Looking at the field we must first think of a strategy of solving this line following problem. There are rules that the robot must follow and these rules should be programmed in the robot.
The robot uses one middle motor. This middle motor with the use of a few gear systems controls for different axsels. We have attached wheels on this axles so it is very easy to extend the robot construction for additional LEGO Mindstorms active attachments
How do you lift heavy objects with an attachment? In this episode we show a simple, interesting, but yet not very popular way to lift something heavy with and LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot and without gears and motors as attachment. As a specific example we are using the Strength Exercise mission from the FIRST LEGO League 2012 competition.
The robot attachment build in this tutorial gives an idea on how to release a rubber band at a specific moment using a motor. It's a simple, but yet powerful technique on using rubber bands.
Recap on the attachments, their purpose and how you should use them.
In this video we discuss part of the pinless attachments build by the ELM team. Without pinless attachment it is nearly impossible to achieve a good score at the FIRST LEGO League competition.
In this episode we continue from Episode 55 and we improve the durability and stability of the attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot. Many times attachments are not very stable which results in gaps between parts. The goal of the video is to give basic construction ideas.
This is where the confusion really comes. We are keeping the robot orientation straight while the robot moves, but at the end the, robot is not at the fiinal location that we would like it to be. The robot is still about 2-3 centimeters away after moving for about a meter.
Rubber bands can be quite powerful. Based on several requests from you we are starting a series on using the LEGO Rubber bands available in the Mindstorms set.
The way you move the robot is always imprecise. Don't TRY to fight with this. Programming motors for competitions like the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) or World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) is not very different from programming the motors in the STEM classes. But there are a few things you should have in mind.
Cable management is very important on each competition. Cables could get in the way of attachments, levers, different wheels and so on. Brick accessibility is also very important. Do not forget that the brick should be charged from time to time and that you should also be able to access the buttons.
This one is very special- an attachment that could lock itself on purpose while working.
Enchansing a previous attachment, but only this time we are solving the FIRST LEGO League 2012 Medicine mission. There is a lever and a rubber band. When the lever is released the rubber band activates the attachment.
Here we continue examining FLL 2014 World Class missions. We show different ways, for putting the insert in place as well as taking the loop from the robotics arm. Some of them are quite specific, which reminds us, that you need to think out of the box, while solving the missions.
In this video tutorial we experiment with different ways of solving the sports mission for throwing the ball. We show seven different LEGO MIndstorms EV3 and NXT robot constructions and attachements. Most of the techniques could be applied for any mission involving throwing a ball or an object.
Let's try to integrate more of the things we have learned into a single attachment. One that could accumulate energy, conserve it and use it at the appropriate time. All this because of a Rubber Band and a Flywheel - and if you don't know what a flywheel is you should definitely watch this videos
One of the very good things about box robots is that you could easily align with them both to the front, to the back or to the rear sides. This aligning is helpful for FIRST LEGO League, World Robotics Olympiad or other robotics competitions with LEGO Mindstorms EV3/NXT robots.
You need to pull. And also catch. You need a carabiner. We have done a number of videos on carabiners and this is one of the ideas for the FIRST LEGO League 2015 Trash Trek competition.
With the EV3 Mindstorms set you receive three motors. Two are large and one is medium. These three motors could be used in different configurations and in this video we show how to use the motors on the second box robot for competitions that we build.
We list the number of decisions that the robot is making while following the line. Then, we group them and decide on the number of sensors to be used.
In this Episode, we create the next attachment for the box robot two. It is again a pinless attachment, attached to the frame that transfers the motion to a vertical axle.
The first part of making the robot move straight is to keep it oriented straight. While it moves it could make an error and turn slightly to the right and then the program should turn in back to the left to make its orientation straight. In this video tutorial, we would discuss how to implement a program to keep the robot orientation straight even when we are pushing or pulling it to either side and in the same time it has different wheels.
Sometimes the way an axle is placed is just not suitable for a certain attachment and you should transfer the motion to another axle a few LEGO units above the current.
We follow a line. We start from the Smooth Proportional Line Following program and modify it a little for this program. We follow the line with the middle sensor attached on port 2.
This robot has a color sensor and this sensor is used for following lines. Additional Mindstorms EV3 sensors could be place on the robot, like a Gyro sensor or a second Color sensor.
In part one we build an attachment that uses a rubber band to solve a competition challenge. The rubber band was released with the use of a motor. In this video we are removing the dependency on the motor and you could use the motor for other missions.
You are not using sensors?! You are positioning the mindstorms robot only by moving forward, backwards and rotating it. That`s one of the BIGGEST mistakes teams make on the FIRST LEGO League competitions. In this video we are showing a robot with chains and how imprecise are the results are when you are not using sensors.