You think that you can quickly change the attachments of your LEGO Mindstorms EV3 competition robot? Are you sure? In this first episode of the series you will see how to create and attach attachments without using pins and how faster and easier this could be. You will see the design logic of a few attachments and how they work on the field.
This tutorial explains the use of motion and light/color sensors to accomplish a complex mission split into three parts. It gets into detail about how we keep a straight line with the motion sensor, follow a line with the color sensors, and transition between different parts of the program by aligning and detecting lines with the sensor. The goal is to get to a reliable and consistent behavior of the robot. On top of that, it is configurable, as we've left a few parameters that could be set to configure the behavior for a specific robot, venue, lighting, battery level, and wheels friction.
One more example for an active attachment with a system of gear wheels. This time the system is constructed so that the attachment could lift heavy objects.
"Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not work" - this is the most common case in FIRST LEGO League competitions. In this tutorial, we demonstrate and discuss such a case where the first part of accomplishing the mission always works but the second part has about 60-70% success rate. The robot is not very consistent. Let's take a moment to see it and explain why so that we can resolve the problem in the next lesson.
Without the use of any motor, you can still accomplish a number of missions using passive attachments. You can still pull/push on different levers using only a beam or two connected to the frame.
In this video tutorial, we use the motion sensor and demonstrate 10 out of 10 times how we can keep the robot moving in a straight line. The program is described in the previous tutorial in the lesson where we enter into the programming. Here we visualize how consistent and reliable the behavior of the robot is.
This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial for pushing gently on a mission model. We also discuss how to build robots that tolerate error and auto-correct their behavior.
Rubber bands in the LEGO Mindstorms sets are very handy when it comes to collecting objects, especially loops. The mechanism most of the time could work like this - an axle is pushed, a rubber band is released and a lever collects the loop.
In this episode we look at the way this robot is balanced. A well-balanced robot could handle heavier attachments without losing track of its position on the robotics competition field.
In this video tutorial, we demonstrate how to gently push an object to accomplish the mission. "Gently" means that we are pushing but not with force. If we push using force, the mission model will fall, and we will not accomplish the mission. We use LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and the Ultrasonic Sensor.
In this episode we build a reusable attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot that changes gears orientation and direction. It is one of the most useful attachments that you could use to move levers up/down and right/left. Adding the attachment on the robot takes 2-3 seconds and shows a very useful general principle of how to build reusable attachments.
Pinless attachments are smart and quick and could make a big differences between two robot constructions. In this video we are sharing a nice idea for a pinless attachment placed below the robot.
If you think that the quick pinless attachments shown in video 63 are quick enough, see this tutorial and you will find out that the quick pinless attachments could be even quicker. These attachments can work without motors but by using the inertia forces.
This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial, demonstrating the consistency and reliability of the active attachment for switching the engine in this mission. The power is transferred through a system of gear wheels to a lever at the end. We presume that the robot is already positioned.
This video tutorial demonstrates an attachment that flips a mission model. The mission model is attached to the field, but it contains a lever. This lever must be flipped from one side to the other. There is a switch. We use a pinless active attachment with gear wheels, and you can see how this works in the tutorial. There is no use of sensors as we don't need them. We will leave the alignment and positioning for some other tutorials.
This video tutorial demonstrates the consistency and reliability of the active attachment that pushes the two mission models. The goal is to use both the attachment and the robot to push the mission model and move the truck and the plane after the blue lines.
Second active pinless attachment for the robot construction. It is placed in the top/right corner of the robot and includes an interesting gear system for transferring the power. The attachment is suitable for complete rotations.
In this video tutorial, we push two of the mission models with a pinless active attachment with gears. The goal is to push the mission models after the blue lines. This attachment is interesting as it demonstrates a non-straightforward idea of how we can push the mission models. We explain the Scratch program and how we use the motion sensors - you will learn how to turn to a specific angle by using the motion sensor.
This is a 10 out of 10 video tutorial that demonstrates the consistency and reliability of the robot that accomplishes the Unlock Cargo Plane mission. The attachment is an active attachment with gear wheels. It has a single lever constructed from 2 beans and we use this attachment to push on the mission model.
This is a third example for adding an active attachment. This third attachment is now connected to the wheel at the front of the robot. Again, the attachment could be easily extended.
In this video tutorial, we demonstrate how to release the cargo of a mission model. This mission model is an Airplane. We have to push a lever down to release it. We use an active attachment with a gear wheel.
This is a very interesting idea that is worth sharing with the rest of the teams and the ELM team has provided it to us. Check out how they drop a LEGO human at a specific place.
Need to transfer circular into a linear motion. You need a rack. Here is an attachment with a rack for our box robot.
This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial demonstrating the consistency and reliability of a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot when the robot delivers a mission model to a specific position on the field.
In this video tutorial we deliver the Innovation project model from base to the cargo connect marker on the field. The goal of the mission is to deliver. The mission model is assembled before that.
The attachment builds on previous episodes this time using two LEGO rubber bands. When a lever is released the rubber band exerts pressure on it and moves it in a circular motion. As an example we are solving the 2012 FIRST LEGO League, Senior Solutions, stove mission (which was quite interesting as a mission)
This is one of the very interesting attachments by the ELM team. It is using rubber bands and some rubber to precisely drop the chicken. Very interesting way. Check it out and try to learn from it.