JopieK

Very nice ;) it looks very cozy. It reminds me of our own snow village. We also have the blacksmith shop in ours and steam engines (but then maybe 30 year old one's)

Indeed, and I'm sure they will make more money if they do so! Also they need to produce signals etc. just like in my young years (I started with a 7710 and a 7740).

Well, maybe the ambassadors can complain to LEGO about it? I know some non-AFOL (but parents) customers that were complaining about it. Also a lot of people complain about the lack of that nice cross switch point.

They (TLG managers) are just very stupid. I have colleagues asking about the RC cross switch point, etc. They can earn more money if they have more options in store I'm sure...

It is of course much better to tag the equipment. Sparkfun has a lot of cheap readers ;) http://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=rfid&what=products

Well I guess that that will be the end of the ridiculous high prices for yellow helmets ;)

I am at this moment doing experiments with this motor driver: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9457 It is very small and no heatsink required, so could be a nice feature. It is suitable for the M-motors according to the Philohome findings. For wireless this could be a good option: http://www.a-blocks.org/productdetail.aspx?id=34134699ea8e4a07949c9260fa2e43c4

Yups so search at LEGO.com for Power Functions or buy the items at bricklink You need a PF remote 8879 and receiver 8884 A battery solution for that with a cable 8886 if using the RC motor 8866 (or the AAA box and/or the motor from sets 7939 or 7938) Sincerly Johan

Well, RC is not a good choice. You should have a look at Power Functions instead. RC was a prototype that mistakingly made it to the market I guess.

And there will be more problems like overheating etc.

Me too! I have and idea though that is inspired by this topic. We could make a trick pit. The decoupler could move back and forth in that pit and then decouple the train remotely. An hall sensor could feel the magnet for right positioning.

but it would be way more elegant to have a decoupler alongside of the tracks and a shunting hill. If we were able to come up with a really small version one could embedded it at multiple places along side the track.

strangely enough it seems that the NXT is very picky. The advised BT stick works best. That is my experience at least. LEGO didn't do a great job in implementing the connectivity in my opinion.

In the video you confuse the PF with the RC motor. It was a good explanation, but I don't like to modify the LEGO if that is not absolutely needed.

Hi guys, for some robotics project we want to buy 230 M-motors for our students (univ. of appl. sciences). I asked LEGO but they said, well ask you LEGO Education supplier. Well, I did. They offer that M-motor for about 12€ (LEGO for 9€). I told them and they agreed to offer them for the same price as LEGO. But if I buy 230 of them, I'm wondering how to make a cheaper deal. Any tips? Maybe through AFOL clubs (I'm member of BeLUG, 1000steine and de Bouwsteen), or directly in Oberhausen at the LEGO store? The students need to buy a kit with those motors included so I want to make a good deal for them of course. Sincerely Johan

It is indeed really annoying, I use it in educational materials... LEGO, fix it or I will use MegaBlocks for it (I already got some gasps when I asked about ordering 230 M-motors ;)). No just kidding about that MegaBlocks of course but anyway.

well, a good word to describe this robot would be 'insane' I guess, and then in the positive way ;) Very very nice and astonishing! I'm sure it well get you a frontpage notice right away. Keep on building robots ;)

Well, the best way is: "Don't even think about it!!!" But then again... I now and then also have no other option and then use superglue (5 second glue or so).

It seems to be that LEGO is using an older H-bridge IC for the receiver, new bridges emerge nowadays that seem to be very powerful (look at sparkfun or pololu e.g. to see that they even have 13A motor drivers for 12V or so).

I also got an extra one. They are almost sold out I think. One needs to have a company to buy at Makro.

The FLL doesn't use the 2.0 but the 1! I heard rumors of a new educational version however (by reliable sources).

Sorry about my insult than rien ;) I'm also 31 :) although I'm a computer science teacher I was always quite fluent in languages. But anyway. It seems that TLG has used a motor-driver that is already a bit outdated at the moment but SFE has some alternatives: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9457 They are more voltage tolerant. Well my college's wouldn't say that electrical engineering is an exact science I guess, but I agree that the real world is sometimes more forgiving than the math.

Well that might not say anything, but I have been a teacher in English you know ;) I don't know what school you attend, but I might help out there (I guess, reading your English, you are a Dutch highschool student).

Well the manufacturer just gives the spec's in order that you can decide on what you should do and shouldn't do that is all. If it works, it works, but nevertheless should be also state legit concerns here since the whole world can read along and some people might get hurt if you don't follow the manufacturer rules.