Engineers Use Legos, Too!

jconley writes: "Excite is carrying a story discussing how engineers are using Legos, not just kids! Interesting read, dives a bit into the history of Legos and Mindstorm. You can read the story here. "

Comments

tools of the Gods

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I've seen Lego bricks used for everything from solenoid insulation in a 1978 Triumph Spitfire to replacement switches in a blast furnace (I kid you not). They're some of the most practical and useful tools you could ever want.

Other great Lego hacks:

• If you can hack a little FORTH, you can make a Mindstorms toy attached to someone's Solaris or SGI box seek out and store their password file when the toy is powered up. I don't know why, but there's something which appeals to my warped sense of humour in building a little model of a Trojan Horse, which is itself a Trojan :-)
• I once made a lego "exoskeleton" for my left hand while playing guitar in a thrashadelic metal band. Basically an intertial doohickey that tapped down a fret above my pinky finger, giving me access to extended reach and some wild chromatic licks, when playing in the right key.
• The plastic axles from a Technics kit are just the ticket if you want to unscrew the cooling fan from most Mac models, but don't have the right Allen key
• Those little rubber tyres can be used as sealing O-rings in all models of the Space Shuttle before Atlantis, if you can't find the right part. But fer chrissakes don't let them get cold overnight; that's bad shit.
• And finally, with a bit of skill, a motorised Technics kit, and a pound and a half of liver (warmed in a microwave), you can hack up a reasonable subsititute for female company.

Happy Lego hacking

It's not just adults?

[sstrick]

You mean kids also play with lego?