[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[Ankoku]

In his video, he points out the speed issue as @msk6003 mentions. I think all he tends to do is make sure they can process 1 ball a second at a viable speed.

In the instructions, he mentions one occasion where you can get a piece wrong and thus the axle won't spin. That said, it wasn't a robot. I guess it just highlights the importance of following the instructions carefully. I have certainly made some pretty bad blunders when following LEGO official instructions.

[tismabrick]

Seems I should be happy with my model then. Wasn‘t aware that it has speed issues because nothing is mentioned in the instruction.

Do you know at which speed it has the required 1 ball/s?

[eric_son_of_joseph]

1 hour ago, tismabrick said:

Seems I should be happy with my model then. Wasn‘t aware that it has speed issues because nothing is mentioned in the instruction.

Do you know at which speed it has the required 1 ball/s?

Hi tismabrick,

Akiyuki's Catch and Spin module can run at max speed without dropping balls.  Have you adjusted the power strength of the robots?  From Akiyuki's site:
"The power strength of the robot hands holding the balls affects the ball-carrying motion. Robots can be prevented from dropping the balls during the ball-carrying motion by varying the ball-holding power. The ball-holding power can be adjusted using the two dials available in both sides of the module. The ball-holding power needs to be adjusted after assembling the module for a smooth function."

[tismabrick]

I guess you made my day! Will try that. I actually wondered what the knobs might be...and I just realized that I should read the instructions till the very end before asking obsolete questions. Oh dear. 

Edited April 19, 2020 by tismabrick

[Thierry-GearsManiac]

I'm curious to know how easy or difficult the adjustment of these brakes is for achieving a reliable operation.

(because, as @tismabrick may have read in

, I never succeeded and I also modded the force mechanism to make one that needs almost no adjustment and is resilient to robot failures).

[Ankoku]

The Akiyuki video at the point where he mentions speed and you can see the speed he has set it to on the controller, which he considers too fast for the machine (2m 21s in):

Remember, he is only designing these things to be able to do 1 ball per second reliably. Anything past that is a bonus.

[tismabrick]

On 2/9/2020 at 1:46 AM, dunes said:

My 2nd attempt on Strain Wave for me.

Did some modifications to the original module.

• added a 2nd XL motor
• modified drivetrain
• stiffer frame (lbg part)
• better ball pickup
• higher walls in ball drop area

Removed 3x 20T gears. As this configuration generates so much friction itself that its really hard for the motor to move.

 

I‘m happy to confirm that the mod with the two XL motors works perfectly.

My model died some time ago because of too much friction. By adding the 2nd motor it now runs again without a problem.

Thanks again @dunes for sharing the stud.io file.

Edited April 23, 2020 by tismabrick

[9v system]

@tismabrick how may akiyuki modules have you built? are you able to post some videos here?

 

[tismabrick]

I built the following modules so far:

• Pinball
• Zigzag Stairs
• Ball Factory (original Version)
• Archimedes Screw Type 1
• Zig Zag Lift
• Bucket Wheel Tower
• Strain Wave Gearing
• Fork to Fork
• Catch and Spin Robots

Most of them are currently in storrage boxes. So no way to make a video of them.

[9v system]

@Ankoku i found some very high quality photos of the ball factory in this magazine https://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/content/download/5354/

[Ankoku]

Site doesn't allow direct linking to the download, so this is how to get to it:

HBM014 (July 2012)

https://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/downloads/page/3/

Will see if I can extract the original images from the PDF.

Not sure I would call them high quality, but it is really nice to see some view points you don't normally get to see.

It seems that the images are from between when he did the original video and when he did his GBC layout in his home.

This gearing peaked my interest. It is present in the GBC Layout video, but you can hardly see it and thus I hadn't noticed it before.

Great find! I will study more in the coming days!

[9v system]

10 hours ago, Ankoku said:

Site doesn't allow direct linking to the download, so this is how to get to it:

HBM014 (July 2012)

https://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/downloads/page/3/

Will see if I can extract the original images from the PDF.

Not sure I would call them high quality, but it is really nice to see some view points you don't normally get to see.

It seems that the images are from between when he did the original video and when he did his GBC layout in his home.

This gearing peaked my interest. It is present in the GBC Layout video, but you can hardly see it and thus I hadn't noticed it before.

Great find! I will study more in the coming days!

yes im also wandering why he changed this gearing as well, he sent me some photos of the spiral drive gearing as well

[9v system]

i know this is not all akiyuki, but we got akiyuki to join in our virtual GBC video

 

[Ankoku]

Starting to look at Step Module v2

Am currently switching over the hopper design, but whilst doing it, noticed that the instructions are 1 brick higher than the original.

Quite a bit of it is different to the original, for various different reasons.

In the image, you have 15L on the left, on the right, it is 2x 9L with a 2L overlap. Leaving it at 16L

With the rotating tower, it sits 2L higher, with there being a 1L drop from the tower to the ramp which feeds the stepper.

[Ankoku]

Has anyone here built the Step Module V2?

[9v system]

@FernandoQ, @Innocity and myself have built it

[9v system]

@Ankoku i know its not akiyuki related but i got some footage of the Sun module we had at brickvention 2020

 

[Ankoku]

I am guessing the Stepper Module v2 is fairly prone to dropping balls?

Nice to see it out in the wild. Love the rainbow colours of the baskets.

I really ought to add a clutch gear to the design. I feel as though those dropped balls didn't go peacefully.

[9v system]

3 hours ago, Ankoku said:

I am guessing the Stepper Module v2 is fairly prone to dropping balls?

Nice to see it out in the wild. Love the rainbow colours of the baskets.

I really ought to add a clutch gear to the design. I feel as though those dropped balls didn't go peacefully.

its not to bad as long as you dont run it full speed

and yes the sun module did jam a few times but it was a gear slipping out

[Ankoku]

Right, I couldn't remember what I wanted to ask last night about the Step Module. Now I remember!

It uses to Universal Joints, are they actually needed? It looks rather straight.

They were needed in the original design as they were there to deal with a significant height difference. From the look of this version, the height difference seems either minor or non-existent.

[Ankoku]

So, I have been looking into the Step Module v2 and there are certainly a number of differences, some of which seem odd.

The tower is 1 brick too high and as far as I can tell, it seems to be a revised version of the one you find in the Ball Factory, rather than trying to replicate what is in the video.

One clear difference is a part which is used in the original, which isn't in the reverse engineered version.

He is basically using this:

Also, in the circuit video, it is clear to see that the 40t gear is far below the cylinder, which isn't the case in the reverse engineered version.

I may see if I can get a photo from Akiyuki, but in a way, it doesn't impact what I am doing, since I am basically using the tower from Cup-to-Cup v2, which is far more similar to the original, then the ball factory.

I may even end up using the above part, more as a nod than a requirement.

[9v system]

@Ankoku i have been working with the zig zag stairs and finally figured out the drive

@djm would you be interested in this? from what i can see it reflects what is in the video, and looks correct

[Ankoku]

So were the reverse engineered instructions different to the original?

Been working on the Step Module v2 and it has been driving me insane. There is only 2 videos and the few photos there are are low resolution. Am so glad he does instructions now.

The main issue is that everything is the wrong height. The box is the right height, the steppers are up 1 brick in height and the tower is up 2 bricks in height O_o; I think the tower just got ported from the Ball Factory. Where as in reality, Akiyuki had moved on and it is closer to the tower from Cup-to-Cup.

I am not going for an exact copy, since I want to have the hopper follow a design similar to my Cup-to-Cup variant, so it doesn't collect balls. This is how it is looking so far. Next up is moving the stepper down 1 brick.

Will most likely make the columns 2x2 instead of 2x3.
The underside is completely different, as is the back of the hopper.

As best I can tell, the rotating cylinder is at the correct height and I am going with the connectors used in his circuit video, since he has made improvements at this point over his release video.
The lift arm protruding from the right is not in the right place. Have no idea where it needs to go until I start working on the steppers.

[Ankoku]

So it seems that the position the ramp was connected to is wrong.

This is the correct placement, which fixes the height and distance.

It is rather annoying that you can either go with common Light Bluish Grey bushes and rare Axle Pin Connectors of the same colour. Or rare Black bushes with common Axle Pin Connectors of the same colour.

The only bit which is out now, is that the base of the hopper, which the balls rest on, is one plate too high in mine in comparison to the original. Not sure if I can be bothered to fix that though.

[Ankoku]

So, the reverse engineered version of the Stepper raised the ball far beyond the original.

Here you can see the Akiyuki version. At maximum extension, it only just gets the ball where it needs to be.

This image of InnoCity's building of the reverse engineered version, shows that the ball gets lifted an entire brick past where it needs to be.

It feels like a mistake was made height wise, as was the case with the Ball Factory, then everything got weird from that point on in an attempt to compensate for that.