Ron1

@deraven: yes, the joystick orientation will be available too. The original idea was to hold tablet/phone upright in landscape mode with 2 hands - like a steering wheel: turn left-right for steering, tilt forward-backward for power. During testing we found this mode to be more accurate. @BrickCurve: can you elaborate please?

OK, looks like we need to keep the power button. This way, BuWizz can be used standalone as a battery only. And as I already mentioned, the button can be used to cycle through different power modes (output voltages) & off mode. The Bluetooth Smart (BLE) on standby vs. a CPU on standby discussion is, IMHO, purely academic. A properly implemented BLE on standby draws so little power, a single coin cell can power it for a year or so and a BuWizz battery could run the BLE for a decade. A CPU in sleep mode (needs to scan the power button) is not much better in terms of current draw. The problem if left in a drawer for extended periods of time is battery self discharge (which in Li-Ion is lower than other chemistries, but still present). I think we can have both - button for on/off + automatic on/off through BLE.

Hi, again some answers are due : 1. Detachable battery: we thought about that. But this would mean developing/producing two products (electronics box + battery box) with each needing at least 2 pices of moulded plastic for the housing + interconnect system between the two. Plus at least twice as many tools for plastic molding would need to be produced. All this would increase cost and complexity of the project. 2. The App will have customizable Model settings. Each model corresponds to one of your models/MOCs .You can set - background, type of controls, colors, number of control screens, etc. 3. We are looking into using tactile controls (= joysticks, game controllers) with BuWizz. We'll keep you updated. 4. Battery replacement will NOT require any soldering. For most people it will probably be best to leave the replacement to us. 5. We know the limits, just do not know what exact settings we will use for final version. It will be 2x power, perhaps even more. The problem is final product needs to be reliable, so some safety margin has to be left. 6. We are considering opening the protocol over BLE, so anybody can integrate BuWizz with their environment. 7. Latency is already very low :-) 8. we will have an update regarding Android App soon. 9. The 1x Early bird was original meant as Super Early, hence it costs less per brick than 2x "Normal" Early. Did not really turn out as intended ;-) 10. Everybody should probably get the "secret" reward, good point. 11. Protection circuit will be inside battery - a dedicated circuit to protect against over-voltage, under-voltage, high charge current, high discharge current, over temperature, etc. 12. Standalone battery - current prototype can indeed work as a standalone battery. Making the power button swicth modes is just a matter of software. The problem is, we considered removing the power button - the BLE part can be always on and BuWizz can then be turned on automatically, when you start the App. This way you do not need to fiddle with pressing the power button, if BuWizz is buried deep inside your model. 13. We will do some testing with RC motors and come back with actual data. 14. extra pinholes: the problem is logic board is already densely stuffed with components and extra pinholes would eat valuable logic board space even more. that said, we will se if we can squeeze more pinholes onto BuWizz. 15. Extra channel modules, etc. We are considering many advanced options.

Hi, My name is Roni & I am BuWizz team leader. I'll be glad to answer your questions. First of all, thanks to all the project backers and everybody considering backing. It's been a great campaign start and we do need your support to bring BuWizz from prototype to final product. And also thank you to all AFOLs, who unselfishly helped to bring the project this far. Since you have a lot of questions, I will try to answer them here. We will also add a FAQ section to Kickstarter. 1. Battery: BuWizz has 4x8 bricks or 64 x 32 mm footprint. 18650 battery is 65 mm long... We are using a quality Li-Poly batteries, the largest possible that fit inside. Capacity is ~7,5 Wh. 2. Battery WILL BE replaceable. We will offer a (reasonably priced) replacement service. Brave & skilled users might be able to do this themselves. BuWizz should never become a paperweight due to dead battery - except if you like the unique artistic qualities & want to have a non-ordinary looking paperweight :-) 4. Voltage: lets say slow-normal-fast is 4-7-10 or 4-7,5-10,5 or maybe even higher. All this is possible. We are testing the limits and will decide based on thermal issues - higher voltages trip the thermal protection (of which there are several) faster & reduce the fun factor. 5. Damage to the motors: we have been testing & "abusing" the same motors for over a year - we literally drove several miles with the same 9398 (think Kickstarter video kind of usage). No damage occurred so far. The motors are well protected with a thermistor - they survive even being blocked at full power applied with no consequences (other than the thermistor inside the motor getting hot). The only visible damage so far is the "grey dust" around axles - result of friction. That said, we can not guarantee that no motor will ever fail. Just that it never happened to us. You can check Philo's excellent PF motor data on his website. He tested the motors up to 12 Volts. He has done extensive testing and we also used his data, so a big thanks to Philo is in order. 6. Bluetooth smart of BLE is what BuWizz is using. 7. Multiple BuWizz bricks working in parallel: yes, all combinations are possible - one phone controlling several BuWizz bricks, several phones controlling one (or several) BuWizz bricks. There is no "hard" limit with BLE technology. The limiting factor is bandwidth (1 Mbps theoretically), which in theory would support 100 BuWizz bricks working in parallel. We have tested with up to 10, so this number we can guarantee. This is still 40 motors! If anyone is planning to use such a huge amount of motors & lights, please let us know. 8. Response delay: no control system is without it. That said, check Sariel's video, where he rocks the car back & forth - there is very littl delay. We will also post aditional videos to our Youtube channel 9. USB connectivity: good question :-) If BuWizz had USB communication, what would you do with it? 10. Voltage: battery voltage is not equal to output voltage, there is a switchmode power supply inside BuWizz ;-) 11. Current: this one is hard to quote, since it is time & heat dependent - larger current can be tolerated for short bursts, long time current is lower. When thermal protection kicks in, current is decreased. Up to 3 A per channel is a fair number, but this can not be sustained forever. We have thermal images showing exactly how thermal protection kicks in. Hope this answers most of the questions.

Three Porsche 959s? Might be mistaken, but looks like there are 3 959s in the picture above? Worth roughly $1M each... TLG could do a 959 - it was a technological marvel back in 1987 and it did have 4WD

Thanks all for the welcome :-)

Agree. I suggest a moderator edits the first post in this thread & then updates it as more information becomes available. A quick summary from the top of my head: 1. "Known facts" (=speculation based on toy fair videos) - set number: 42056 - a Technic supercar - a Porsche - new parts: fenders, rims - tire size 81.6 x 44ZR - some sort of paddle shift (sequential) gearbox - independent 4 wheel suspension - color: black with camouflage decals 2. "Educated guess", word of mouth, people who claim to have seen it, talked to TLG personnel,...: - Porsche GT3 RS - 1300-3000 parts - price EUR 200-300 (sources quote EUR 200, EUR 229, GBP 249, EUR 300) - boxer engine in the rear, 4 or 6 pistons - box weight: 4.8 kg - box dimensions: 48 x 38 x 15 cm 3. Pure speculation, wishful thinking, etc.: - Power Functions (front lights, gearbox, steering, drive...) - PF2 - new PF, Bluetooth controlled, etc. - color: lava orange, ultra violet, white, silver,... And my 2 cents' worth of speculation: - TLG is paying DKK 0 to Porsche for licensing. This is also a promo for Porsche. There are other "hot" super cars on the market right now - the new Honda/Acura NSX for instance. Or BMW i8. Or McLaren P1. And hundreds if not thousands of present, past and prototype models TLG could do. And there must be a lot of brands willing to license their models to TLG for free as publicity/marketing stunt. TLG already did Volkswagen AG models/brands: 10187 VW Beetle, 10220 VW T1 van, several Lamborghinis. And they did a BMW's brand - 10242 Mini. Plus TLG already did a Technic Porsche in 1980, didn't they - 8860 looks like it could be a Porsche 356 chassis ;-) My list of cars I prefer over the Porsche would start with: BMW Turbo (1972) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Turbo Ferrari PF Modulo (1970) http://www.pininfari...ferrari_modulo/ Lamborghini Miura

Awesome, I am speechless! Hope to see the RV on KockeFest? ;-)

There are many, many ways to implement "normal" Ackermann steering - even with steering links in the front. In "real car": http://www2.mae.ufl....es/image008.jpg And in LEGO (911 by Sheepo): http://www.brickshel...an-steering.jpg

Interesting speculation. LEGO indeed could include body panels for two (or even more colors). Or offer different color body parts as an "upgrade package". Ideally (for me at least), there would be 3 versions: - black (with cammo printed or stickers) - lava orange - ultraviolet All this is pure speculation and guesswork. Not very likely IMHO. My bet is on single color only - lava orange

Visited Billund in 2013. Drove there from Hamburg. Unfortunately it was raining the whole day & we did not have proper shoes & trousers - the plastic anoraks do not help here - so my family were all soaked wet and wanted to go back to the hotel (in Hamburg) before I had a chance to see the LEGO headquarters The Danes were perfectly OK with the rain; will remember to bring proper waterproof clothes next time PS: I did like the German Legoland a bit more - maybe due to rain?

The bevel gear in the center of the dash turns a gear on the axle going forward to steering rack (visible in the front hood open picture). There seems to be no HOG option in the middle of the dash...

Thanks for your concern. I did read the 3000 parts & EUR 300 in this thread. Doing some basic math for size vs. part count sanity check is trivial, reading through all 26 pages of this thread & dozens of other sites with pics & info IS work Scale 1:8 sounds about right. Assuming Sheepo's numbers are correct: 1:8.30 from wheelbase (2456 mm vs. 37 studs) 1:8.48 from length (4545 mm vs. 67 studs) 1:7.58 from width (1880 mm vs. 31 studs) Guess the 1:10 printed on the box is deliberately "misleading", same as color and camouflage and will be 1:8 on real box? But where does the 300 EUR price tag come from? It is mentioned on first page of this thread, but no source - or I missed something? Supposedly 300 EUR comes from LEGO, but what if this is only for "customer expectations management" to build up the "hype" and the real price is lower?

Hi, my name is Roni. I started with LEGO back in the early 70s. First bricks I remember having is Duplo with string-attached bricks - something like this (but not quite, I do remember the string): http://brickset.com/...ol-Building-Set First LEGO set I remember getting at 4 (on vacation in Las Palmas - first airpliane flight; that is why I still remember this vividly!) was 614 Digger: http://brickset.com/sets/614-2/Digger But LEGO really got under my skin when I got the 853 at the age of 6 (I remember holding the box in my lap during the whole 10 hour train ride from Germany). I also had (and still have, complete with all boxes): early pre-technic gear sets 810, 811, Technic 855, 918, iconic 928 and 7740. And a bunch of other sets - 367, 368, 386,387, 6970, 315, 105, 107, 212, 349, 662,... I guess I need to thank my mom, dad and aunt for buying me all that LEGO - mostly in Italy, Germany, Austria, some even in UK. My country was part of Yugoslavia and (except for a period between ca. 1974-1980) no LEGO was sold here... I probably had more LEGO back then than any of my schoolmates. My kids now have ~10 times more sets, but times have changed a lot in 30+ years... I remember drooling over 8860 back in 1980, but I newer got it (my friend bought it a few years ago and I borrowed it and built it with my son). The last set I got as a kid was the pneumatic 8040: http://brickset.com/...1/Universal-Set I bought some LEGO again in 2006 - 8421 and used 8880, 8448, 8466 (won the last one on eBay for 1 EUR!). I was intrigued by the progress in bricks in my 20 years hiatus. I got hooked again with PF (9398, 42030, 42009,...). And I simply HAD to buy Benny's LL929 Spaceship! to go with my 928 & 918. I’m an electronics engineer by profession and currently part of a team developing an exciting LEGO related product. Stay tuned for more ;-) Best regards and "Leg godt" Roni

My 2 cents - 1st post BTW :-) Regarding tires: Tires are 81.6 x 44 ZR, or in LEGO units diameter 10.2 L, width 5.5 L. Tire pic is on this page: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=120399&st=75 Scale vs. No. of bricks: Going from 1:10 to 1:8 increases volume almost twofold and the number of bricks should be related to volume of the car. Going from 1:12 to 1:8 increases the volume more than threefold (3.375 times to be exact) Calculated scale of the Porsche is about 1:8.3 and it's "volume" is pretty "full" (= complete dashboard, seats, all body panels, sequential gearbox, engine, possible PF parts,...), so it might have ~3000 bricks. Speculation here is 1300 parts $ EUR 230 (not 300). 1300 parts IMHO is too little for such a a large model. Price sounds about right though: http://www.technicfactory.net/lego-technic-2016-sets/