Flash Flood: Sniping lego tank

This is a new Lego tank I made just a little while ago (thus no "Backlog"). It's a bit like Maelstrom in that it's a big tank armed with a Hurricane Launcher, but it's also quite different. It has independent suspension and it features the new Hurricane Launcher mark VI that uses a staggered arrangement like the Hailstorm Launcher to concentrate it's damage into a smaller area. The YouTube video also includes a few clips of my next tank (the one I'm working on now), which isn't very practical but is really cool. It's a nice proof of concept.

Flash Flood

Backlog: XPS

XPS, or the eXperimental Propulsion System, is a small robot chassis made mostly from pieces in the NXT set. It was originally posted on NXTlog over 2 years ago:

XPS (experimental propulsion system)

XPS is a chassis I invented to climb over things. It's based off of a pair of treads and includes 4 wheels as well. It uses all 3 NXT motors. 2 motors power the treads and the other powers the forward pair of wheels to assist in climbing. The rear pair of wheels is unpowered as it is strictly for support. If you want to see XPS in action skip to the video at the bottom.

 Tread Base

This base is what moves the bot around during normal driving and does most of the work in climbing. Picture 1 shows the tread base Pictures 2-5 show close ups of half of the tread base. If you want to duplicate this project, carefully construct one half of the base and then make the other exactly opposite of it. The next section tells how to connect the two halves.

Tread Base and NXT construction

Picture 1 shows the connection assembly for the drive base. Picture 2 shows it disassembled (so you can see the pegs). Picture 3 shows the connection assemblies for the NXT in their proper position. Picture 4 shows on of the NXT connection assemblies by itself.

Front Wheel Assembly construction

 

Pictures 1 and 2 show the two steps to making the half attached to the NXT. Pictures 3 through 5 are steps to making the motor half. Once you have made these two, it should be simple to connect them.

Movie and Program

Continuations

 

I would be happy to see someone continue on this project by putting stuff on the chassis. They would have to use pf motors of course, but I don't thing it'd be that hard. I recommend that they add weight near the front and as low as possible, because the robot has a tendency to topple on sharp inclines. It may be necessary to build things on top of the NXT brick, just make sure you build around the buttons and screen and it should work. If you continue on XPS, please post a comment so I will know to check out your project!

Rubik's Cube Solution PDF Files

I uploaded some PDF files of my Rubik's cube solution for your convenience. The first, which you can find here, is the complete cube solution copied from my blog posts (7 pages). The second, here, is just a list of all of the algorithms (3 pages). Once you've solved the cube a few times, you should be able to switch to the shorter algorithm sheet so you don't have to carry around and search through the full 7 pages to find algorithms. Happy cubing!

Backlog: Tempest (a "lost" project)

This is one of my "lost" projects, because I made it a while ago but never posted it anywhere online. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning:

When I discovered Brian Davis's projects, not only did I find his Zamor launchers, but also his Zamor launching tank. Ogre, his tank, is armed with a Hurricane launcher and has sprung plastic treads. Needless to say, that thing is awesome.

Ogre

After I invented the Tornado Launcher, I finally had a good one-motor weapon to put on my own Lego tank. Because this was during the Robotics season where I was building BogieBot, I wasn't content to give my tank a simple tread base. I wanted to give it awesome suspension. Naturally, my first design used rocker bogie suspension. That turned out terribly, because my tread base was too small and my center of gravity too high. That is, it tipped over really easily. Here's a picture of my original design without its treads:

Original design:

After that design failed, I had a stroke of inspiration. Suspension should allow the treads to bend around the terrain without breaking the frame, so why not just make a bendable frame? You may know this suspension style from Maelstrom, but this came first, and this was where I invented it. Tempest turned out awesome, and although I didn't show the Tornado Launcher firing in the movie Tempest had it and could use it.

Tempest movie:

It's kind of incredible (as in unbelievable) that I left this thing unposted, because it was awesome, but I think I know why. Shortly after I built this, my robotics team realized that BogieBot needed to be revamped, and I spent nearly all my time for a few weeks on rebuilding or reprogramming it. During that time I posted 4 YouTube videos of BogieBot. No wonder Tempest got lost in the rush!

Backlog: Tornado Launcher

A few weeks after I made the Hurricane Launcher mark III, I had a new idea for a super-efficient Zamor launcher, and it produced the Tornado Launcher. It only uses one motor like Brian Davis' guns, but thanks to my awesome firing mechanism it fires faster than even the Hailstorm Launcher with only 2 Zamor launchers. It fires 13 spheres per second, blowing away the 9.5 spheres per second of the Hailstorm Launcher.

Tornado launcher

I also posted the Tornado Launcher on NXTlog under the title Compact High Speed Zamor Sphere Launcher. It included a short video and full instructions. The tank I mention in the project never worked quite right, but Tempest (Spoiler: I'll post a video of Tempest soon), another Tornado Launcher tank actually worked quite well. Here's the instructions:

 

Backlog: Turtle Bot

This was originally posted on NXTlog more than 2 years ago:

Turtle Bot

A bot that wears it's NXT brick on the back like a turtle's shell. It has two Zamor sphere launchers and an ultrasonic sensor in the front. This is the first time I have succeeded in making a compact zamor tank, and I think it is pretty awesome The breakthrough was to have the motor powering the launcher backwards so that I don't have a really long gun. Main pic: top front view pic 2: back aerial view pic 3: front aerial view pic 4: back view w/ spheres in tray pic 5: front view w/ spheres

Launchers!

This is the big thing about this bot. My backwards arrangement enabled me to make this bot compact. Main pic: shows backwards motor mechanism (Normally the NXT would be on top of this part. pic 2: close up on the actual motor pic 3: another pic of back motor mechanism pic 4: the forward firing mechanism with the tray removed pic 5: the tray

Driving base

 The base of this vehicle is important because it enables the bot to move. Main pic: bottom view pic 2: another bottom view pic 3: pic of the beam that connects motors in the rear.

Movie!

Movie of the bot executing its primary program, shooting you, and doing wheelies. (pic is repeat)