonbot ridges I have deem this design a little too unstable. It couldn't get over the ridge consistently, most of the time either falling on its back before going over, or falling head first after it has gone over the ridge.

This was one of the first car based prototype that the kids had produced for me. It worked fine and was able to traverse any flat terrain properly. However the turning circle was bad.... really bad. With this design, we too had difficulty crossing the ridge, as it is tail heavy (note the NXT is behind the back drive wheel). Told the kids to move the NXT to between the 2 drive axle, giving it better balance.

The front steering wheel mechanism is really simple (anyone knows the name of this design?). It is just motor connected directly to the steering arm. No rocket science. Simple and effective.... However this design does have a tiny flaw.... it is difficult to get a good turning accuracy, as well as the terrain and ridges sometimes pushes it out of alignment.

The driving motor is connected to the drive axle directly. This design is able to push maximum power without any gears (speed or torque design). Simple and effective. However the trade off for this design is that it doesn't allow the car to turn properly (inner wheel is slower than other wheel).

We did a redesign it and tried it with a differential drive train. It worked very well when the vehicle is on flat terrain and when it is turning. However when faced with uneven terrain as well as Moonbot ridges, sometimes when all traction was lost to 1 wheel, thus transferring all the energy to the other wheel, causing inadequate traction and power to cross the ridge.

I reckon if we could try a limited slip differential, it could work. However with complicated design, it also could mean that the vehicle could be more unreliable. We decided not to try that design and just stick with the simple design and work within the limitations.

Here is a photo of another design of our tank track based vehicle. The student added some gearing, for it to power all the drive wheels, as well as added some counter balance to the robot. It did have great torque and was able to climb over the ridge easily, however the balance was difficult to overcome, causing the vehicle to constantly fall over the ridge.

While the some of us were killing our brain cells trying to figure out the best possible design for our vehicle, other students had the opportunity to do research and prepare for their STEM out reach project. The STEM out reach is worth a whopping 40% of the total, so getting this done properly was essential to the overall score

Alright... moon moon moon.... what else do I need to know about the moon.... Google this Google that.......

We decided to add a torque (speed down) gearing to the front drive arm. This makes the turning a little more accurate (but slow reaction), at the same time making it harder for the drive arm to mis-align when it hits the ridge or the uneven terrain.

One of our first working prototype with the NXT Brain moved to the centre for better balance and a new rake style arm for grabbing the objects. We experimented with this design. It was able to move over the ridge quite consistently, however the heading direction wasn't that consistent due to the uneven ridges pushing (mis-aligning) the vehicle steering arm.

Here is another prototype of a long reach rake style arm for trying to grab the objects from a further distance. The idea is NOT to go into Cravin Crater as it would be near impossible to leave it when you are within it.

Overall over the 2 days that I spent with the kids, it was great. We had many brain storm sessions, prototyping most of the designs we wanted to try and then decided which was the one that should be used. It was good as it wasn't my duty to dictate which is the best direction of building the best vehicle but give the opportunity to the kids to prototype, trial and decide.

LEGO Minifig on NASA Jupiter Mission

2011-08-07T12:12:00.003+08:00

NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft will carry the 1.5-inch likeness of Galileo Galilei, the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno to Jupiter when the spacecraft launches this Friday, Aug. 5. The inclusion of the three mini-statues, or figurines, is part of a joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the partnership between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. From Mount Olympus, Juno was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature. Juno holds a magnifying glass to signify her search for the truth, while her husband holds a lightning bolt. The third LEGO crew member is Galileo Galilei, who made several important discoveries about Jupiter, including the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honor). Of course, the miniature Galileo has his telescope with him on the journey.

The launch period for Juno opens Aug. 5 and extends through Aug. 26. For an Aug. 5 liftoff, the launch window opens at 8:34 a.m. PDT (11:34 a.m. EDT) and remains open through 9:43 a.m. PDT (12:43 p.m. EDT). The spacecraft is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2016. The mission will investigate the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's color camera will provide close-up images of Jupiter, including the first detailed glimpse of the planet's poles.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Ref: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/lego20110803.html

Moonbots 2011 Playfield & Mission

2011-07-30T22:34:00.003+08:00

I was invited over to give the Techno Inventors a hand in the Phase 2 of their Moonbots 2011 competition. Below is the overall playfield.

It is actually very huge, with 5 x 5 large lego plates as the base! The whole playfield is huge, with the walls at the back with Earth as the background was really cool. There is a landing pad which is black in colour situated at the left side of the photo.

These are 4 of these (Black & Orange) object to pickup from the field. It is called Helium-3 and worth 15 points each. Please note the 4 brick high wall ridges that the vehicle would have to traverse to get to the other side of the play field!

This is a photo taken low within the Crater Canvin. Please note that it has been filed with 2000 orange 1x1 bricks making it rather impossible for a vehicle to traverse into this crater, let alone get out of it, specially when it is surrounded with a 4 brick high ridge!!?? There are also 4 Water Ice element (White & Blue) object to collect while in here. Each is worth only 10 points. Please note the backgrouns has the red marking and some plus signs.... it is known as the Heritage Artifacts. Capturing a image of it will grant you 20 points!

Here are the breakdown of the points on the Playfield (350 points total)

Lander Dismount (leaving the base/landing site) - [20 points]
Discover Water Ice (pick up Blue & White objects) - [10 points x 6 units]
Survive the Lunar Night (Stay on top of the Peak of Eternal Light for 5 second) - [30 points]
Discover Helium 3 (pickup up Black & Orange objects) - [15 points x 4 units]
Capture Mission Video (video the entire run of the mission) - [20 points]
Photography the Heritage Artifacts (video the Heritage Artifacts) - [20 points]
Return to Base (touch the base) - [20 points]
Return Elements to base - [x2 points of each element]
Touch Penalty - [minus 50 points each time]

Opinion and Play difficulty of the Moonbots 2011

Playfield is build with Lego Plates. Surface is studed making the movement of the vehicle inaccurate
Ridge is at least 4 bricks high, make it difficult for the vehicle to traverse over it
Crater Cravin is filled with 2000 pieces of 1x1 bricks making it almost impossible to be moving accurately within the crater.
Getting out of the crater would also be impossible as there is no traction on the wheels.
As all the elements are very similar, designing only 1 arm to collect/pick up the elements is required

Overall, it is no easy mission. Compared to FLL or NRC it has its own challenges. Please note that there is only about 6 weeks time provided to complete the mission as well as the other activities as per the Moonbots requirements.

Total scoring for Phase 2 is as follows

Blogging requirement met (5% weighting)
Robot design proposal turned in on time and the design matches the robot construction (15% weighting)
Creativity and technical merit of STEM Outreach project (40% weighting)
The Science Mission Score achieved during the Live Mission Webcast (40% weighting)

Techno Inventors of Sekolah Seri Cahaya is Moonbots Finalist!

2011-07-06T21:32:00.009+08:00

We would like to congratulate Techno Inventors of making it to the finals of Moonbots. For those who haven't heard of the competition, you could head to moonbots.org for more info.

To see the top 20 finalist, you can click here.

Better still, click here to view their team websit.

Malaysia is 1 of the 2 non-US teams in the 20 finalist teams. The other one is from Chile.

Check out their Video selection below that allowed them to make it to the finals!

The oldest student is only 13 years old and the script was done mostly by the kids. I guess the humor element made them stand out.

Once again, congratulations on making it to the top 20.

Line Follower Algorithm - Which is the best?

2011-04-15T16:51:00.000+08:00

Single Light Sensor - Bit logic method (1 Min 59 Sec)
Read full post here.

Single Light Sensor - PID method - Smooth (1 Min 29 Sec)

Read full post here.

Single Light Sensor - PID method - Over Correction (53 Sec)
Read full post here.

Dual Light Sensor - PID method - Smooth and Fast (33 Sec)
I have not posted about this Line follower that I had built. It moves really fast and because there is 2 light sensors, it is able to adjust and move along quickly. I am trying to optimize the dual sensor to go even faster. Will post the outcome when I am done.

Line Follower - PID Method - Over corrected!

2011-04-15T11:18:00.002+08:00

This post is a followup to the previous PID Line Follower post, of which I was using the PID method. As you would have noticed in the previous post, the Line follower robot was moving very smoothly over the black line, however it was extremely slow!

Please note that the line follower robot is only using 1 light sensor, the left one. The robot has been built with 2 sensors for future test algorithm.

In this followup post, you'll notice that the robot moves along at faster rate, but the robot seems to be constantly oscillating, with a few occasion that it manage to reach equilibrium. This is because the robot seems to be over compensating. The reason that this could happen is because is because the robot's feedback loop is too slow to react, and is NOT able to compensate quick enough, causing it to go into an oscillation mode. I would have to re-code the robot using NXC or RobotC to overcome the speed issue.

Another possibility is because of the variables that I have used to adjust the robot for a faster speed, rather than a smooth moving robot. Maybe the setup variables is inaccurate, thus the robot is unable to hit its equilibrium. However in the video above, the robot did reach an equilibrium state (moving straight) occasionally.

I will post the source codes in the future post after I have done investigation on how to make the robot move faster yet smoother.

If anyone has manage to complete the above task, please post in the comments how you manage to make the robot move fast yet smooth with 1 light sensor.

Line Follower - PID Method - Smooth

2011-04-15T10:55:00.001+08:00

I hope most of you have read the Bit Logic line follower algorithm. Next I will explore the PID method, which I have been reading alot lately on the Internet. I reckon, for most high school students understanding just the "theory" of PID will be enough to put you through college :p

Please note that the line follower robot is only using 1 light sensor, the left one. The robot has been built with 2 sensors for future test algorithm.

Anyway, if you would like a very detailed theory, calculations and formula for the PID method, please follow this link.

If you have watched the video, you would realised that the robot tries to correct itself to stay in the middle, between the black and white areas, as shown in the image above. After a few oscillation, it would be moving along the grey area (between the white and black).

The graph above shows the Motor power output vs the readings from the Light sensor. As you can see, the robot will always try to keep within the Grey area (dotted line B), which is the equilibrium. When the Left motor and Right motor, is travelling at the same speed, the robot is actually move straight.

When the Light sensor is above the White area (dotted line A), you'll notice that the Right motor will stop, while the Left motor is moving at full power, causing the robot to turn right, thus heading towards the Black line.

When the Light sensor is above the Black area (dotted line C), the Left motor will stop, while the Right motor is moving at full power, causing the robot to turn left, thus heading towards the White area.

As you can see, since the graph is linear, the robot should automatically correct itself till it is moving along on its equilibrium (dotted line B), as you can see in the video attached above.

Line Follower - Bit Logic Method

2011-04-09T18:43:00.001+08:00

I have been tasked to teach one of the most fundamental programming ideas, Line Follower.

Before we begin, we should understand what Line Follower algorithm there is, and what is the best and quickest method. So today we will explore the easiest one of them all, the 2 bit line follower algorithm.

View the image above, the Black Box represents an enlarged Black line, while the tiny Red line represents where the light sensor is on and what it will see. You will notice from the video above, you will notice that the NXT Mindstorms actually makes very tiny zig-zag along the black line. If you look closely, it is actually like the red line above.

The idea is simple, if the sensor is over White (Point 1), you turn right towards the Black area. When you are over the Black (Point 2), you turn left towards the White area. Effectively you are hugging the left edge of the Black line.

Using just the a simple Switch Block, and 2 Move Blocks, we are able to program the bit logic line follower, as explained in the previous paragraph.

Being the easiest line follower algorithm to understand and teach doesn't make it the fastest. It only manage to complete the track in about 2 minutes, which is extremely slow!

NXT Adapter is here, FINALLY !

2011-03-06T16:33:00.008+08:00

Hi people, I know it's been "a while" since I last posted about the NXT adapter prototype, but the NXT Adapter is finally out now, phew....so without further adieu, let's look at the real thing now :)
TaDaa !! This is what it looks like in our current version, the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) together with the transformer...
Here's a close up shot of the PCB together with other electronic components & the adapter jack.
Here's another close up shot of the PCB from a different angle. The metal cover is securely attached below the PCB & is painted in grey colour to match the colour of the NXT itself.This is how it looks like when attached to the NXT controller. The metal cover will hold on tightly to the NXT controller through friction once it is firmly pressed onto the NXT controller.
Here's a picture showing the comparison between the normal plastic cover vs. the metal cover.
Now, for those of you who have no idea why we took the trouble to come up with something like this, let me recap why would you need the NXT adapter :

You see a hole in your pocket after spending too much money changing normal batteries.
You woke up in the morning next to your NXT realizing you fell asleep yesterday while waiting for your rechargeable batteries to fully charge.
When you need constant voltage and power, especially when you are building some stationary projects (very useful for schools who participates in open category =D )
When you want to make your robot lighter. Since acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, less mass means your robot can accelerate faster with the same amount of force applied. You get my point now ? :P
So we can make some money too by selling you the adapter hahaha...

If you are interested to get one (or more), you may reach me at yipyaukean@gmail.com

Sneak peek of the NXT Adapter prototype

2010-05-05T23:26:00.009+08:00

Not too long ago i wanted to make a NXT adapter for some cheap and constant power like what Philo did, but unfortunately i couldn't get all the components i needed to make one. So, i consulted a friend of mine, who is also a Mechatronics engineer whose specialty is in designing electronic circuits O.O So after some careful thinking and component sourcing, this is what he came up with n_n

notice anything different about this NXT ?

Here's a better view of how the circuit board looks like. The design was simple and effective, it works just like LEGO rechargeable battery pack + LEGO adapter, but at a fraction of the cost of course =) The aluminium plate secures the circuit board firmly to the NXT through friction lock, and an adapter socket was carefully placed to allow the easy connection to the adapter.

i made a simple program to measure the voltage supplied by the adapter and it registers a healthy 9.11 volt. When i connect the NXT to 3 motors and run all of them at the same time, the voltage dropped to around 9.05, which is still pretty decent.

So what's so great about using an adapter over normal or rechargeable batteries and when do you need it ?

When you are tired of wasting precious $$ changing batteries.
When you are tired of having to wait for your rechargeable batteries to fully charge.
When you need constant voltage and power, especially when you are building some stationary projects (very useful for schools who participates in open category =D )
When you want to make your robot lighter.

Keep in mind that this is just a prototype...the final product will look a lot nicer and much more solid as my friend and I intend to produce limited units for the benefit of those true mindstorms enthusiasts.

Any comments are welcome and do let me know if you are interested in laying your hands on one of this =)

Vertical Limit concept bot

2010-04-05T00:02:00.006+08:00

Here's a ONE concept robot i sketched for the Vertical Limit event :

Concept

The robot has 2 swinging arms attached to the main chassis of the robot. The swinging arms each has one or more rotating tires attached to them for gripping & climbing the poles. A simple hook mechanism is attached at the end of the swinging arms to push the ping pong ball into the basket.

Motors

1 motor for moving the robot front and back with no turning ability. (since that's all you need to move from pole A to pole B)
1 motor for swinging the arms to the front to hold on to pole A and swinging to the back to hold on to pole B.
1 motor for the rotating tires on the swinging arms for climbing the poles.

Sensors

I did not include the sensors in my sketch but you may use a Touch Sensor on each side for detecting when your robot has bump into a pole, or you may use an Ultrasonic Sensor if you want a non-contact option. You may use another Ultrasonic sensor for detecting when your robot has reach the top, or you can use light sensors to detect the different sections on the poles but remember the colour of wrappings on the poles are random, so you've been warned here. On the way down, you may use a third Touch Sensor to detect when your robot has reached the ground. As for moving from pole A to pole B, no sensors will be required since your robot can only move straight.

If you are daring enough, you may even choose not to use any sensors and rely solely on rotation alone but i wouldn't recommend it unless you are pretty confident with your design.

Programming

the program for this robot should be very straight forward, maybe something like:

move straight until touch sensor 1 bump into pole A
climb pole A until ultrasonic sensor 1 can no longer "see" the pole
climb down until touch sensor 3 hits the ground
whole robot reverse until touch sensor 2 bump into pole B
repeat step 2 & 3.

Please bear in mind that this is just one of the many possible ways of solving the challenge. But my message here is always put your ideas into sketches & drawings using simple shapes and then list down the tasks your robot needs to complete, the constraints/limitations of your design, before you actually build the real thing out. Too often the students tend to dive straight into building the robot without having the big picture and eventually they get stuck very quickly.

So i hope this post helps to give you some idea on how to conquer the vertical limit challenge & also how to tackle a complicated problem in a simple way - put your ideas on paper first (^_^)

New Arrivals by Yoshihito Isogawa

2010-04-03T08:31:00.004+08:00

Yoshihito Isogawa is one of the more famous LEGO innovator, creating simple mechanical LEGO objects while keeping it simple.

Anyone who is new to LEGO Technics should download his PDF file (LEGO Tora no Maki). It has got many innovative ideas, and the simplicity of his designs makes us all wonder, "How does he come up with such great yet simple ideas??".

He is definately a GURU or better still, a LEGEND when it comes to LEGO...

Main Works Model Gallery click here.
Small Works Model Gallery click here.

Please note that, even though it is all written in Japanese, the simplicity of his designs and the photos that shows his designs makes all his works universal, without any language barrier...

Vertical Limit (Upper Secondary) too tough ?

2010-03-31T17:03:00.004+08:00

Now that FLL is over, it's time to start working on robot for NRC 2010 that is going to start in another 2 months time.

One of the most common complaints i heard from teachers and students were regarding the difficulty of Vertical Limit - the upper secondary event for regular category. Since no sample solutions are being provided this year, most schools (at least the ones i know) must be scratching their heads, or, should i say, pulling their hair from their scalp just to come up with a workable solution.

To add more salt to the injury, the recent update on the rules requires the robot to move from pole A to pole B AUTONOMOUSLY !!! surprise, surprise (O.O) Muahahaahaha....

It was not the organizer who wanted to play a prank on all the schools who participated in NRC 2010 but because the WRO committee keeps changing the rules as NRC 2010's events are based on WRO. (being an ex-Sasbadi trainer, i can attest to this )

This got me thinking a little - how on earth do you make a robot that can climb a pole 25mm in width, collect a ping pong ball, come down, move on to the next pole ALL BY ITSELF, and repeat the same thing again while using only 1 NXT controller, 3 motors, & 4 sensors (max) ?

I have been sketching up a robot using simple shapes & once i am done i will post up the sketches to share with you guys, so stay tuned :)

p.s. i'm not good in drawing :P

Videos of Team "The Light Warriors" at FFL 2010

2010-03-23T17:47:00.012+08:00

Congratulations to Team "The Light Warriors" from REAL International School, Hulu Langat who won Best Overall Robot Design award at the recent FIRST Lego League (FLL). The team comprised (in alphabetical order of surname):

Thavish Annal
Sabrina Chia Chee Teng
Massimiliano Daldoss
Koh Phey Faye
Melissa Lim May Lyn
Shue Yuann Shin
Kabilan Subramaniam
Eddy Tan Jia Cheng
Wayne Tan
Jonathan Yap

The team is also accompanied by:

Daniel Tsen (Team Manager)
Erol Hujdur (Coach)
Ong Poh Lai (Coach)
Eric Tan (Coach)
Ong Poh Seng (Coach)

Here are the videos that depict performance of Team "The Light Warriors" during the two-day event at National Science Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Project Presentation

Technical Presentation (Part 1)

Technical Presentation (Part 2)

Mission (Round 1)

Mission (Round 2)

Mission (Round 3)

Award Presentation

Keep up the good work!

FLL 2010 - Smart Move - Best Overall Robot Design Award - Real International (Seri Suria)

2010-03-20T08:18:00.001+08:00

First I would like to congratulate all the kids from Real International (Seri Suria) for a job well done in bringing home a Prize (Best Overall Robot Design Award) from the FLL 2010 Smart Move competition held on the 17 & 18 March 2010.

Preparations were intense, and all of the kids only really had 4 full days to complete the robot, practise the missions and organise the presentation.

I would also like to thank Daniel, Erol, Poh Lai and Poh Seng for putting in all their time and effort into preparing the kids. All would not be possible if everybody did not play their own role.

I would say, a Prize is always nice, but I guess we would have work even harder for the FLL 2011, as I noticed the Team to beat would be SJKC Jalan Davidson, of which their robots went flawlessly, perfect in a sense. Their robot was well taught with great innovation and ideas.

Attending the FLL for the first time was a different experience. I guess it was the different methods they used to judge needs sometime to get used to. Our presentation was not as well done as it should. We didnt have props and costumes like the other teams.

I guess overall, for a first year contender in any Robotics competition, we did great. We just have to buck up, as the other schools out there are years ahead, in terms of LEGO Robotics.

So, no rest for the wicked, since the NRC 2010 question is already out... I guess training would have to start.... again.....

More photos of FLL 2010 at Jason's Blog (Sasbadi Staff)

NRC 2010

2010-03-18T10:02:00.002+08:00

The events for NRC 2010 is as follows

Regular Category

1. Primary School - Adventure Race

2. Lower Secondary - Treasure Hunt

3. Upper Secondary - Vertical Limit

Open Category

Theme: Robot Promote Tourism

Full details on rules available here.

Registration form available here. Closing date is 30 April 2010.

Good Luck to all.

**Details are obtain from Jason's blog (Sasbadi Staff)

FLL 2009/2010

2009-09-15T09:46:00.002+08:00

First Lego League holds a competition yearly, with the same question being used for the whole world. What I love about the FLL is that, everyone competes using the same questions, same play field, as well as same lego sets. Where all remains the same, only their creativity/ingenuity of each team to solve the problem will make them the winning team!

You can view the full FLL rules for FLL Smart Move 2009/2010 here.

For a quick summary of what you will expect from the FLL Smart Move 2009/2010, you can view the video below

2009-09-13T22:46:00.000+08:00

I suck at writing blog.
But still, here's my point of view on the robots.

Small and agile with risks are what our competitors did during the K. Terengganu NRC.
They used the aim and shoot method.
This method basically is to make the robot move straight and grab ( other methods also apply) the object and put it to the destination.
They risk:

The position of the robot at start point must be EXACTLY where they have programmed.
Battery voltage must be EXACTLY the same as what they have programmed using.
Luck. No luck = GG
They must programmed it correctly in a sense that the programming must be accurate by the millimeter. And that's just too back-breaking for us?
Even the condition of the mat will AFFECT the performance AKA determine their fate.

THE SLIGHTEST MISCALCULATION, MISTAKES, EVEN BY A MM, WILL RESULT IN FAILURE.

But if, and if, they are:

Lucky
Able to program well
Makes no mistake.

They get lots of points as their robot is fast.

Next, is what we did.

Use Light Sensors to move with the black lines on the mat.

This method is:

More accurate.
May auto-recover.
Minimises human-error as the robot will move itself without requiring us to aim the robot.
It's now a fully-automated robot. No a car that picks up objects blindly.

Nothing is perfect. Same goes with this method.

It's :

SLOWER if compared with aim and shoot method. But if it's programmed well it may go faster ? ( unconfirmed, no chance for us to see others use this method )

Method of getting object.

This is gives us a headache till the very end of the competition.
We thought of all kinds of methods. Some fail. Some shines.
At last, we decided to go with the box method.
The robot's arm is a square that extends out of the robot.

The arm

We got frustrated thinking of other methods that we go ahead with a very straight forward box that just swoops in the object.

Well, this method brings a lot of problem.
Especially with the rubber object.
Rubber + mat = Friction and loads of it.

With the robot pulling the object, it's like telling it a mammoth task for the robot. It squeaks, jerks and even jumped over the object with the object still stationary.

There's also the grab method, grab-n-lift method, scoop method and so on.

It's late now. gtg. So, anything missing? Wrong? Bullshits? Please dump it in the comments.
And hopefully, I'll make up to it in my next post.

P.S. This is my first time writing and posting a blog post.

Point of View: Robot Massacre

2009-09-11T23:01:00.009+08:00

Hello world ! This is my first post. Thanks to Eric for the invitation.
To make sure our robot will keep moving forward, I came up with these few questions and opinions that I believe is essential for our future robot construction.

First of all, the size of the robot. Our previous robot moves slow and steady although a bit bulky.
The mass of our previous robot is a pro and also a con. The weight is important to decide because it will eventually affect our turning, movements, power consumptions and of course the type/number of wheels. How can we give a balance "diet" for our future robot from being fat and slow? We can build it small and compact, mild and light or just with simple mechanisms.

I believe the robot should be small, simple and not-too-light.
Small, it is easier to build and does not interfere with the tracks or turnings.
Simple, just in case anything screws up, rebuilding it would be easier.
Not too light, a little bit of weight is recommended to prevent the robot from slipping, jerking and possibly gets off track.

Another thing to take note of is the sensors. It is always light sensors. Our previous robot is causing a lot of inaccuracy and failures on turning.
The obvious reason is the distance between the sensors and the wheels. The sensors shouldn't be too far from the wheels nor too close.
Our future robot should have a close enough distance from the wheels. So when the robot stops, the wheels are in the exact location as we want.

Arm mechanism. So called the pain in the ass.
Is there an arm design that could pick up almost every shape and sizes ?

Is grab-n-lift a good option ?
Do we really need an arm (guess so) ?

The following is the battery. Which battery should we use on competition day, rechargeable or new AA batteries? It would be best if we get some sponsorship from the school for batteries. Program using rechargeable then optimize it to a higher voltage, sounds good ? I believe the old design is a power hogging machine, therefore the new design must be small. It failed on the design and programming. Better design is a must. Until now, I'm still wondering how did we won third prize in the competition with this rotund golem.

Next, the wheels. Should we consider more than 2 wheels ? Do we need small wheels or big wheels? I think we are better off with big wheels (previous wheels).
The small wheels isn't giving much "grip" from what i see, and it may slip if we use a faster speed, it's just too light. The wheels are depending on the size of our robot. It's not like we put tiny wheels on a giant machine, that would be LOL !
Besides that, if possible, we're going for max power and max velocity. We never know what would happen next.

My views may be a little bit of obscure and ridiculous, I think you get the idea. Well, it's just my point of view.

Tell us what do you think about a winning robot.

Cheers.
-CH-

3D modelling using Solidworks

2009-09-02T22:22:00.007+08:00

I have been relearning Solidworks (a 3D CAD software widely used by engineers & designers) for a while and decided to do some simple modelling on my own after going through some of the tutorials. So i just picked the Technic studless straight beams as my subject due to its simplicity & my skill level :p

In engineering, just like in real life, there are many ways to solve a given problem and the rule of thumb is always to solve it using the simplest method. I completed the first 3M studless straight beam using 7 steps (or 7 features),

But i thought i used too many steps to complete the model, so i made another attempt to remodel the beam using different methods and this time around it only uses 3 steps to complete the model.

Satisfied, i continued to model the rest of the straight beams of varying lengths including 5m, 7m, 9m, 11m, 13m, and 15m & made a screen shot of all the different beams lined up together,

Overall, i had a fun experience using Solidworks to model the Technic beams. I understand there are a lot of LEGO CAD softwares out there that would satisfy most Mindstorms & Technic fans, but for the few who find them too limiting in features, eg designing your own custom parts, performing some stress analysis, or some motion analysis, then you should give Solidworks a try ! (provided money is not an issue for you :p)

Quick engage/disengage mechanism for gear trains

2009-08-02T23:14:00.014+08:00

Due to the challenging design of this year's Robot Energizing objects, many teams have come up with pretty interesting designs to carry the resources (i.e coal, bio-fuel, and esp. solar). One of the biggest challenge the teams face is to design some mechanism which can grab and lift the object by using only 1 motor as the other 2 have been used up for navigation.

So, some of the more successful teams have employed the grab & lift mechanism similar to the one shown below,

This is a brilliant solution for grabbing & lifting the Solar rescource off the ground, but there's a slight drawback to this design when the gear reduction ratio is too big - you need to turn the motor many rotations to reset it to the original position everytime the robot misses. So one the solution the teams come up with is to attach another knob/wheel along the driving axle for manual reset. However, this still takes up an awful amount of time, especially if your robot miss more than once :S

Recently i came across a very interesting mechanism that can engage/disengage a gear train with relative ease and i thought it would be an useful add-on to the grab & lift mechanism for quick engage/disengage in the event the robot misses the object.

I have uploaded the videos showing how the quick engage/disengage mechanism work along with the grab & lift mechanism without the quick engage/disengage mechanism for comparison.

Grab & lift with quick engage/disengage

Grab & lift without quick engage/disengage

This mechanism can even be applied to grabbers which uses wormscrews, which can save even more time on resetting the grabber.

Almost Famous - NRC 2009 Newspaper Article

2009-07-20T09:58:00.003+08:00

I have been in Kuala Terengganu for less than 6 months, and I am already making a scene. Creating too much publicity is NOT a good thing :)

We had a little tiny article printed on the Sin Chiew 18 July 2009 about our recent win in the NRC 2009.

Since I cant read chinese, I can't give you a summary on what it says, but most probably only good things :)

Those who didn't see the article in their Sin Chiew is because it is printed in their equivalent of Metro section (The Star), where it only talks about local events in Kelantan, KT and Kuantan (East Coast).

Lego Technics Quad Bike 8262

2009-07-20T09:31:00.000+08:00

Isn't the Quad Bike just sexy? I must admit, most of the 2009 Lego Technic models are just awesome. In fact, I am eyeing the Technic Go Kart too! Not forgetting all the Star War Series, that I have already spent too much collecting.

I must admit, but this is the second Technic set that I have built. It is NOT that I don't own any other Technic sets, but all of is still Brand New in Box. I have the Lego Bulldozer 8275, but just haven't gone around to building it. I am sure it is an awesome set, with all the PF Motors!!

When I first opened the box to the Quad Bike, I realised that there is so little pieces in there. With all the packets on the table, I was wondering whether have they left any parts out? Most of the weight of the items are in the rubber wheels :p

After pouring all the parts out on the table, I realised that it is filled with many many small parts. After a quick flip through of the intruction booklet, I realised that there is alot of little details (and little parts) used to make the quad bike.

I spent closed to 2 hours building the Quad Bike. I really like the front suspension that the Quad Bike have. The design is great, and I hope to incorporate it in my future NXT designs. The only problem is that, the pieces and absorber piece is unique to this set, and NOT included in any standard NXT Set :(

It has an alternate building instruction to build a Buggy. I will be building it soon, and will definately post the pictures of that soon.

NRC 2009 - 3rd Place Kuala Terengganu State

2009-07-19T09:56:00.000+08:00

Here is a photo of the kids from SMK Chung Hwa Wei Sin with the 3rd Price win at the NRC 2009 Kuala Terengganu State level.

Congratulations to them on work well done of getting 3rd place. It is their first year with the NXT and coaching them from ground up is no easy task, not to mentioned with their busy schedules, they only had about a month to come up with their robot design and program for it.

Going against students who have got NXT experience, not to mentioned that they had already completed a similar NRC 2008 question is no easy task. Luckily with the long hours put in, they manage to obtain 3rd Place.

The kids are (from left to right)

Cedric
Koong (Chief Programmer)
Chen Hui (Chief Builder)
Eric Tan (Coach)

I expect nothing less from them next year, only First place would be acceptable!

I will be posting more on my NRC experience in the future post, as well as the design concept of our NRC 2009 robot, as well as mistakes that we had made.

Lego City Coat Rack

2009-07-15T10:26:00.003+08:00

Look what we have here. It is a very similar concept to what was posted earlier. Check photo below, and link to posts.

Automatic Bucket Filler

2009-01-31T14:49:00.005+08:00

It's been a while since my last NXT project, and since i got a week off for CNY so why not do some home improvement to make the home a better place to live in, right ?

In the house i live in, "someone" just have a strange habit where they like to leave the tap dripping all the time and i can never understand the logic or the rationale behind it. So i decided to probe deeper and find out the answer - "Oh, i just leave it dripping all the time so it will fill up the bucket automatically" was the reply i got :S

The problem was the bucket overflows all the time that is a tremendous waste of H2O...Hence, i came up with the Automatic Bucket Filler.

This system consists of one motor and one touch sensor. When the water level is low, the ball drops to a lower level and the touch sensor is released, signalling the NXT to rotate the motor to turn on the tap; when the water level is high, the ball raises due to buoyancy and presses the touch sensor, signalling the NXT to turn off the tap.

The motor turns the tap.

The ball rises and lowers depending on the level of the water, and when the level is high enough the ball will press on the touch sensor to signal the NXT to turn off the tap.

Ok, i know you can't wait to ask me how much can i save with this system and what's the ROI ? After doing some simple calculations,

Annual savings on water bill : RM 5

Cost of Mindstorms NXT : RM 1400

Return on investment (ROI): RM 1400/RM 5 = 280 years !

Hey, just 280 years only mah, not bad wat... after 280 years can start saving RM 5 every year oredi, so chun !

Lego USB Drive - Thinnest Ever!

2008-12-18T10:38:00.003+08:00

I am sorry if this is a little off topic. I made a few over the weekend. I reckon you can't get smaller than this for a USB Flash drive. If you guys would like one, drop me a message. The best thing is that, it is Vista ReadyBoost compatible!

The LEGO USB Drive featured is almost completed. I have not mounted a small ring that would allow the LEGO USB Drive to be mounted either on a Keychain or a Lanyard (perfect for showing off!)

Currently I have 6 colours available

I would like to apologise for my sub-standard photos. Photos would be re-taken with better lighting condition and using a tripod to ensure that the photos are sharp as it can be!

You can check out more details here.

Simple Skid-Steer 4WD with Power Functions

2008-12-17T21:52:00.003+08:00

Over the weekend i just wanted to build something out of the new power functions elements from the 8275 Bulldozer - hence i came up with this simple remote-controlled model with no programming but pure fun.

This is a simple skid-steer 4WD using power functions elements including 2 XL motors, 1 battery box, 1 receiver and it can be built in under 5 minutes.

Each side of the wheels is controlled by 1 XL motor and steering is accomplished by turning both motors in opposite directions, just like the way you drive a tank...

The car tends to jerk a lot while turning due to the nature of skid-steer architecture but i had a lot of fun with it, especially with the reaction i get from my sister's dog when i drive this thing around right in front of her ^_^

NXC Tutorial by Danny Benedettelli

2008-11-05T22:31:00.000+08:00

If you have downloaded the NXT Tutorial by, please download it here.

Don't worry about the NXC guide. You'll only need the Guide if you are doing more advance programmes. Until then, just use the NXT Tutorial and follow it step by step.

I have gone through the tutorial and find it pretty complete. It goes through most of the basic features that are available in the NXT-G language.

I will start to write some more advance program and post them back here.

I will assume that you have already complete the NXC Tutorial and fully understand the basic NXC features as well as the C programming language.

Alternative Software for your NXT Mindstorms - NBC/NXC

2008-11-05T21:39:00.001+08:00

Today I will be writting a short article on how to install and use alternative software. The first one I will be looking at is the NBC/NQC/NXC. You can read more about these 3 alternative software here.

The beauty about this about the language is that, you could use the standard firmware, without upgrading your NXT Firmware. Why it is great is that you could use the more advance, while having the option to use back the NXT-G software, if you wish to do a quick test or demo without flashing your firmware back to the original one.

NBC (Nxt Byte Code) is actually a very low level coding. It is about an equivalent to assembly language. Basically you can't get lower than this!

NXC is (Not eXactly C) is a high-level C language. It is written above the NBC language.

I used NBC when it was first released and upgraded to NXC when it was introduced.

You'll need to download 2 software to get this running.

Bricxcc -GUI Interface for the NBC Compiler
NBC - NBC Compiler

Start by installing the Bricxcc (Bricx Command Centre) GUI interface. It is pretty straight forward.

Next please extract the NBC Compiler. Please remember the directory where the files have been extracted to.

You'll need to attach the NBC compiler so that you can access it from within the Bricxcc.Under the Edit menu, please seleect the Preference option.

Then select the little box with the "..." and include the path where you had extracted your NXC file.

Once you have done it, please compile the file "struct.nxc" which was included in the NBC compiler.

If you have done everything as I have explained, you should be able to compile the programme and run it.

Download the NXC Guide or NXC tutorial from this link.

I will have some tutorial on how to programme in NXC in my future post.

Poor Man's Key Hanger

2008-10-22T20:05:00.003+08:00

Leaving a bunch of keys all scattered around the table bothers me and I just decided to look for some key hangers to put the poor fellas where they belong. The problem was i always forget to buy them until i got fed up so I just put together a few pieces of LEGO Technic plus some good quality double-sided tape to create my own version of key hanger, and Viola !

Another advantage for using LEGO to make key hangers was saving money on buying new ones :P

Can you think of something else to do with your LEGO ? ( preferably something useful of course. )

8275 Bulldozer

2008-10-01T21:11:00.010+08:00

I got this Bulldozer for a very reasonable price from ebay about two weeks ago and this monster took me around 10 hours in total to put together :S But it was definitely worth the effort as i enjoyed every minute of it :)

The first thing you will notice when you open up the box is the huge number of bags !! ( not to mention the 3 instruction booklets )

One of the main attraction of this model is the amount of Power Functions elements in the set. This set alone gives you :

1 remote control
1 battery box
2 receivers
2 XL motors
2 M motors

It took me about 4 hours to finish the first book and this is how it looks like,

The design and construction technique used in this model is very efficient, compact, and solid. The first book is all about building the chassis and the mechanism for the treads.

The second book completes the rest of the functional mechanisms with all the electronics installed and it gives the bulldozer its exterior,

The final book adds the front blade and the ripper on the back to make the bulldozer complete.

In the pictures it may not look very big and let me assure this baby is HUGE ! Just to give you an idea of how big it is, i've put the bulldozer on top of my Mindstorms NXT box and took a picture.

The length of the bulldozer even exceeds the size of the box !

Overall, i was very satisfied and impressed with the bulldozer and i've already started thinking of using its treads for my next Mindstorms project....hehehe...

Kean's First Post

2008-09-22T16:01:00.010+08:00

Hi guys, my name is Kean and im new to this blog, thanks to Eric's invitation :)

My background is in mechatronics engineering and currently working as a education trainer.

Since this is my first post i thought i'd post something interesting, something you wouldn't normally do with your NXT set in school. Allow me to present to you ( drums beating in the background.................) :

The NXT Bolter (Submachine gun)

I created this back in March. Inspired by Laurens Valk's 'Support Gunner' and other nxt guns, i decided to build a variation of my own. I wanted to build a gun which looks and feels like a real gun and hence - NXT Bolter.

It looks like a smg with an inverted magazine.I used 1 motor for loading the 'bullet' into the chamber, and another 2 motors for firing the 'bullet'. The firing is controlled by a touch sensor when the gunner pulls the trigger.

There are 2 modes to this gun: semi-auto and full-auto and the gunner selects the mode through the left and right button.The magazine can hold a maximum of 16 1x3 beams and the gun can be reloaded from the top of the magazine.

2008-07-16T16:35:00.002+08:00

Picture

And the Winner is .... NRC 2008 Results

2008-07-04T11:12:00.007+08:00

Congratulations to Victoria Institute for winning 1st and 2nd place...

But the real winner is the boys from SMK Taman Connaught, who came in third with 233 points. There were a dispute with the Head Judge as instructions given to them was mixed from 2 different judges.

Anyway, we all know that they are the TRUE winners, easily obtaining 265 points if there wasn't any issues with the judges.

Their team consist of

Daniel Boey
Jonathan Lee
Calvin Boey

I would like to say that, extra credit have to be given to Daniel who did most of the building and programming as well as extensive testing.

There would more photograph and stories as well as LDD file for their winning robot.

We'll be going out for dinner to celebrate their win. Yes, these are the kids that I was teaching for the past 2 months.

Once again, Congratulation to Daniel, John and Calvin for their great job done!

You can read more about his robot as well as LDD and pictures here.
His strategy for the day was also explained here in the 2nd post.

NXTintro Workshop with Nicholas and Victor

2008-06-04T00:00:00.005+08:00

It was another successful day for me. Two students attended my NXTintro Workshop on the 3 June 2008. Two brothers in fact. Their age was about 12 and 15 years old with zero experience with Lego or NXT mindstorms.

The day started with introduction to Lego Mindstorms. At first, they didn't know what to expect of our workshop. So I took out a previous Bot that I had built, and with my Bluetooth phone, I controlled it. Moved it around the table. They were like... WOW.... OOO....

After that demo, the kids seems more excited than me, and couldn't wait to get started with the Workshop.

We went through some basics before I allowed them to build a Robot each. Since it was their first day, instructions were given to them. Buidling with intructions is nothing difficult to do. Within 45 mins, their basic robot for the day was built. Next came the harder part of the Workshop. The NXT-G programming portion. With little or no experience in programming, teaching them would not be a simple task.

I gave them some very simple program to do. Mostly 2-3 blocks of programming. This is to get them used to the programming environment. After a few simple task, I gave them more complicated task to complete.

Before you know it, these kids were familiar and knew what they were doing. We continued the day by adding more components to the basic Bot as well as learn more advance programming methods.

Before the end of the day, I allowed both the brothers to have a little "competition". I gave them a task and allowed them ample to time to modify their bots as well as program it.

Overall, the class was a success with both the kids learning the about Robotics as well as Programming. The younger brother even requested that his Dad buy him a NXT set for his coming Birthday :p

Light Sensor Module for NRC 2008

2008-04-05T23:57:00.000+08:00

I have decided to build a 3 Light Sensor module to be used in my attempt to conquer the Lower and Upper Secondary category.

Why 3 light sensor? Well, I hope that it would be more accurate than the 2 light sensor as provided by the sample from Sasbadi. In my early attempts to make the vehicle, it is pretty accurate, but still a little slow.

Would need to optimized the program before trying to make it go faster. Speed and accuracy is required if you want to win!! :)

NRC 2008 - Ideas and Thoughts

2008-04-02T18:05:00.005+08:00

I have been studying the NRC lower and upper secondary question. I must admit, it won't be an easy competition this year. There are so many things that we could consider. The list is endless, and if you need to test any and every combination, it would be a huge task.

Anyway, I will list down the stuff that we need to consider

Vehicle Design

Build using studless design, or traditional lego bricks with studs?
Using the NXT or RCX motor?
Have 1 or 2 motor as the driving force?
Do you use gearing to make the vehicle go faster?
Do you use tracks, 2 or 4 wheels?

Mechanical Arm

Using NXT or RCX motor?
When you grab the object is it from top down, or from the sides?

Software

Design using the Lego NXT-G software or Robolab 2.9?

Light Sensor Design

Do you use RCX or NXT light sensors?
Do you use 1,2,3 or 4 light sensors?

Overall strategy

Do we hard code the software to run without considering the tracks (black lines)?
Do we use a line following algorithm to move through the playing field?

So many different consideration. So many options. I guess, there is no 1 right answer. One may build a better robot, but without a good software design, it may not be able to complete the task and vice versa. To truly win the competition, the team must have a great design, in both software and hardware as well as speed and reliability.

National Robotics Competition 2008 (NRC)

2008-03-27T01:23:00.003+08:00

It is the time of the year again, the National Robotics Competition 2008 have just been announced. The question this year is not as simple as it used to be. It would be challenging for all.

You can view more details of the competition from the Sasbadi's website.

The three categories/theme are as follows:-

Robot Recycling - Primary School Category. Full details here.
Robot Energizing - Lower Secondary Category. Full details here.
Robot Planting - Upper Secondary Category. Full details here.

Sample robots and sample NXT-G programming have been provided by Sasbadi. I guess that will be the lower bar that we all have to at least meet :0

I have 2 sets of students who would be competiting in the competition. One for the Lower and the Upper Secondary category.

It won't be an easy task! Anyone can build a robot, but can you build an effecient, fast and effective robot?

Can you build the Winning Robot?

Lego Digital Design (LDD)

2008-03-23T00:27:00.000+08:00

You must have seen some of the 3D Lego rendering in my previous post. It is not too difficult to get it done, compared to the the previous version of LDD Lego had done. The current version is really easy to use. It is not too complicated and will be perfect for most of us. It may not have as many parts as LDraw, but it should be sufficient.

You can download LDD from Lego directly. Click here to download.

LDD has all the Mindstorms NXT retail kit parts with the quantities stated. You'll be able to design your creation, and know whether will you be able to build it with a standard retail kit, or require extra parts.

Overall it is perfect. You may not be able to build a super complicated design, but it'll be enough for the most of us. What are you waiting for, go and download one today!

Bluetooth Remote Controller for Cars

2008-03-20T00:53:00.003+08:00

I have just completed a Bluetooth Remote Controller to control a BT based Car. It is actually the controller for the Car built by one my students. You can see his creation here. As you can see, the BT Remote Controller has an accelerator and a steering built in.

You can build you own Remote Controller based on the LDD file I have provided. It is available from here. A sample NXT-G programming have also been provided for both the BT Remote Controller as well as the BT Car. BT Remote Controller RBT file here. BT Car RBT file here.

Special Lego Robotics Classes

2008-03-16T12:39:00.005+08:00

Today I had a another special 1 on 1 class for one of the students. When it comes to Lego Robotics, he is one of the more talented kids out there. From the previous class, I had instructed him to build a car and we would together create and program another NXT Brick as the BT Remote Controller.

As you can see from the following photos, he managed to create a car, using a turntable as a rear wheel differiantial. I know it sounds a little technical but if a 12 year old knows about it, shame on you!! :D

He had built a very simple steering on the front wheels. Not too sure of the name for these sort of steering mechanism, but a more popular styled steering is called the "Rack and Pinion Steering".

He also loves to build Bipeds or Walkers. In the month of March, NXTLog will be having a Biped challenge. I have instructed him to build a Biped and submit it. A little fun and challenge won't hurt anyone. You can read more about the Biped challenge at this link.

Lego NXT Advance Workshop

2008-03-12T19:24:00.000+08:00

Today I had 2 students attend the NXTadvance Workshop. Since they were students of the previous tutor, Mr Andrew Lee, I had no idea of their levels whether in Building or Programming the NXT. The students in today's class were age 9 and 11.

Kids being kids, afraid of the media!

The day started out well. Kids being kids at their age had short attention span, not to mentioned that it was their school holidays. We started out by building the BBot.

The purpose was to teach them by examples more advance programming blocks. They needed to understand them before they could program more complicated and advance programs.

"Anybody can follow instructions and build a robot, but not everyone can program it"

Students in disccusions

The kids were very comfortable with building the BBot with the instructions given. After they had completed the BBot, I gave them a list of task to program. With the appropriate guidance, the kids had no issues completing the task on hand.

We proceeded to build more advance robot by the afternoon. Each of them, wanted to build something different. Allowing them to choose what they wanted to build, would encourage them to program it.

They day ended great, with me trying to manage the kids. They were more excited about their new creation, rather than how to write a good program to compliment their great invention. I can't blame them, kids at their age likes to have fun and games!

Eric pictured here with his Lego Tshirt!

A Simpler Grappler

2008-03-12T09:38:00.000+08:00

This is my first post on my blog. The purpose of this project is to build a very simple Grappler (Robotic Arm). Because, I wanted to program using a Rotational Sensor block. I could only build a 1-axis robotic arm due to the 3 Tacho Motor and 3 Motor Ports limitation.

As you can, I have also used a very simple programming method. I wanted to test out, and to show how to use very simple Data Wires link between the Rotational Sensor block and the Techo block.