Future Set Wishes and Speculation

[Maaboo the Witch]

3 hours ago, dhc6twinotter said:

 Personally, I'd love to see a full remote controlled backhoe.  If a gearbox were used, all functions could be done with 6 motors (4 motors going through gearbox).  That would give all the basic backhoe functions--drive, steer, stabilizers, two movements for the front bucket, four movements for the rear bucket, plus a motor for the gearbox.  The steering and gearbox would have their own dedicated motors, and the other four motors would run everything else through a simple two position gearbox.  Such a model could potentially be less parts intensive than the excavator, and price point may be about $350-400.00 USD.

I wouldn't care about the size to be honest. We just need another backhoe, big or small!

[Jim]

An Ambulance doesn't have nearly as much functions as a fire truck, so it doesn't make sense from a Technic perspective.

And I don't think an Ambulance has much appeal sitting on the shelf.

[AVCampos]

Mechanically speaking, an ambulance isn't different from a regular car; at most, depending on the scale, there could be some mechanism at the rear for loading/unloading a stretcher.

However... if that lighting project LEGO showcased some time ago does come into fruition, a Technic ambulance could get a lot more interesting.

[Jim]

11 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

Mechanically speaking, an ambulance isn't different from a regular car; at most, depending on the scale, there could be some mechanism at the rear for loading/unloading a stretcher.

True that.

[Bartybum]

12 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

Mechanically speaking, an ambulance isn't different from a regular car; at most, depending on the scale, there could be some mechanism at the rear for loading/unloading a stretcher.

Yeah but an ambulance doesn't have the same cool marketing factor that a sports car has

[Jim]

11 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

However... if that lighting project LEGO showcased some time ago does come into fruition, a Technic ambulance could get a lot more interesting.

Refresh my memory please  That project would probably apply to a fire truck as well.

I simply don't see kids running to the LEGO store and pointing out that cool ambulance. Most of the boys are interested in fire trucks. Maybe the new gender inclusive strategy allows for making an ambulance, but I'm probably touching a sensitive subject here. 

Just now, Bartybum said:

Yeah but an ambulance doesn't have the same cool marketing factor that a sports car has

This.

[AVCampos]

Just now, Jim said:

14 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

However... if that lighting project LEGO showcased some time ago does come into fruition, a Technic ambulance could get a lot more interesting.

Refresh my memory please  That project would probably apply to a fire truck as well.

https://brickset.com/article/48887

Yeah, a fire truck could have interesting mechanisms and plenty of lights. An ambulance could still be a way to get lights at a lower price point, at the cost of less mechanical stuff.

[Jim]

Just now, AVCampos said:

https://brickset.com/article/48887

Yeah, a fire truck could have interesting mechanisms and plenty of lights. An ambulance could still be a way to get lights at a lower price point, at the cost of less mechanical stuff.

Ahhh right, I remember.

Let's do a fire truck, ambulance and police car in the same year. That would allow for lots of playability 

[AVCampos]

Depending on the size, weight and price of the lighting elements, the police car and ambulance could be that year's (most likely not 2021) pull-back pair!

[Jim]

If TLG introduces lighting parts, I don't see them do it in PB sets. Seems like a wasted opportunity to make some other smaller sets more interesting. Could be wrong though 

[Bartybum]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

Maybe the new gender inclusive strategy allows for making an ambulance, but I'm probably touching a sensitive subject here.

Before anyone here gets all triggered and nOt-mY-LeGo over the phrase 'gender inclusive', I'll add that I'm not really inclined to think that it'd have anything to do with it.

If an ambulance is the result of wanting to get girls into Technic then that'd be really subverted and vague. Girls playing with the sets in their set promos would have a greater effect than an ambulance.

[AVCampos]

Besides, "ambulance" doesn't equate to "girl": my grandfather was an ambulance driver, and a friend of mine (who is a nurse) is a first responder driver.

[Bartybum]

Just now, AVCampos said:

Besides, "ambulance" doesn't equate to "girl": my grandfather was an ambulance driver, and a friend of mine (who is a nurse) is a first responder driver.

It might not, but maybe girls are more inclined to like ambulances than firetrucks, because it could be more inline with traditional stereotypes, where girls prefer doctor/healthcare-related toys to action toys.

[Jim]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

...but I'm probably touching a sensitive subject here. 

 

Okay, maybe an ambulance isn't exactly a girl thing, but all the boys I have seen begged for fire trucks, not ambulances.

[WvG_853]

Check out a recent Banksy in this context:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-52556544

[dhc6twinotter]

20 hours ago, Bartybum said:

$350USD sounds realistic. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and wrote it earlier in this thread, but it could also be done with just 5 motors. If you split all the functions into two groups - driving/front bucket, and backhoe - then you have four functions per group, with a fifth motor operating the gearbox and outriggers together. Binding outriggers to the gearbox is acceptable because you only need to drive when you're operating the front bucket, and you only need the outriggers when operating the backhoe.

The only problem with a fully RC backhoe is finding space for two smart hubs, five motors and a 4-input-4-output gearbox. It'd be easier if TLG designed a compact smart hub to just plug into the simple hub.

 I hand't thought about running the gearbox off the same motor as the stabilizers.   I like that idea!  That makes a lot of sense.  My only concern would be running the steering through the gearbox.  There's a lot of slack with current clutch gears, and I don't think return-to-center servo functionality would work that well for the steering.  This is why I figured a dedicated motor for steering.   But, maybe if six motors were used, along with your idea of connecting the stabilizers to the gearbox, the steering would have it's own dedicated motor and we could then have another dedicated motor for one of the backhoe functions.  That would leave us with one motor for steering, one motor for gearbox/stabilizers, one motor for one of the backhoe functions, and three motors for the other six functions (drive, bucket and backhoe functions).  

I don't think fitting the five or six motors would be an issue, but finding space for two hubs would be tricky.  I played around with some PF stuff, and I think the best option would be to mount the two battery boxes above the rear diff, and under the cab floor (the battery boxes could even be the cab floor).   The motors and gearbox could fit in front and just below the rear diff.  It would be a very dense set, but I think it's all very doable.  

Then, along with the above, the backhoe could have AWD with planetary hubs, pendular front axle, smaller version of the Xerion tires on the front, and even a blinky LED strobe light on the roof.  Might even fit a fake engine!  Make it all bright light orange too.  That would be a sweet set!   I've never spent more than $230 USD on LEGO, but I'd drop $350 for that!

Hey TLG, if you're reading this, I'll build a prototype for you all!   

[Bartybum]

1 hour ago, dhc6twinotter said:

 There's a lot of slack with current clutch gears, and I don't think return-to-center servo functionality would work that well for the steering.  This is why I figured a dedicated motor for steering.

The encoders offer a software approach to return-to-centre steering. If the motors go out of calibration, you can give the user arrows to quickly trim the steering as they play.

[dhc6twinotter]

3 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

The encoders offer a software approach to return-to-centre steering. If the motors go out of calibration, you can give the user arrows to quickly trim the steering as they play.

Yes, but if you're running the motor through a gearbox before it gets to the steering rack, you will have a lot of backlash just from the nature of the clutch gears.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the steering is going to be all over the place if it's run through a gearbox, especially with a servo.   How well does the steering work on 42070? I've never seen that set in person, but that has steering going through a gearbox.  There's no servo in that set, but it seems like there would be quite a bit of backlash.  

[Bartybum]

1 hour ago, dhc6twinotter said:

Yes, but if you're running the motor through a gearbox before it gets to the steering rack, you will have a lot of backlash just from the nature of the clutch gears.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the steering is going to be all over the place if it's run through a gearbox, especially with a servo. How well does the steering work on 42070? I've never seen that set in person, but that has steering going through a gearbox.  There's no servo in that set, but it seems like there would be quite a bit of backlash.

42070's steering has the issue that it's quite fast:

The effects of backlash in the gearbox will be greater the closer the clutch gear and steering speeds are. If you halve the steering speed then the backlash should also halve (obviously discounting the backlash of other gears, but there won't be many gears in the steering powertrain anyway). I imagine that because both worm gear steering and linear actuator functions demand a high speed gearbox, running the gearbox at the motor speed (or even a bit higher) should largely reduce the effects of clutch gear backlash. It's definitely a solution worth investigating IMO.

Edited October 1, 2020 by Bartybum

[1gor]

Just another speculation - in 2021 comes new Arocs.

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

1 hour ago, I_Igor said:

Just another speculation - in 2021 comes new Arocs.

There was already a" Mercedes Benz Arocs " in the Tech series - 42043 - Mercedes Benz Arcos 3245

[thekoRngear]

1 hour ago, I_Igor said:

Just another speculation - in 2021 comes new Arocs.

Most probably, since 2016 every new big set came dwarfed the older sets like 42009, 42043. A new Arocs with current scale is a welcome from me

[1gor]

36 minutes ago, Ragana9289 said:

There was already a" Mercedes Benz Arocs " in the Tech series - 42043 - Mercedes Benz Arcos 3245

I know; I have one still assembled 

35 minutes ago, thekoRngear said:

Most probably, since 2016 every new big set came dwarfed the older sets like 42009, 42043. A new Arocs with current scale is a welcome from me

That is true, perhaps one simple dumper in Mack scale in the same for as CLASS or Sian...but it is just a speculation 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I think these will be the next 42030 and 42114 flagships: Underground Mining Loader and Underground Mining Truck

 

[Collibosher]

I would like to see some 007 cars as technic sets, because cars are always fun and all those spy -gadgets would be great functions to add beside the usual steering and suspension. They did one for the creator line, but I would love to see a technic version with more elegant functions. For that they need (and is my biggest wish!) new wheels and tyres, especially narrow ones for the technic line/scale.

 

Speaking of wheels and tyres which I always struggle with, LEGO could do an official F1 car again and design actual F1 like wheels and tyres for it, what they kinda never do for their open-wheel race cars. I feel like the closest tire match is the "Tumbler" tire and it only works as a front tire of an F1 car. They could just make another, a bit wider version of it for rear, like this;