Hanso

You might know our group from making the largest automated train layout using twenty Mindstorms EV3 bricks and a PC application (see https://siouxnetontrack.wordpress.com/). Since the beginning of this year we changed our theme from trains to games. We are now making board games like Four-in--a-Row, Jenga, chess, etc. From LEGO, of course. But also where you can play the game against the computer, so robotics and programming is all included. The first game we are building is Four-in-a-Row. The making of can be read in posts at our new blog: https://bricksbuildsbytes.wordpress.com/. In the picture below you can already see the board game, adding the robotics is the next step. Please let us know what you think.

Added some photo's to our Flickr page. Frontside: And the backside: You can watch 'the making of' by taking a look at the Youtube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OtVbXClWl8&list=PLRHtX6BtYooLOcx4X_l1aQR4JCoSeEWmd

At last, the video with the final version of the LEGO Split Flap Display. Please let me know what you think of the result. If there are questions about this build, please leave a message.

Sioux Technologies and PV-Productions organize a free GBC workshop for kids, age 7 - 14 years old. The date is during the holidays of the Netherlands, Wednesday 23 October. Location will be Sioux Labs in Eindhoven (NL). Entrance is free. More information can be found here (in Dutch only): Hot-or-Not: The Next Generation workshop | Sioux Technologies Questions? Please let me know. Warm regards, Hans

Hi all, Just to let you know: the company I work for, offers a free LEGO Spike Programming workshop at the RoboCup 2024 event in Eindhoven (17 - 21 July 2024). Kids in the age of 8 - 13 years old, can learn how to program a LEGO Spike Robot. More information can be found here: Lego Spike Workshop. Any questions? Please send an email to hans.odenthal@sioux.eu. Looking forward to meet you in Eindhoven! Warm regards, Hans

Please note that the info in this thread has been updated. The workshop is now targeted at October 26, 2022. There are still some places available, especially for the 11+ group.

I have read the article about the cancellation at Bouwsteentjes.info. The timestamp of the cancellation matches the timestamp of our decision. Coincidence ...? I will look into these events, thanks for sharing.

It was a hard decision for the team to make, but we decided not to aim at LEGO World Utrecht anymore. The demands (especially to be there 8 days) are not doable for our relative small team. We are now aiming at a smaller LEGO event more nearby Eindhoven. If anybody has suggestions which Lego events are coming up in the coming year, please let us know.

Wow, this is where I dreamed of as a kid .... Would love to play with it and see how everything is connected.

Lucklly they made an exception and responded to me what the main reason is that we were not selected. In short: we need quite some space, and we would only be there for half of the week. They couldn't find another alternative for the other week. That, in combination with some other things, has led to the outcome. Now I have some parameters where we can work on... PS To Appie: I already did hit the reply button, but until this year there was no reply. That's why I asked you to help.

Thanks for all the kind words and suggestions. There are no restrictions, apart from the "obvious" ones like no violent and/or racist themes. But nothing about size, throughput time, etc. I don't need a full explanation why we were not selected, but one or two lines would be enough. I have tried all years to get feedback, but they just refuse to do that. So every year, if feels like a tombola and that doesn't feel good. It sounds as if you know some of the guys of the judges. Can you try reaching out to them?

We have not been selected :-(. There were 16 too many subscriptions and it seems we are not on the top 80 ... I really don't understand why .... Unfortunately they don't want to give more info than just 'sorry, no'. If somebody knows somebody from the selection team and can ask them why, we can learn from it.

Thank you so very much for these great compliment.

Love your robot and especially the speed of the movements.

Thanks, I like it that you like it. Let's hope we will be selected to show our demo. Thank you so much. This is the latest version, I have (had) many different versions. This one needs to carry both the power line as well as the ethernet cable. We use a special, thin and flat one to make it as bendable as possible. What do you mean with the guiding for the long axis? There is no axle inside, the chain transfers the power. That is the nice thing of this X-Y positioning system, the motors are both at the end and still you can do both an X and an Y movement of the pusher.

I have just subscribed our large, full automated LEGO train layout to join LEGO World 2022 in Utrecht. Hopefully we will be selected to show our build. To get a taste what you can expect, you can look at the demo we have given a couple of weeks ago. Some facts & figures: The PC application is written in C# .NET. This application connects to 17 Mindstorms EV3 bricks to run this layout. The EV3 bricks have the EV3DEV as base, a C++ program runs on top of it. Apart from the EV3DEV basis, all software is written by ourselves. An own defined handshake protocol is used to communicate between the PC application and the bricks. Apart from the train, all EV3 bricks are connected via an ethernet cable. The train uses Wifi. Don't forget to hit the 'Like' button if you enjoy our video.

The replacement in the train of the color sensor by two touch sensors is finished. In this video, you can see the train stopping exactly at the red bump. The difficulty is the rotation of the speed control on the battery box 8878. The zero speed and maximum speed (= 'speed 3') are easy, this is done mechanically. To prevent the construction breaking down by the powerful EV3 motor, we need white clutch gears (76244). But due to this gears, the rotation of the power knob fluctuates a bit. The maximum speed is too high to have the train stopped at an exact position. We need this exact position (with a tolerance 4 studs) for loading and unloading the train. So we need a speed in between ('speed 1'). As said, rotating the power knob to this exact 'slow' position, is not accurate enough. You end up with a speed of zero (not ok), the desired speed ('speed 1', ok) or still too much ('speed 2, not ok'). Driving always on speed 1 (as maximum speed, mechanically topped) could have been a solution, but it doesn't look nice to see a train at such a slow speed and the train doesn't make it through the curves due to the friction (especially when the juice is getting low). So how did we solve it? As you can see in the video, when the train detects the white bumps, it will make a full stop. Then we rotate the speed knob every 5 seconds with 10 degrees. At a certain point, the power knob reaches the point that the train starts driving at speed 1. It will then detect the red bump within 5 seconds. Destination reached! The 5 seconds delay is enough to reach the red bump before the speed knob is rotated again. Advantage: it will always find the red stop, even with a tolerance of only 1 stud. Disadvantage: it takes around 15 - 20 seconds to find the red stop after it hits the white bump. Because we need the train to stop at an exact point, we take the disadvantage for granted. Certainty over speed.

Almost finished building the 3-digit Split-flap Display ... If you like this build, drop me a note and/or like the video.

Work in progress (building the case around the numbers)...

I am now building the 'real' display and cannot get the gap between the numbers smaller than 10 studs. If I would move the motor to the backside, this only will help getting the gap one stud smaller. Because of the risk of getting more slack if I move the motor, I keep to this solution. The photo below is taken from the back. You can see that there is not much space left ;-)

I have also thought of moving the motor to the back, but you will introduce more transmission (eg a chain or axles with gears). And that will probably imply less accuracy when rotating the necessary 36 degrees per flap. I will give it a thought ....

These questions always challenge me... when I look at my (currently only) physical prototype, I think I can narrow the gap between the numbers to 8 studs (now 12 in the example). The motor is already taking 3 studs and the wheels 2 x 2. Plus 1 stud for the structure to support the wheels. It will imply that the three digit display will be one, big heavy structure instead of three, separate structures with one digit. This has the advantage that it will be easier to transport. But the advantage of making one structure, is less bricks and of course the smaller gap. I think I will choose for the last option. What do you think of the alternative version (if it would have smaller gaps)?

Thanks, that is very nice compliment. The triple digit display was just a three-copy of the single digit I am now designing (waiting again for the ordered bricks to see the result in the real world). The reason that I added the two red lines, is that I didn't want it to become a dull black box. Based on your feedback, I have quickly created an alternative triple digit. It would look like this. What do you think?

And a rendered image how it will look with three digits. Please let me know what you think of it ...

No plans (yet) for making such a stopper, but will look into it. In the mean time, I have made a (rendered) impression of how the casing will look like (click on the pic to see a larger version): Making the motor side as small as possible, was a challenge. I think it cannot be done smaller with an EV3 motor ... (three studs wide, including the gears).