Mr Jos

Had a good laugh! The part where it went legs up. And at the end of the line following; I'm done and tired, head down now.

I have been thinking a few days how to make the door opening and closing automatically when the pallet is in the correct spot, without using a motor for it. It has to hold the hits from the balls pushing the wall by gravity and when coming in, open by a pallet, and when the pallet rolls further or is taken away, close again so the next batch can be filled up. The combination of a spring system to hold the door closed, and a bigger force needed to open it up was hard as the pallets are transported on lego chain with nearly no grip. The solution I came up with is this, if it doesn't work well in the future I will need to change my conveyor design so it has something to open the gates. 2x1 liftarm goes through a 90° 1:1 gearbox and then drives a 1:1 chain to open the gate. Other side of the gate has a 24T with a towball inserted and a short white rubber band installed to pull the gate back in closed position.

I finished my standard warehouse project. Last events it has been running more and more reliable, to the point of nearly no interventions anymore during 8+ hours runs per day. To challenge myself I've decided to turn this project even bigger by making it a sorting+storage GBC. Impressions from the last time it has been running at Brick Mania Blankenberge; As I don't have many bricks to make the sorting part of the factory, I visited a LEGO store for the first time (and even 2 different ones this week, Lille/Wijnegem) ToDo / Process flowchart; Make a sorting station to bring the white/orange/other Lego balls to a filling station (I use other 14mm balls for testing now as I don't have any LEGO ones yet) [Intake of GBC] - Concept started Have an overflow bypass in case of issues with the EV3 system, or when the process is to slow for the 1ball/sec to be guaranteed - Not started Make a filling station for 30 balls [Preferably 3 or more stations] - Concept started Having the 6 axis robot take the filled pallets from the filling conveyor to the scissorlift, and store the pallet for some time - Done (Only programming required, mechanics stay the same) Make an installation to empty pallets that are taken out of the warehouse, some kind of tipping of the pallet [Exit of GBC] - Not started Make a conveyor system to bring empty pallets coming from the exit to the filling stations, or return them to the storage system - Done Make the conveyor system to automatically open the doors of the filling stations - Concept started Find a new place to put the 2 EV3 units that control the current conveyors as the space will be needed, and 1 or 2 more EV3's will need to be added - Started, 2 EV3's added, still need 1 more I think Program everything using PyBricks MicroPython to make the factory work as intended and prevent deadlocks when pallets need to move within 30seconds from step to step and cross eachother - Started Program a new GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the LMS-ESP32 using MicroPython, it will be less interactive as the current version I think, as it will need to run more autonomous - Not started So this will be a (very) long Work In Progress project, only issues are space shortage on the LEGO table and having a 14month old trying to take everything that's on it. EDIT: Current latest video will be posted here:

Would be nice to have this. As said before by Toastie, mindstorms / very technical/programmed stuff is being drowned as they get nearly no replies, but to me they are the most interesting to read/watch. Having this pinned categories topic would make it better to find all these special topics. I was for the mindstorms merging with technic, as I thought there would be more interaction, but it seems to have even gone the other way around.

It has to do with the difference in Bluetooth, TLG allows the connection in streaming mode, so a PC in between the ps4. Copy pasted from that link above; You might ask: why did LEGO only allow the gamepad via a PC in streaming mode? Doesn’t it have Bluetooth? The problem is that there’s Bluetooth and Bluetooth. More specifically, there is Bluetooth Classic (BTC, BR/EDR) and Bluetooth Low Energy (or BLE). Most gamepads use Bluetooth classic. And the LEGO hub has a chip that can do Bluetooth Classic (BTC). But there’s a catch: the hub runs an implementation of Micropython and has a firmware Bluetooth stack that limits BTC. The stack only runs the RFCOMM protocol – a wireless serial port – and you can only use that protocol to access the Micropython REPL. In all likelihood, LEGO will never change this setup because it is core to the communication with the LEGO apps. The bright side is that the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol is accessible for us hackers. In other articles, I have shown how to use that to connect to an Android app or to connect to other LEGO hubs. Alas, most gamepads don’t support BLE. Long story short: the only way to work around this limitation is with some extra hardware.

It's possible with this LMS-ESP32 board connected to the Spike. You can then even add more servo's/LED's to your model, or even a touchscreen. https://antonsmindstorms.com/2022/03/22/python-ps4-gamepad-connection-robot-inventor-and-spike-prime-hub/

Aw missed this topic, I just send in my warehouse (the version without the ESP32/Touchscreen). Guess it will have been to late as some here have been contacted already. Hope they might maybe reconsider losing their Mindstorms range. Edit: And to make sure they see what can be done with their "outdated" EV3's, with small amount of parts and only 1 EV3, I added one more small MOC

Ok, I'm going to make a guess; Is it about the physical controller? As the model has 6functions I'm curious how it looks like. And to see if it could be easily used for other setups/machines. "Are there any photos of the controller/prototype?"

Hope you had safety glasses on with that misser, that thing flew damn fast around! Nice builds you've made!

Nice amount of work put into this one, I would have suspected a RI hub, when I saw the Spike hub it gave it away. Nonetheless it would be awesome if Lego really would continue with the Mindstorms products.

My machines have been running at a few events now, everytime trying to fix issues afterwards that I ran into during these 20hour runs each. Both my warehouse and sorting machines are pretty reliable now, here's a 'short' video of them at a school event where we were invited. (Complex machines like these need a longer timespan than the usual 20seconds short videos that are popular now) Next events will be; Maker Faire Delft [Netherlands] 13+14 May 2023 Brick Mania Blankenberge [Belgium] 20+21 May 2023

And it has been running for over 25hours this week. A short video; First motor broken after 100+ hours running this year at events + many more at home testing+programming. Still need to open it up to see why it's not turning at all. An original cable also had an issue as the EV3's don't know what motor is attached anymore when using that cable, a swap with another cable resolved the issue. First time I applied silicone spray at the lifting guides of the high bay stacker crane, before the event started, never had to redo homing because of this during a day. Will need to spray some gears in the robot arm soon as well.

I upgraded one of my machines with another LMS-ESP32 from Antons Mindstorms, and attached an ILI9341 touchscreen to it. Previously it was on the EV3 screen only, which has no backlight and is a black/white pixels screen only. It also has 5 buttons only to operate the settings. The touchscreen makes it much clearer what is happening, howmany pins have been sorted, what the last pin was (I highlight it green). The ideas for further advancing the touchscreen program could be; Adding a limit for a certain type of pin, so for example bin only 100 of each, if #101 is scanned, put it back in the hopper by reversing the scanning belt. Adding a limit for bagging a certain number of pins. If you want to make ziplock bags of 100 or 500pins each, have the arm stop filling a bin and put it on pause, or start filling an other not yet defined bin. During the adding of the ESP32 I also relearned the EV3 the values to recognize each pin, which makes it for now faster to be 100% sure a pin matches the library. This machine will normally be at an event 28-30December together with my Logistics Warehouse, where I used this ESP32 and touchscreen for the first time.

No idea if these cases fit in what you're searching for. It calculates the position of a scanned pin on a continuous moving belt, and then responds by moving the gantry to the desired position, but the time moving there also makes the pin go even further, so needing more correction. Program at: https://github.com/Mr-Jos-Technic/Lego-EV3-4D-Gantry The robot arm used here has inverse + forward kinematics programmed. It knows it current position with the forward kinematics formula. 1 set of coördinates is then given in XYZ (mm from center of floor/base) and roll/pitch/yaw of the fork board. The inverse kinematics calculate all the points in between these 2 point in space and sets each motor speed every 50ms to get a nice flat movement of the fork if desired. If any motor undergoes a lot of resistance, the program will notice this and give more power to that motor in the next 50ms cycle, and if needed go higher everytime for a jammed joint. Programs at: https://github.com/Mr-Jos-Technic/Lego-EV3-Warehouse For this build the conveyor system starts to speed up if for a certain time no pin is detected on the scanning belt (mostly when the hopper feeder is starting to become empty), when a pin is detected is will slow down again. The system also calculates the time needed to swing the arm to the next bin, if 2 different pins are scanned to quick after another to be able to switch, it will stop the scanning belt.

That's one adorable line follower! Nice test run.

1: 10 3: 6 5: 4 2: 3 4: 2 6: 1

It uses pneumatic cylinders and switches, but automated with LEGO EV3 Mindstorms. At the moment I'm remaking this MOC as I sold the original. Pneumatic is used for; Raising a new coil on the coilcar to the correct heigth to put on the decoiler axle. New version uses a cyilinder for pushing the wheel on the coil that is being decoiled. The upper tool that makes the holes is clamped with a cylinder so it stays in place until toolchange is wanted, then you can open it and move out the upper and lower tools. The technic brick scissor is being operated by the program to cut the sheet of paper at the right time when the length of the sheet has reached the scissor position. A stripper plate goes down first, clamping the sheet in front and at the back of the "scissor". This prevents the paper going in between the two Lego bricks when cutting. The large cylinders starts cutting the paper, and meanwhile pushes down the paper guiding (as after cutting the paper, the start end will have to be guided again into the clamping behind the scissor).

If anyone sees the V2 1x5 pneumatic cylinder in the PAB, give me a ping. I need 20+ of them and aint gonna pay 20€ each. They're in the material handler so should be coming cheaper, as the 1x11 from the tow truck already are for like 8€ or 11€ (before 50€ at BL). Hope they will be like 4-6€, still need a valve each aswell at 3€.

The 12V is constantly plugged in when running the setup, I take out the adapter when I shut all bricks down. So on show days they are plugged into the EV3's from 8:00 untill 18:00 and keep the batteries between 8.2-8.4V. When testing at home they are also plugged in during the day, and not running constantly, just some code debugging etc. All my machines until now are designed to be able to be charged and run 24/7 (no need to charge off-line). I do/did plan to make an AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle) driving from and to my warehouse, but that would require offline charging.. so it's shelved for now.

That's an awesome solution! If only I could find the same for the EV3, then I would get like 10+ of them. Now I'm running all original rechargeable Lego batteries with homemade 12V 5A adapter with 8 recharge plugs on 1 adapter. I can imagine this constant charging isn't doing good for the lifetime, would love to just have dummy boxes directly to the adapter (but then I would need to get a correct voltage [~8/9V?] adapter instead of the 12V I use now I think). DIY'ing the electric part would be fine, but I don't have a 3D printer. Glad you can continue your research again, have fun!

The mounting of the motors seems unstable, and upgearing with a heavy robot should not be done. Like you said yourself, use direct drive or downgear if the torque is still not enough. Make sure to attach motors in a firm position so they do not move under load (you will lose accuracy). A 3wheeled robot will potentially tip over if the wheelbase is not wide enough and to short.

You will need to start with a robot design first. 2motors for tank steering/driving, 1motor for unloading. An ultrasonic sensor to measure distance to the wall (preferred to have 2 of them, 1 on the right side, 1 on the left). And if possible a sensor at the front to detect the wall when crossing. You will need to make a flow chart, with all needed tasks to be done by the robot, like this; At the start you don't know the direction the robot is at so; Part 1: Finding where you're at: Tank steer around untill you have visibility <50cm on the right side sensor (it should have started within 30cm of a wall, so you will be able to find it, and you'll know it's now on your right side. Part 2: Start driving to position 1: Now start driving for 2 meters straight on, but have a little correction depending on the right side distance sensor. if distance >30cm steer little right, if <10 steer little left. This should keep it alongside the wall. When finished the 2meter, tank steer 180° and drop off the package. Now use the left side sensor to drive back 2m and have a new book loaded. Part 3: Drive to pos2: Now keep using the left side sensor to stay within 30cm, and drive for 2m more, turn 180° and dropoff package 2. Return 2m and pickup load 3. Part 4: Drive to pos3: Tank steer 90° at the start location, and back up into the wall (need a flat rearend for this), this should straigthen out the robot. Drive in a straight line without compensation to cross the potentially large distance. When the wall is found at the other side, rotate 90° and go to the dropoff loc. Part 5: etcetc. Start with the robot making, and test each 'part' of the flowchart one by one. Find out howlong you need to drive for 1 meter. Find out how much you need to tanksteer for 90° etc.

As it starts fast, then slows down, it seems like a pressure issue? What compressor are you using? At how many bar? And can you confirm the pressure remains at this pressure during running? Maybe make a video or something so we can see what happens.

One servo motor will indeed not have enough power to rotate 4wheels of a heavy machine. If speed is no issue, use a normal motor and gear it down before sending the movement in 4 directions. Is it some sort of portal bridge or something? And about files being to big, don't try to upload them directly here. First upload on a site like Flickr.com your photos, then share the link here and it will show what you're trying to make if you use the correct link, give it a try.

Just ordered 100 Quercetti's. Should be here within 2days, first time I'm going to make a GBC. If it doesn't work out, I'll just program my giant robot arm to pick up the inbox and throw it out a window Later I can always try to add it to my logistics center. Sorting the balls by color, loading them on pallets and store them in the high bay warehouse. Will need to see if they can handle 30balls per pallet. Edit: Balls received 36hours after order, here we go designing my first GBC!