Lego Segway

Jeff Lalo writes "This Guy has built a Lego version of Dean Kamens Segway Human Transporter. This thing was constructed using only Legos, two cheap (~$40) custom sensors and some smart programing using the open source BrickOS for the Lego RCX. The LegWay, as the creator calls it, can balance itself on two wheels and follow a line. Pretty cool for few lego blocks!"

Comments

Impossible

[Trusty Penfold]

using only Legos, two cheap (~$40) custom sensors

Two sensors? For an object to maneuver itself in 3D space it would need 3 sensors. 2 sensors is only sufficient to maneuver an object around in 2D space - this Lego toy will not be able to handle bumps or slopes.

Re:Impossible

[AbyssDragon]

Not so.. there are plenty of devices able to move themselves around in 3D space autonomously, with only two sensors.
In fact, I think there are about six billion of 'em... and you're one of them.

Re:Impossible

[UnknownSoldier]

> Two sensors? For an object to maneuver itself in 3D space it would need 3 sensors

Counter-proof: You only have 2 eyes, yet you can.

Re:Impossible

[buck_wild]

A hill is still two-dimensional. It's just an extension of the current plane. So the only limitation really...is gravity.

Re:Impossible

[Igmuth]

Really? You actually think you can navigate with just your two eyes? Well come and vist me and I'll disable/remove your entire inner ear and then we'll see how well you navigate.
Or for a less destructive method just try walking around with you eyes close and notice that you actually don't need them to move. They do help on collision advoidance but beyond that they are basically useless.

Re:Impossible

[f97tosc]

Two sensors? For an object to maneuver itself in 3D space it would need 3 sensors

Before we draw too many conclusions we must ask what type of sensor we are dealing with. If it is a sophisticated radar, then perhaps one is sufficient. If it is a proximity sensor, that only gives you the distance of the closest object directly ahead, then numerous sensors are preferable. And, if it is something more like a camera with processing equipment then (as uncountable other posts have pointed out) 2 sensors will do, as can be seen on almost all animals on the planet.

Tor

8 inches tall?

[Rader]

Was I the only one expecting to see a life-sized segway? I thought this guy was riding around in one!

Re:To the /. editors

[ParisTG]

Except that it's not the submitter who is the one that can give the permission. It's the site's owner.

Re:segway vs. legway

[gad_zuki!]

Funny, the only video I've seen of the segway involves a guy falling off it (it was linked to boingboing.net a while ago). You can cram it all you like with gyroscopes and the best software to predict what a person might be doing and how to correct it and still get crummy results. This is one of the many reasons the segway will be an industrial only toy. Its far cheaper to use a working inner-ear mixed with simple but effective technology like a bicycle or a scooter to fulfill urban transportation needs. I wouldn't be surprised to see if the learning curve to ride the segway properly is somewhere around learning to ride a bike properly.

The segway is a great gee-whiz high-tech toy, but that doesn't necessarily make it practical for more than a couple different applications and it certainly isn't the fix-all DeKa would have the public believe.

Suggestion for Slashdot Admins

[SetupWeasel]

Given the ease at which GeoCities bandwidth limits are exceeded, maybe Slashdot could host a mirror to link to from here. This would be in case the person in question needs his site for the rest of the month.

I really think this is starting to become a problem for people doing really cool stuff who don't have the money for a really good webserver. If slashdot thinks that a 20MB site is cool enough to post, surely Slashdot has that 20 MB of space on the its webserver to donate for a limited time. This would ensure that people like me can get to the site and people who do the cool shit aren't punished for doing cool shit.

SetupWeasel

Re:To the /. editors

[lux55]

Could we instead check for the existence of a Google cached copy and link to that? Then there's no permission issue with the mirroring, at least with us because we're not doing the mirroring. :)

Re:To the /. editors

[gleam]

why not set up something like google's cache? they don't seem to need permission to archive previous copies of websites. Nor does anyone seem to be threatening to sue www.archive.org.

Perhaps make the "cache" portion of the submission perl script check robots.txt, so site admins can forbid slashdot to archive an article..

-gleam

Re:Sugg. for Slashdot Admins(make /.ed obsolete)

[vonsneerderhooten]

I took one look at the host domain and didnt try for that very reason. Theres no sense in me clickin on a geocities link thats on my slashdot homepage. The mere fact that a site hosted by geocities actually made it to the site is a little silly. C'Mon ppl, use a little common sense. Consider how much b/w you guys use per month. Lets say that only 5% of readers actually go to(or try) to go to the site. Now, I have no idea how much b/w u guys use or how much geocities allows, but im sure 5% of what you guys PAY for far exceeds what geocities gives away. My Point: make the term /.ed obsolete
Just MHO.

-D

Bandwith

[molywi]

I really think that Slashdot should mirror a page if there is no copyright information disclaimer on it. I am sure that most people who get /. ed would like that better then have their site brought down.
Another idea is to have subscribers access to the story an hour before the nonpaying /.ers . This could raise the subscriptions.

counter-counter proof

[Anonymous Coward]

we have 2 eyes, touch, smell, hearing and taste...only two of them have no bearing on our navigation skills...So...for navigation...that's 3 _types_ of sensors and an uncountable _number_ of them (considering the nerves that relay touch to our brains individually).

Wrong

[p3d0]

Ok, smart guy, then how could this be true?

Another idea is to make LegWay stand up (from a lying position) on it's own. It can't do that right now, because the center of mass is below the axle when it on it's side.

With your interpretation of "on it's [sic] side", the center of mass is not below the axle.

PUT MIRRORS IN ORIGINAL ARTICLE

[halr9000]

Admins....save ppl time and put the mirrors in the text of the original article.