Slashdot Mirror
Lego Mindstorms In Space
ribbiting writes: "A father-son team have won the "Ultimate Builder Competition" (Lego Mindstorms) with their entry named "Jitter". The robot will fly to the ISS in November. It fits (whole) into a approx. 1'x1'x1' box and weighs less than 3 lbs. It's main mission is to collect small, flying debris. It can interact with the station walls and crew and supposedly has some light "mischief" programmed in as well (sneaking up on people, dancing). The story can be found here, de.news.yahoo.com, it's in German (sorry)." We mentioned the contest a few months ago. Altavista gives a semi-readable machine translation.
Is "Sneaking up on people" such a good idea in something as stressful as a space station?
I give it two months before an astronaut "accidentally" blasts it out an airlock...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Now if they could mod that robot so it would fetch a beer on voice command, that would be sweet.
That's Mr. Eradicator to you.
trance-port
It might be interesting to have this type of device do some mundane house keeping tasks. Another possibility is a mobile alarm clock that looks for people if it has not been turned off, and wakes them up.
I am me...I think
Or is that a DMCA violation? :-)
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
I can see it now..
"Open the pod bay doors Jitter."
Did anyone understand the part about "It moves primarily through a cam in a cage. On contact with the wall, it applies through moving disc cam in cage, to the opposite axis"
I understand that this says basically that it moves away from walls when it contacts them, but I can't figure out for the life of me what a "disc cam in cage" is, or how this would help it push off of the wall?
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
You mean small flying debris, like loose 1x3 Lego Blocks?
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan
It fits (whole) into a approx. 1'x1'x1' box and weighs less than 3 lbs.
Won't it weigh 0 lb in space? Surely you meant to give its mass in slugs.
"Dimitri, I need a 1 x 6 block. Nyet, a block, not plank!"
[pink beam of light]
And to think that Halloween is just around the corner. If you have enough of them, do they try to "collect" larger floating particles [smile]?
Side Note, Intertran is also decent as an online translator.
and here's a nice list of various robot competitions
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It seems to me that even mentioning babelfish is redundant these days. The people who don't know it exist tend not to be the slashdot type. But maybe I'm just being an elitist.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If you have trouble with Alta Vista's translation, or just want an alternative translation, you might also try Google's Translation.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Collects random lego bricks and then builds another 'Jitter' from the parts!
GPL Deconstructed
... to fly around the house and pick up all those little Lego(s)left lying around on the floor, the ones she's always stepping on in the dark when checking on the kids at night.
I wonder if all the bricks for Jitter will need to be glued together to keep him from 'accidentally' coming apart?
In the New York Times today there is an article about a guy who built a robot out of Lego which can solve the Rubik's Cube.
It uses a lego-cam linked to a computer with color recognition software and a rubiks solving program, but all the mechanical bits to physically manipulate the cube are Lego.
Stumped by Rubik's Cube? Let the Lego Robot Solve It
"Impulse drive", eh? These mindstorms are more advanced than I thought...
But this is crazy! I thought the Canadarm had a few more years of useful life left.
Hmmm... Lego-based IIS components wouldn't be a bad way to go, I think. Just fire up a case of pieces and have the crew build whatever they need!
I assume they'll glue it together before sending it up. At least that will avoid the self-modifying trojan LEGO monster issue...
Just to be safe, in case the robot gets out of hand, I think we should ship Sigourney Weaver up there with it.
I wonder how well it will all hold together during the launch.
Half of the crap I build in lego falls apart when I bring it anywhere to show someone. I can't imaging making something that would withstand the rumbling/g-forces etc. of take-off.
It can interact with the station walls and crew and supposedly has some light "mischief" programmed in as well (sneaking up on people, dancing).
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of...
Oh, nevermind...
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
I can just imagine astronauts desperate for fun being forced to cannabalize the thing.
The robot will fly to the ISS in November. It fits (whole) into a approx. 1'x1'x1' box and weighs less than 3 lbs.
Wow. These guys could sure cut some costs at nasa. Nasa can't fly to the ISS without rockets as tall as buildings, weighing tonnes, and costing billions!
*rimshot*
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
It's not perfect, but I do a far better job then Babelfish or Google. Still not quite sure what "impulseantrieb" means though. We'll go with "momentum drive." Some of the words that I wasn't sure of I've enclosed in ?question marks?.
Lego Robot "Jitter" Sweeps in the IIS Space Station
Konrad and Bastian Schwarzenbach have won the "Ultimate Builder Competition" from Lego Mindstorms with their model "Jitter." The small robot, made from Lego and Technic pieces will fly to the IIS Space Station in November.
Out of 124 participants in the "Lego Mindstorms goes Space" contest, the last ten met in Munich for the finals. In the presence of Jury Schirmherr and Astronaut Ulf Merbold, father and son were declared the winners. The winning model Jitter will gather pieces that are flying around in the IIS--at least it's programmed to do that along with other functions. A special prize went to the astronaut muscle trainer that a six-person team from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland had built.
With Jitter the crew will get a helper at hand that, if it keeps itself safe in weightlessness, gathers pieces floating around the space station. In addition, Jitter communicates its findings or contact with a cabin wall through tones and light signals. Jitter is based on the commercially available Lego Mindstorm pieces. Hitachi H8 Microcontrollers, which are off-the-shelf programmable chips, constitute the heart of the robot.
Jitter was programmed in Java (TinyVM) by Konrad Schwarzenback
When Jitter is turned on in zero gravity on the IIS, it must be brought to rest with the Z-axis pointing towards the Cabin lighting, which serves as a permanent guidance point. The robot will then perform a few 360 degree rolls to initialize its steering parameters, and can be brought on-line with a light push.
[The following paragraph is the most techical and worst translated. Sorry.]
Jitter works with a momentum drive. A cam disc ?rotates? permanently inside the robot's housing. When it comes in contact with a wall, the housing gets displaced. According to the direction of the collision, an impulse in the opposite direction is generated.
In addition, the robot is outfitted with light, touch, and rotation sensors that turn it and guide it on its course. Jitters mission is to gather floating pieces with a broom made of Lego-tubes and sweep them into its body. When Jitter hits a wall, the compartment closes automatically, so that the gathered pieces aren't scattered all over again. Jitter also reacts through the touch sensors to petting and patting and is programmed for all sorts of nonsense such as sneaking up and scaring someone, dancing, and prolonged rotations. In addition it reacts to ?wink motions? that it picks up with it's infrared sensors.
One of the tasks for the Mindstorm builders was to fit their robot in a 30x30x30 centimeter box. Jitter, in contrast to some of the entries, can be transported in the box in one piece. In addition the models could be no heavier than 1400 grams. For Bastian Schwarzenbach, who undertook the mechanical construction, this was the hardest task. He took Jitter apart and rebuilt it (differently) so many times, that by now he knows every piece by heart, he said during the prize presentation at Siemen's Munich ?Forum?. Both of the hobbyists will get to watch the start of their robot live in the Moscow control center.