Video tutorials -

• Attachments

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We've recently received a number of question on how could the SUV box robot be charged. The answer is simple - you detach the back pane. The question and topic of detaching modules from a robot and attaching them again is really interesting and powerfull and yet not very often implemented in many robots. 

As we are already off the season we decided to look back at the competition. First, we will take a look at the working solution for FIRST LEGO League 2017 Manhole Cover. This was generally accepted as one of the most difficult missions during the competition. We've built a single attachment to accomplish it. 

(we are releasing the video without explanations and will add the explanations later)

There are a few main challenges with box robots and in the following tutorial we would like to resolve them. Read on and let's see how we could do this. 

Here we start with a second box robot that we would like to build. It is in a way improvement to the first robot and we would take a look at its features. 

We should how to build a frame that could hold the attachments for specific competition missions. This frame is added in a pinless manner. This means very fast and easy without any glitches of the pins.

This is the first Active Pinless Attachment for the Box competition robot. The attachment is placed on the top of the robot and is controlled by one of the motors. 

You think that you can quickly change the attachments of your LEGO Mindstorms EV3 competition robot? Are you sure? In this first episode of the series you will see how to create and attach attachments without using pins and how faster and easier this could be. You will see the design logic of a few attachments and how they work on the field. 

One more example for an active attachment with a system of gear wheels. This time the system is constructed so that the attachment could lift heavy objects. 

Without the use of any motor, you can still accomplish a number of missions using passive attachments. You can still pull/push on different levers using only a beam or two connected to the frame.

Rubber bands in the LEGO Mindstorms sets are very handy when it comes to collecting objects, especially loops. The mechanism most of the time could work like this - an axle is pushed, a rubber band is released and a lever collects the loop. 

In this episode we build a reusable attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot that changes gears orientation and direction. It is one of the most useful attachments that you could use to move levers up/down and right/left. Adding the attachment on the robot takes 2-3 seconds and shows a very useful general principle of how to build reusable attachments.

If you think that the quick pinless attachments shown in video 63 are quick enough, see this tutorial and you will find out that the quick pinless attachments could be even quicker. These attachments can work without motors but by using the inertia forces.

Second active pinless attachment for the robot construction. It is placed in the top/right corner of the robot and includes an interesting gear system for transferring the power. The attachment is suitable for complete rotations.

This is a third example for adding an active attachment. This third attachment is now connected to the wheel at the front of the robot. Again, the attachment could be easily extended. 

Need to transfer circular into a linear motion. You need a rack. Here is an attachment with a rack for our box robot.

This is a very interesting idea that is worth sharing with the rest of the teams and the ELM team has provided it to us. Check out how they drop a LEGO human at a specific place.

The attachment builds on previous episodes this time using two LEGO rubber bands. When a lever is released the rubber band exerts pressure on it and moves it in a circular motion. As an example we are solving the 2012 FIRST LEGO League, Senior Solutions, stove mission (which was quite interesting as a mission)

Based on feedback from many of you in this episode I would like to show you how to build an active attachment that changes the orientation of a gear wheel placed vertically to a gear wheel placed horizontally. This attachment could be used in competitions and shows a basic principle of changing the orientation. All attachments could follow the same principle. 

This is one of the very interesting attachments by the ELM team. It is using rubber bands and some rubber to precisely drop the chicken. Very interesting way. Check it out and try to learn from it. 

In this video lesson I am building a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 active attachment powered by a small gear wheel. The attachment could move up and down, it is very useful for collecting objects. It could easily be adapted and used on other robots.

We are making a parallel with Video Lesson 56 from the series and we are also showing ways to improve the stability of an axle which is most of the time neglected, but could lead to great problems.

In this Episode, we stop at the pinless attachments for the Box Robot 2 and especially for the constructing a frame. This frame is then used for further extending the robot with attachments.

How do you lift heavy objects with an attachment? In this episode we show a simple, interesting, but yet not very popular way to lift something heavy with and LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot and without gears and motors as attachment. As a specific example we are using the Strength Exercise mission from the FIRST LEGO League 2012 competition. 

Recap on the attachments, their purpose and how you should use them. 

The robot attachment build in this tutorial gives an idea on how to release a rubber band at a specific moment using a motor. It's a simple, but yet powerful technique on using rubber bands. 

In this video we discuss part of the pinless attachments build by the ELM team. Without pinless attachment it is nearly impossible to achieve a good score at the FIRST LEGO League competition. 

In this episode we continue from Episode 55 and we improve the durability and stability of the attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot. Many times attachments are not very stable which results in gaps between parts. The goal of the video is to give basic construction ideas.

Rubber bands can be quite powerful. Based on several requests from you we are starting a series on using the LEGO Rubber bands available in the Mindstorms set.