Video tutorials

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. 

This time we stop on "Using the Right Senses" mission, or actually on how to solve the "Right Senses" mission without "Senses" (sensors). To achieve that we use the carabineer counstructed in one of the previous tutorials, of course after a small modification.

Here we continue examining FLL 2014 World Class missions. We show different ways, for putting the insert in place as well as taking the loop from the robotics arm. Some of them are quite specific, which reminds us, that you need to think out of the box, while solving the missions.

"What is the light in the room?" - should it even matter. You can use one program for all lighting conditions by calibrating the color/light sensor of the LEGO Mindstorms EV3/NXT robots. 

Based on a request we are showing the robot construction with two rear motors instead of a differential. In this way, as a construction, it is closer to more students, but much more challеnging for programing. 

It has been a long road with the last 8 BigDaddy competition robots video tutorials, but we finally arrived at the Differential Lock. 

In this video tutorial we experiment with different ways of solving the sports mission for throwing the ball. We show seven different LEGO MIndstorms EV3 and NXT robot constructions and attachements. Most of the techniques could be applied for any mission involving throwing a ball or an object.

Vision is still one of the very few fields where a human being could outsmart a computer. Still. Colour/Light sensors are the cornerstones of implementing a smart LEGO Mindstorms robot that could at least partially do "vision". In this video tutorial, we are using the robotics sensor to detect loading and unloading of the catapult.

This third way of positioning the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 motors on the robot seems to be the most productive with the most advantages. We have named it "correct", but we completely understand there might be other even more efficient ways to position the motors on the robot.

This second way of positioning the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 motors on the robot leaves more space for the Mindstorms brick and for attaching a third motor. We are experimenting and showing the advantages and disadvantages of this particular construction.

We are showing the first way we could position the motors on the robot construction. This seems to be challenging for many robot builders and that's why we are going to do it in a few different ways in the next few video tutorials from the series.

We continue from part 4 where we made a controlled experiment to transfer power from a Mindstorms motor to the rear wheels. The construction was too complex and inefficient and in this video lesson we are improving it by lowering the differential and removing all gear wheels from this LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Competition robot. 

We continue from part 3 where we finished part of the 'rear'. Power is transfered from a motor to the wheels but having about 16 gear wheels makes it more than complex for this LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Competition robot. 

Based on your feedback we have decided to show you the live process of building a complex LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Competition robot without having the whole robot ready yet. We are continuing from part 2 where we finished the 'front' of the robot and now we will extend it so that we could also attach the rear part. 

Based on your feedback we have decided to show you the live process of building a complex LEGO Mindstorms Competition robot without having the whole robot ready yet. We are continuing from part 1 where we finished part of the 'front' of the robot and we arrived at a construction that we didn`t like and would fix in this video lesson.

Based on your feedback we have decided to show you the live process of building a complex LEGO Mindstorms Competition robot without having the whole robot ready yet. We would be making mistakes, showing them and taking up the challenges right in front of your eyes. The first construction would not be perfect but we would eventually arive at it. 

This video lesson shows a very interesting specific example on how to use the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Ultrasonic Sensor. The sensor detects if the catapult is loaded or if we have just fired an element. At the end of the lesson I also offer an interesting challenge that you could use in your classroom or at home.

Part four of the Catapult series is again about loading the catapult automatically but this time using EV3 brick, motor and sensor. We use a gear system with a medium complexity along with a "standard clutch" available in the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kits. As a result, at the end of the video, the Catapult loads and fires automatically.

Part three of the Catapult series is about loading the catapult automatically. We use a gear system with a medium complexity along with a very interesting "clutch" developed with parts entirely from the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kits. As a result, at the end of the video, the Catapult automatically loads and fires.

This video lesson is a revised version of Episode #1. Matt Gipson requested it in a comment. Using the EV3-G software we have developed a very simple program for following a line with two LEGO MINDSTORMS color/light sensors.

In this second video lesson on catapults we improve the stability of the base of the robot. An important feature of the new base is that it is not bending. Use the same principle in all of your constructions to achieve better, stronger robots.

We just had some enormous amount of fun with building and using a catapult/trebuchet. Yes they are quite different, but the result achieved in the lesson is something in the middle. Learn how to fire elements using the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 or NXT robotics set. Challange yourself, your team or your students to build it and fire elements as far and as accurate as possible.

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.

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. 

In Episode 58 we introduced you to a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Modular robot. In this tutorial, we show you how we reached that construction. We start from a construction found on the Internet and take you through the process of examining and improving it, till we reach a more stable and reliable robot.

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.

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.