Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Space Legos!

Posted by michael on from the space-station-on-the-cheap dept.

mfarver writes "The Air Force is seeking research proposals for Space Legos. Now you can have your childhood fantasies of playing with blocks and getting paid for it. Actually, its not a bad concept, standarized components that can be "plugged" together in space for different functions."

3 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Accuracy by tsa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We tried to build a machine from Lego in our research group a few years ago, when Mindstorm had just hit the shelves, but we found the accuracy of the movement was quite bad. So it can only be used for a limited range of experiments. On the other hand, it is very cheap compared to custom-build machines and therefore certainly worth taking a look at.

    --

    -- Cheers!

    1. Re:Accuracy by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Indeed. I've made several robots out of legos (not even mindstorm sets - just plain old Technic sets, motors salvaged from old coputer hardware, an old PC, and a good dollop of hot melt glue ;) )

      The gears and other components are certintly NOT indended for accuracy by any stretch of the imagination. But they are fairly cheap, robust (except for those little 8-tooth gears...) and easy to assemble into just about anything you need.

      I even built a joystick out of legos once. There was a bit of play in it, but not too much. What really killed it was the lack of a self-centering mechanism. You really go all over the place in an energetic game of Descent!
      =Smidge=

  2. A good idea? by MacEnvy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Doesn't this sounds a lot like how the Replicators got started on Stargate SG-1? Believe me, we don't need any damn replictors ...

    My motto is, if the Asgard can't do it, I shouldn't attempt it.

    --


    ***