Weird and Wacky Engineering
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Incredible Lego: great ball contraption
Sylvie Barak
10/29/2012 3:58 PM EDT
It’s not every day you see something that makes your jaw drop, but today, while watching the video of the largest, most intricate Lego machine I’ve ever witnessed, mine did.
The machine, known as the Great Ball Contraption (GBC) was built by a Japanese mechanical engineer Akiyuki, in his house over the course of two years. Or a total of a whopping 600 hours in construction time.
The monstrous 5 by 21 feet (1.5 meters by 6.5 meters )machine boasts 17 modules that can process 500 balls for a length of 101.7 feet (31 meters) at a rate of one ball per second. I know, it’s hard to wrap your head around it without checking out the video first.
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It’s not just the machine’s enormous size that impresses fans, but the individual modules themselves, which are described as follows:
1. Ball factory
2. Zigzag stair
3. Zigzag lift
4. Pneumatic
5. Cup
6. Screw T1
7. Basket shooter
8. Mechanical train
9. Screw T2
10. Screw T3
11. Spiral lift T2
12. Elevator & coaster
13. Fork
14. Spiral lift T1 & step
15. Catch & release
16. Belt conveyor & pinball
17. 5-axis robot S750
The video of the device in action is a whopping 7 minutes long, but if you’re in any way interested in Lego and mechanical engineering, you really must check it out.
Enjoy.
The machine, known as the Great Ball Contraption (GBC) was built by a Japanese mechanical engineer Akiyuki, in his house over the course of two years. Or a total of a whopping 600 hours in construction time.
The monstrous 5 by 21 feet (1.5 meters by 6.5 meters )machine boasts 17 modules that can process 500 balls for a length of 101.7 feet (31 meters) at a rate of one ball per second. I know, it’s hard to wrap your head around it without checking out the video first.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
It’s not just the machine’s enormous size that impresses fans, but the individual modules themselves, which are described as follows:
1. Ball factory
2. Zigzag stair
3. Zigzag lift
4. Pneumatic
5. Cup
6. Screw T1
7. Basket shooter
8. Mechanical train
9. Screw T2
10. Screw T3
11. Spiral lift T2
12. Elevator & coaster
13. Fork
14. Spiral lift T1 & step
15. Catch & release
16. Belt conveyor & pinball
17. 5-axis robot S750
The video of the device in action is a whopping 7 minutes long, but if you’re in any way interested in Lego and mechanical engineering, you really must check it out.
Enjoy.
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