LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Software (iOS & Android)

With the availability of the new MINDSTORMS EV3 system in September, LEGO provided three apps for both iOS and Android users.
We look at the three different apps here:

FixTheFactory: This is a game that was released that revolved around the MINDSTORMS EV3 theme of robots. The models depicted are those found available to build in the retail set and essentially, you have to program the robot in each level to reach a certain point to advance to the next level.

3D Builder: This will likely be the most used app, seconded by the Commander app. This was demoed at CES earlier in 2013 and it was put together collectively with Autodesk (known for their AutoCAD software). You can go step by step in the builder, rotate, pan and zoom in on each individual step and can click on each piece to see it's part number.

Commander: This is the app that provides remote control functionality to the EV3 brick. USing your smartphone/tablet gyroscopic sensors, you can control motion/action of a robot and also have on-screen controls that will also provide action/motion commands.

Machine with Plastic (A LEGO adaptation of "Machine with Concrete")

Perhaps you've seen kinetic artist Arthur Ganson's "Machine with Concrete" recently? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q-BH-tvxEg)

This is my LEGO-based adaptation of that albeit for fewer gear reductions and a slightly different setup. The principle is in demonstrating the exponential powers of gear ratios. As you gear something down over and over, the gear ratio grows exponentially larger.

In this case, the motor turns 340 RPM.
The torque is about 11 N-cm.
The gear reduction is as follows:

Pulleys: (7:2)^2 = 12.25:1
1st worm gear block: 24:1
2nd worm gear block: (3:1) x (24:1) = 72:1
3rd worm gear block: (5:3) x (24:1) = 40:1
4th, 5th, & 6th worm gear blocks: ((3:1) x (72:1))^3 = 373,248:1
Final gear: 5:1

Multiply them all together and the total ratio is: 1,580,182,732,800:1
The total torque then is 11 times the ratio = 17,382,010,060,800 N-cm

If you calculate for time, the 40 tooth gear at the end would rotate only once about every 8,837 years. You'd have to wait about 221 years just for the gear to turn one tooth.

Mindstorms Johnny 5

It's been over two years with this thing and it's time for it to get disassembled and used in building something new. Johnny 5 ended up being more of a demo robot for items like BrickFair. I never went into programming it with much to utilize the sensors and drivetrain. Mainly just to amuse the public visitors at shows by writing a small demo program that speaks items, moves his hands, bobs his head and operates the color lamp.

I made a teaser parody of it's construction similar to the movie a while back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyewfuXDSM