Engineering Lifestyle
Lego wheelchair does the YouTube rounds
Sylvie Barak
7/31/2012 7:24 PM EDT
Most engineers I’ve ever met can be categorized by two things; their love of problem solving, and their love of Lego.
Combine both and you get something like the motorized Lego wheelchair, currently doing the rounds on YouTube.
Six Lego Mindstorms NXTs, 12 Mindstorms motors, 12 Lego Mindstorms touch sensors, 12 Rotacaster multi-directional wheels and a "whole load of Lego Technic" went into building the 44 pound motorized chair, capable of carrying a person weighing up to 198 pounds (90kg).
Currently controlled by a four-directional joystick, the Lego wheelchair’s designer, British iOS programmer and Lego enthusiast Simon "Burf" Burfield, apparently hopes to upgrade the contraption to include Bluetooth, so it can be controlled from people’s phones. You can see pictures of the chair in its various stages of build-out here.
So far, there’s only one prototype, but it goes to show how far a bit of DIY, a dollop of imagination and a lot of Lego can go.
What do you think, readers? Have you ever made anything cool out of Lego? Let us know and we want to see your photos and videos!
Combine both and you get something like the motorized Lego wheelchair, currently doing the rounds on YouTube.
Six Lego Mindstorms NXTs, 12 Mindstorms motors, 12 Lego Mindstorms touch sensors, 12 Rotacaster multi-directional wheels and a "whole load of Lego Technic" went into building the 44 pound motorized chair, capable of carrying a person weighing up to 198 pounds (90kg).
Currently controlled by a four-directional joystick, the Lego wheelchair’s designer, British iOS programmer and Lego enthusiast Simon "Burf" Burfield, apparently hopes to upgrade the contraption to include Bluetooth, so it can be controlled from people’s phones. You can see pictures of the chair in its various stages of build-out here.
So far, there’s only one prototype, but it goes to show how far a bit of DIY, a dollop of imagination and a lot of Lego can go.
What do you think, readers? Have you ever made anything cool out of Lego? Let us know and we want to see your photos and videos!
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Robotics Developer
8/1/2012 9:43 AM EDT
Wow! That is a really neat LEGO design. I wonder how long it took to build and how much it cost!
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Bert22306
8/1/2012 3:33 PM EDT
My vote is for Meccano (similar to what was called Erector Set in the US), rather than Lego.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano
Initially, Lego was (or seemed to be) more oriented toward building buildings, rather than machines, so it was not as compelling to me. Check out that locomotive in the Wikipedia article.
I built my first four-wheel drive electric car with Meccano. Too bad the to get real power, I had to use the electric motor that used AC from a wall outlet. Kind of restricted mobility. But it sure could climb.
Hey, come to think of it, that may be why I don't see a future in battery-powered electric cars to this day!
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ost
8/3/2012 2:13 AM EDT
I had a meccano kit as a kid (some bits I still have. And I found some more on a flea marked a few years ago too).
What I remeber most is reading the sparepart sheets and drooling over the parts that I never got my hands on.
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