discussion or Idea on Modern Lego motor

[jhlee]

in this topic 
i wanns hear about the shortage of Lego motor and your ideas
the subject discussion will be based on the Powerfunctions series motor & Powered Up Series motor

and the contents are here

1. Size
Compared to Old Motor, Powerfunctions & Powered Motors are bigger with planetary gear(to get more torqe
However, instead of getting enough torque, sometimes the size of motor is too big
and need your idea or opinion about it(like problem with big size or nice experience)

2. Shape(or design)
there was an idea(M motor was oval type, and L&XL Motor were difficult to hold conrrecly because of the round shape)
the Old lego, on the other hand, close to rectangle
write any idea on it please :)

3. Building system(Coupling method)
its really nice for me but sometimes the rc car's wheel was disassembled  while running because of coherence weakness
and hope the coherence of Pin & hole was more stronger.
write any idea or your experience on it too please :)

4. specifications
Imao the most frustrating part is specification especially torque
i saw that many ppl use motor in parallel to get enough torque
or just satisfied with just moving even slowly

I'd like to hear your opinions.

Thank you.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, jhlee said:

i wanns hear about the shortage of Lego motor and your ideas

1

What shortage of motors?

[Lego David]

I think the current motors are fine. I don't want the price of the sets they came in to increase just because of a better motor.

[Mylenium]

Why not simply wait until the new Control+ stuff is actually available and have this discussion then? Per se there's no shortage of motors, anyway, and most of what you describe likely comes down to overall "bad" engineering. Having different motors would not fix anything then, if you still use them in less than ideal fashion.

Mylenium

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mylenium

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

What shortage of motors?

I think they may have meant "shortcomings" (as in, weaknesses).

Personally I have not done very much with LEGO motors in many years aside from installing Power Functions motors in the sets designed with that sort of motorization in mind. So I don't have too much firsthand experience to speak from with regard to their versatility in MOCs. Overall, I think the Powered Up/Boost motors do a nice job of compensating for one of the weaknesses of many Power Functions and Mindstorms motor designs, which is that their more Technic-oriented proportions and connection styles made them a little unintuitive for younger kids.

The 4x6x4 size of the Powered Up motor is not a bad size overall. Not quite as compact as the 4x4x6 9V motors of my childhood or the 3x6x3 Power Functions M-motor, but I think the greater number and versatility of connection points is a fair trade-off in either case. I doubt the 4-stud length of those older motors would have allowed enough unused interior space for Technic pin holes in the front, and as you mention they are also able to add more torque using a planetary gear.

Another neat bit of functionality added in the Powered Up system that wasn't present in Power Functions or 9V is that all Powered Up motors (except I think the train motor) now also function as servo motors and/or rotation sensors, similar to the motors from LEGO Mindstorms NXT and EV3. Considering that those Mindstorms motors measured 7x5x14 and the Power Functions servo motor measured 7x3x5, I think it's honestly remarkable how SMALL the Powered Up motors are!

Also, some of the inconveniences associated with the newer motors being larger than 90s 9V motors are offset by the convenience of the 4x8x4 Power Functions battery boxes and Powered Up hubs being vastly more compact than the old 4x14x4 9V battery boxes. Remote control models can even gain some additional free space by using Powered Up, since they no longer require a separate signal receiver element (signals are received directly via the hub).

On another note, while I sort of miss the way that older electric systems had wire contacts that were "stackable" via studs, I do think it's more space-efficient that wires, switches, and buttons now no longer add any additional height to Powered Up motors or hubs. Plus, the plugs themselves each only appear to take up the same space as a 1x2x1 brick, about 1/3 less space than the 2x2x2/3 space that the contacts for Power Functions and 9V wires took up.

 

I'm curious whether LEGO will introduce as many varieties of Powered Up motors in the future as they did Power Functions ones, or if they'd rather keep things simpler for kids by keeping the number and specs of Powered Up motors smaller and more standardized. Certainly they would no longer need a separate servo motor now that servo functionality is standard.

That said, they do currently have at least four motor types: the standard Powered Up motor, the WeDo 2.0 motor (same size as the Power Functions M-motor), the train motor (same style as in Power Functions or later 9V but with an updated wire/plug), and the integrated motors of the Boost "smart hub". Frankly, I think the more important potential improvements to the Powered Up system in the short term will be the Technic Control+ software and any future Powered Up app updates that would allow for more customizable control schemes, rather than new hardware.

[Mylenium]

14 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

Certainly they would no longer need a separate servo motor now that servo functionality is standard.

Mmh, yes/ no/ perhaps. That would depend on whether they actually come up with suitable gear components so those standard motors can offer the same functionality. Kind of like an encapsulated plug-on transmission. Otherwise you may end up getting in a pinch and losing the advantage - you would be forced to use larger motors than necessary just to have enough torque and those in turn then would affect your overall construction.

Mylenium

[MAB]

15 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

I think they may have meant "shortcomings" (as in, weaknesses).

 

 

There is a very similar post made today on BL, with very similar language, so I assume it is the same person.

https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1132238

With the PF2(new electrical system that broke the old lego paradigm) PF1 motor are no longer likely to come out anymore Imao
So I'd like to make compatible motor for the PF1 electric building system myself consider the proper shapes, specifications, and placement of the wires
 

The problem with their idea is that there are different uses for different motors. Sometimes people want a large torque and don't care too much about the speed, while other times you want speed and don't care about torque.  Gears help get over this problem to some extent. Having a huge range of motors in different sizes, speeds and torques is not really a viable solution.