DrJB

While many MOCs have focused about looks/aesthetics (the many Italian cars), and others about number of functions (LandRover), I have not seen many that replicated 'correctly' some supercar features. I'm thinking of the following: 1. Multi-link suspension (negative scrub radius) for better handling 2. Low boxer-type self-balanced engine as in Porsche and Subaru 3. Porsche suspension, where springs do not necessarily travel along the vertical. I have pics from an auto show, gotta dig them out. Any pointers or features I've missed out?

Jim, any update on this? I just got the Gyro sensor today and my son is already building the GyroBot ... but without the program, I'd have to go back to my 'modern control' class notes ... assuming I can still make sense of all that full-state-feedback jargon. By the way, your contributions to this forum are commendable.

I am not sure it is preload in the classical sense I.e., taking advantage of nonlinear material/geometric properties. I think it is instead preload to compensate for gaps/clearances and there are many of those in any sophisticated model. Possibly a combination of both though.

I had a real bad experience few years back with a set directly from TLG. The outer box was missing a big chunk, the inner lego box was totally damaged, and even the plastic tray inside was chewed up. UPS simply left on my door step and walked awya ... lucky I was home and called the driver right away telling him I did not acept the box, he simply shrugged and left. I was infuriated, called UPS, complained all I could, and they could not care less. I called TLG, they sent me a new set and told me to keep the messed up one. I ended up with two copies of the Silver Champion. I still buy my Legos from TLG, but one thing I noticed, they never use UPS anymore, only FEDEX. Another mis-hap happened again 2 weeks ago, the UPS guy asked my wife to sign, she did, when in fact the fine print said there were two packages when in fact he delivered only one. Amazon reimbursed the full amount ... The conclusion, it is not Amazon or TLG, but more like The shippers who could not care less. I guess statistically these events are covered by their insurance, so it is cheaper for them to operate the way they do.

A multitude of opinions here again. Please read my reply above. The goal here is not to push the realism to an extreme, as I was not asking for wipers or ashtrays ... I am (granted, others have different interests) after reproducing some real life mechanisms with the 'limited' parts assortment in Lego. However, if you feel you want to add wipers, do not forget the washer fluid, and might as well add a radio in there ... ;)

Did you paint the wheel covers?

Does anyone have the LDD?LXF file from the original poster? The link somehow no longer works.

Agreed ... I never implied that it was 'easy'. Yet, the big challenge is to get 'standard' lego parts to mimic real life contraptions. I once built a cardan joint out of technic bricks, plates, axles and pins (only). It was huge, but this was 30 years ago, and the small lego cardan was not available back then.

Have you run some calculations as to the weight forces on the various lego elements ?

To follow-up on above discussion. Yes, I did 'update' my EV3 installation and now it can handle many sensors. Of interest is that the energy meter bb491 is also one of such extended sensors list. Apparently, and I have not tried that yet, such meter can measure many other electrical 'variables', not just energy. That sure sounds promising. Question is: Has anyone tried using the energy add-ons componnets to Mindstorms? ... Set 9688-1 is marketed as a Mindstorms Add-On, but I have seen very few projects where it is used. Kind of like the capacitor element 9916.

Yes, that's exactly it. Grazie!

The page below has a realistic working lego re-endition of the rotor's. However, it requires some 'modding' as the spherical joint needs to have its axle hole filed so as to allow an axle to slide freely. http://staff.science.uva.nl/~leo/lego/rotor.html I hope is ok to post external links, else please edit/remove.

Sounds like a cordoned-off police crime scene ... lol Fair enough, no need for gossip and hearsay in this hobby.

I tried to read that 'infamous' thread (on my lunchbreak) but it's gone ... or is the link not working properly? (Hope I have not messed with the wrath of EB's Deities) ... ;) Seriously though, rules are there to be respected/upheld ... but we're all humans, and more often we tend to 'err'. Cheers!

No I do not (have them). Just ordered the EV3 extension set, should know in few days. If I recall, TechnicBricks did a review of such part sometime back. Might be worthwhile to pay a visit.

Last I checked on the EDU website, it is rather pricey ($20 for 30x i.e., 67 cents a piece). It is meant to increase traction of the tread links (and hopefully reduce noise too) ... though I'm sure you knew all of this already. What 'I' can say about it? ... wish it was a bit cheaper so one can buy few and experiment with .... for now I'm using rubber treads, for both traction and 'quiet'. My 8043 is rather noisy when moving.

Thank you Philo and Jim ... I just enabled the various sensors in EV3 (even the NXT ultrasound) and just ordered the gyro sensor ... ready for some more contraptions. Cheers.

Thank you Philo. Since I asked my initial question, my son found some info on how to enable EDU transducers on the Retail version (just some minor configuration file modification). I have not tried it yet. Questions are:1. Is this legit? and 2. Even if the software can handle e.g. the gyro, would this mean the Retail firmware can handle them as well? Or would I need to update/change the firmware as well? The reason I am interested in the EDU version is only to use the gyro and others sensors for sale on the EDU site ... to satisfy my son's curiosity of course.

In the bottom of picture for 9736-1, Bricklink is showing a black camera, that I can't find anywhere else. I know of a single webcam released in two different colors, a bluish vision command in 9731-1 and a gray x86px1. Anyone has more info about the black webcam in the bricklink picture. Also, that same picture shows an RCX brick that is NOT part of 9736.

I read in a separate thread (do not recall which one), that for whatever reasons, TLG put two different firmwares on the EV3 EDU vs. Retail versions. Besides this, the two bricks are virtually identical. There are here 2 questions: 1. Is the EDU firmware available somewhere? and 2. Can one revert to the EDU firmware just in case? I am assuming (speculating) that the Companion Software CD that TLG sells to run the EDU version may/should contain the EDU firmware ... Anyone can confirm / shed more light?

Thank you for the clarification. I like that you can control all functions at once, as in the real machine.

Awesome MOC! Question: How many functions does the Zorex have? Does it have only 6 functions, i.e., one per motor? Looking at the various pics, I can tell the following: 1. It uses 6 motors 2. There are dedicated motors to operate the boom and arm In comparison, the 8043 has 4 motors, but 6 functions. This is achieved by one motor switching functions. Thus the other three motors have dual functions. The 6 functions I'm referrig to 1. Left Track FWD/REV 2. Right Track FWD/REV 3. Top Structure slewing 4. Arm out/in 5. Boom out/in 6. Bucket curl/up How

I found this liftarm02 while browsing on bricklink ... yet it does not show up in any set. The longest THIN liftarms I'm aware of are at most 1x7. Was this a prototype of some sort? I also found this one liftarm04 though it does not show in any set either

Good post. Another option to manage simultaneous motion of both motors is by use of 'interrupts' ... though not sure such functions exist in either NXC or Lejos. Essentially what we need are two SEPARATE functions: one to start the motor, and the other to stop it. If those are somehow available, then the OP's puzzle can be solved by either nested loops and/or IF/AND statements. From what I have seen, most 3rd party codes have a single function to operate a motor, with predefined speed/angle. I wonder, is this possible: Start Motor 1 (slow speed, infinite number of rotations) while above is running, Start Motor 2 (again, slow speed, infinite number of rotations) if (angle 1 reached) or (angle 2 reached) stop both motors if (angle 1 not reached), move/restart motor 1 to desired angle. if (angle 2 not reached), move/restart motor 2 to desired angle. The issue above is that, even if we can start motors at the same time, we do need as well to STOP them separately (two parallel IF statement). This is typically not how IF statements work (not in parallel)... Hence (in above code) the need to stop both motors if EITHER reaches target position, then restart the one lagging. Sounds complicated ... Wait, this is an interesting programming puzzle ... I'm curious to see a solution as well.

I think the issue with the above code is that the first line has to execute first, and then when completely done, the second line begins to execute. What this means is that one motor spins first, and only when it is finished the second motor start to turn. What the OP is asking for is how to run the two motors at the SAME time, not one after the other. My take is that this is a classical issue/limitation with most 'sequential' type programming. One fix would be to issue the above commands several times, and divide the respective motions into as many increments, but this would yield to non-smooth operation of the motors. The way I would do this (assuming such functions exist) is to start the motors and continuously check if they reached target positions/angles: while (1) { start rotating motor A start rotating moror B if both motors have reached final position, exit loop }