The newest addition to the grand list of Coolest Things Ever is being unveiled in New York today: the Lego X-Wing, the largest Lego model ever built. The model of the classic Star Wars fighter being unveiled in Times Square has a wingspan of 44 feet and comes complete with R2-D2 and a full range of sound effects. It’s a super-duper-sized version of Star Wars Lego starfighter set #9493 and was made with 5,335,200 Lego bricks. That, according to Lego, makes it the largest model ever built, eclipsing the Lego robot at the Mall of America by some 2 million bricks. This replica of the Rebel Alliance dogfighter is 42 times the size of the Lego version we’ve all built and a bit bigger than a real X-Wing. (Yes, yes, we know they’re not real. Just go with it.) The X-Wing Luke Skywalker and his fellow rebels flew was about 41 feet long, 2 feet shorter than this Lego masterpiece. The X-Wing was built at the Lego Model Shop at the company’s facility in Kladno, Czech Republic. It took 32 “master builders” (Note: This is a real job, and we’re preparing our resumés.) 17,336 man-hours to construct the X-Wing.
Plans for the model were created using Lego’s proprietary 3-D design software, and the construction team had to work with a team of structural engineers to ensure that the model was safe, master builder Erik Varszegi told Wired. “This has been a wild and exciting project for us, and it’s taken an international team of designers, engineers, structural consultants, model builders, and logistics personal over a year to bring this model from a conception to reality,” Varszegi said in an email. “In one respect, designing it was the ‘easy’ part, as we were creating a scaled version of an actual toy construction set.” Once completed, the model — which weighs 45,980 pounds — was broken down into 34 pieces to be shipped to New York by boat (the voyage took two boats two months to complete). Lest the West Coast feel left out, the starfighter is coming to Legoland California after its tenure in Times Square and will remain there until the end of the year. Twenty-three tons is a whole lot of anything, especially Lego bricks, but much of the model’s weight lies in the model’s steel skeleton, which it needed in order to withstand the vibrations from the subway that runs beneath Duffy Square in Manhattan and any seismic activity it could face in Southern California.
While a slightly larger-than-lifesize Lego X-Wing would be awesome even if were made for no particular reason at all, the model was built to celebrate the forthcoming premiere of the latest Lego Star Wars series The Yoda Chronicles — a three-part animated miniseries launching on Cartoon Network next Wednesday. That’s the official reason this was built, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Lego made this thing just for the thrill. “My fellow Master Builders and I are always looking for a challenge — and for projects that push our skills to the next level,” Varszegi said. The team chose the X-Wing because it “is one of the most iconic vehicles in the Star Wars universe and the sheer size and scope of the building and engineering challenges was one we couldn’t resist.” We’re awaiting the day these Lego master builders create a Death Star for this X-Wing to annihilate.The success of Lego's Mindstorms NXT has been one of the main contributing factors to the widespread interest in robotics.
NXT enthusiasts of all ages have created some of the coolest designs, even capturing the attention of engineers who develop industrial robots. Now, Lego has announced that the third generation of its NXT bot, dubbed EV3, will be available this August and will be easier than ever for anyone to get into building new bots. To celebrate, we thought we'd take a look at the best NXT bots to come out in the last few years. Paper Airplane Maker: Recently, NXT user hknssn13 posted a video showing paper airplane making machine. A single piece of paper migrates down the assembly line to be folded and eventually launched at the end: Articulated Robot Hand: Robotic hands have long been of interest as prosthetics or to make humanoid robots. Now, they can be built out of Legos. The hand's designer, Barbos, recently posted the video and a description of what was used in the design. The video itself is quite impressive and was from last year's Lego Fanwelt in Germany: 360° Milling Machine: Back in 2011, Brazilian engineer Arthur Sacek designed a 3D milling machine for ZOOM Lego for Education.
The NXT bot turned floral foam into amazing 3D reliefs in hours. Now, Sacek has recently posted a video of a 360° milling bot that sculpts 3D figures much like a lathe: MakerLegoBot: In 2010, 3D printing was just a whisper, a rumor of a new kind of technology that would change the way we manufactured everything. Will Gorman of BattleBricks decided to turn Lego NXT in a 3D printer, but there was one caveat: it would "print" legos. Dubbed MakerLegoBot, the printer is a remarkable example of the future of manufacturing with machines building machines: Cubestormer II: One of the most exciting videos of 2010 was CubeStormer, the Rubik's Cube solving robot. While other cube solving robots exist, CubeStormer impressed in how fast it could solve a randomized Rubik's cube. But ARM Holdings, the company behind the design of the bot, wanted to push it even further. So the designers of the bot, Mike Dobson and David Gilday, used four Lego NXT bricks and a Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone to build CubeStormer II that is scary fast, beating human records and showing how fast it can solve the classic toy:
LEGO Beer Machine: Last March, a video was posted on YouTube by Nxt1engineer showing off a remote control operated beer machine that automatically serves two kinds of Dutch beer. The designer has developed a M&M dispenser last December as well. Here's the final version of the Lego beer machine: PancakeBot: Father and designer Miguel Valenzuela built PancakeBot in 2011 and received sponsorship to take it to the 2012 Maker Faire where it was a big success. A more recent video provides a detailed explanation of how the 3-axis Pancakebot works, and now there's even an Indiegogo campaign to get PancakeBot to this year's Maker Faire in the Bay Area:Subscribe to our newsletter for more awesome videos every week!Lego is the favorite game of all time not only for kids but also for adults, and what’s really makes it one of the best game ever created is its flexibility that unlocks creativity at any degree. In Hongkiat, you witnessed the flexibility though the amazing showcase, 35 Lego Mega Constructions.
Today we want to show you nothing about amazing construction, but 40 impressive Lego models which are best to describe the science fiction. What you can expect to see are armed units, mobile suits, vehicle and even spaceships built purely with Lego, including the infamous StarCraft 2′s units and even Optimus Prime and Bumblebee! Have a fun time exploring what a toy can really achieve, in fact it’s an art now!First model of this showcase series is the Terran Marine from the StarCraft 2, it’s just too similar to the real one! (Image Source: Sven Junga)Here comes the Firebat and its variation, Marauder from the Terran faction of the StarCraft 2, and yes, they are cool and cute at the same time! (Image Source: Alex M.reever)The shape and the detail are awesome, too bad it can’t transform into Fighter mode! I think “Epic” is the best word to describe this Lego Thor, again the model is inspired by StarCraft 2. Probably one of the best Lego Battlecruisers in the Flickr, you can get a closer view here.
It’s not just Terran’s units that got into Lego series, but also Zerg’s cute banelings! Amazed with its similarity and quality. (Image Source: Nannan Z.)Highly detailed Lego Optimus Prime, it took the builder just 8 days to build up this amazing work. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Prime and the Beester just kickin’ it. They stopped by the studio to say Hi.” You probably know this, it’s adorable Android from Google! It’s not sci-fi character actually, but it’s just too cute to be excluded from the list! It’s even hard to believe that this thing is a Lego. Yet another hardcore design from kwi-chang. Nothing is cooler than a gigantic guy carrying the huge gun. (Image Source: Izzo’s LegoStyle)Sleek, sexy and futuristic, it’s Voeckler from kwi-chang. “Maybe too much cannon.” No head, no body, just a very, very cool cannon. Should be a construction mech, the industrial design is way too cool. Yet another inspiring design by kwi-chang, especially the spike toes on the leg part.
B3r1N631. Unusual model with unusual color scheme. Simple yet pretty fresh model, especially the legs and the lime color scheme. Black color scheme really makes the spider-type mech look very cool, and the legs’ designs are inspiring. Hardcore scorpion with terrific color scheme. Less components but it looks so right, so cute! “The Series-2 BurroWeavil is the infiltrator of the nano-bug forces. Swarms of these robots are released onto an enemy ship, unbeknownst to the pilots, and can hack almost any computer in under a second.” Awesome mini Lego model with attention to detail and proportion, and the color scheme just made it a better piece. (Image Source: Cam M.)“The AZ unit 01 (AZu1) is an extremely fast and agile mech. It can easily get to strategic positions where it can maintain heavy cover fire, for its allies, from its high caliber cannon rifle. Although it’s relatively light weight and agility comes at a price of sacrificing heavy armor, making it vulnerable to close combat.”
Heavy mech with badass gun, I like it. Clomp, clomp, clomp.” – Matt L. (Image Source: Justin Pyne)You don’t need to be big to be cool, and this model just proved it. Another nicely crafted minibot with dark suit and cool standing pose. A Modest Game of Croquet. (Image Source: Justin Pyne)The 200-stud long gigantic ship crashed in the BrickCon 2010, the detail is just amazing. “It took over two years to finish, and I learned a lot about how to (not) build SHIP’s. Since this was my first one, I didn’t realize the importance of building so it can’t be disassembled into sections. As a result, it is about four feet long (approximately 130 studs).” (Image Source: Genghis Don)“An electromagnetic linear motor mass driver system, powered by two fusion reactors. The projectile (or slug) is the size and mass of a small safe. It’s propelled at a fraction of light speed and is designed to squash on impact with the kinetic energy of several ‘Tsar bomba’s’.” (Image Source: Red Spacecat)