peteg's blog 2006-02-28.autumn

Wow, a computer-controlled back hoe.

I tried building one of the pneumatic pumps in CSSoh catalogue but was sorely disappointed by the lack of pressure I got out of it. It's possible that my Nickel-Metal-Hydride rechargeables do not provide enough voltage to make the motor run quickly enough. There's plenty of torque, just not enough air pressure...

My big haul (in a little box) of Lego™ bits turned up. I bought them from the Brick Artist Depot, run by a very pleasant and accommodating bloke in Atlanta. Very happy. Go and make him a rich man.

I now own another two motors that look identical to those that come with the Lego™ Mindstorms kit. Slightly worrying is that these are known to fail. Conversely the four turntables should come in quite handy.

Allen Smith recently released an updated version of Bricksmith. It's an excellent Lego™ CAD tool for Mac OS X.

This looks interesting: a Wikipedia-style collaborative robotics textbook. Sounds like a great idea.

A three speed automatic transmission built out of Lego™. Wow.

Lego™ pneumatics: what else could be said? The extensive survey of compressors is great.

Lego™ intends to release a new version of Lego™ Mindstorms in the third quarter of 2006 — here's the press release, and Slashdot has some links.