imajor

I didn't mean the batteries in the controller, I meant the batteries in the battery box, in the excavator.

I dont't think that is a mistake, I think that friction is there on purpose. And that is not the only one place where there is friction in that function. Look at page 12 on book 2, step 44. It attaches this part to the axle of the motor, which then goes into some rods, causing more friction on the axle. I think these frictions are there to put a break on the axle, and prevent the motor turning the axle too fast or too strong. So are you saying that it worked fine for a hour? If so, I had the same problem. The solution was to recharge my batteries. Now it works perfectly again.

I think this was designed exactly for that:

I think this list demonstrates well the different point of interest of the different technic fans. Those who prefer playability will probably pick 1., those who prefer similarity to the real thing will probably pick 2., and those who prefer complexicity will probably pick 3.

It is indeed impressive, but I wouldn't say is is better than 8043 in every way. The movement of the 8043 is much more precise, and the 8043 is trully remote controlled. I think power is not everything.

I didn't mean rotating the robot itself, I meant just rotating the sensor on top of the robot. Maybe you could keep rotating it while the robot is moving forward. What exactly is your problem? Do you have issues writing the program itself for the brick?

Maybe you could use a single sensor, rotate it around, and record the light amount at different angles? Then choose the angle where it measured the most light?

Do you have the first or the second version of the NXT set? I think remote control was missing from the first version, it was only possible to control your robot using a bluetooth capable device. Personaly I couldn't control it using my laptop, even if it has bluetooth in it.

I'm just curious, what was the purpose of this post?

I totally agree with you. Lego (and especially technic) is more about building than playing for me. I think I spend about 90% of my lego time with building. It happened that I was building something for hours, it worked as expected, but I took it apart after a few minutes play and started building something else. 8043 is a good example. To be honest I was surprised how much people were complaining about the performance of the model (some of them even marked the set as the worst set ever). I think those who has some experience with technic, and saw the building instructions on the lego website for the excavator didn't expect a big performance. Even with the weak performance of the A model the set is still quite appealing to me. Lot's of useful parts, interesting and challenging A model with good ideas, and a well performing B model. So all of these problems around the performance of the A model didn't change my mind and I still want to buy it as soon as possible. I think the main problem with the 8043 set is that lego advertised the excavator as a very powerful toy, which it isn't obviously. Some quotes from their promotional video: "you control the power", "operate the giant arm! and the powerful bucket", and one sentence from their website: "No construction project is too big for this heavy-duty excavator!"

What if they simply attach a spring to the LAs? So that part of the weight is handled by the spring? Then it would be easier for the motor to lift the arm, since part of the lifting would be done by the spring.

I doubt that the reason why the set contains only 4 motors instead of 6 motors is mainly the price. For me this set is more appealing with this solution than with 6 independent motors, I don't think I would spend money on this in the latter case. I don't mind if the model doesn't perform perfectly as long as the building is fun and I can see good tricks and ideas in the design. For me technic is more about building than playing with the final model. Otherwise I would purchase a ready radio controlled excavator toy. Also the b-model seems to be more powerful, so I could use that if I want a more playable toy. I hope they will not ruin this set by making the motors independent or stop selling it. I really would like to get it.