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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!
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:
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]
Collects random lego bricks and then builds another 'Jitter' from the parts!
GPL Deconstructed
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!
...the problem of arranging for the house to be in zero-G is left as an excercise for the student...
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Just to be safe, in case the robot gets out of hand, I think we should ship Sigourney Weaver up there with it.
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.