Feature, LEGO, Top 10, Toys Feature: Top 10 LEGO Mindstorms Creations You've seen the strangest LEGO creations, now check out the top ten LEGO Mindstorms creations. Whether it be a Pirates movie theater, pinball machine, or even a robotic toilet flusher, you'll find them here. Continue reading to view them all. YouTube user "horseattack" has uploaded a video of a functional LEGO printer that he built, connected to an Apple Mac. Everything was reportedly built from scratch, "including analog motor electronics, sensors and printer driver, the USB interface uses a 'wiring' board." The pen slides back and forth, building images and text one line at a time. It'd probably have trouble with the finer details, though maybe it could just use a finer pen. A LEGO master wanted to create something that could actually be used, so a pinball machine came to mind. This LEGO NXT-based creation features 9 touch sensors and four motors -- "two are used for the ball return and two for the spinners."
If you're a LEGO minifig, you don't need frills like an HDTV projector or Blu-ray disc player. You need this handcrafted LEGO Mindstorms NXT movie theater, compete with pirate theme. First of all, this whole motorized Lego theater set up is legit. Skip to about 2:30 for a behind-the-scenes look at how it all works. [Sources 1 | 2] Here's a first: a pancake-making robot created using "LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO bricks and two ketchup bottles." That's right, it can make pancakes of all shapes and sizes, including the famed Mickey head. You can pre-program what shape you'd like your pancakes to be before the Lego-bot starts a-cooking. Here's a first: a fully-functional digital clock made with LEGO Mindstorms. Powered by two separate LEGO Mindstorms bricks communicating through Bluetooth, "each number has five layers and each layer is controlled by the one above it so it starts from the bottom and builds the number from the ground up." Let's face it, not everyone is a master at Sudoku, but solving the puzzles just got a lot easier...if you've got one of these LEGO Mindstorms robots that is.
Built by Tilted Twister, this creation is the world's first sudoku puzzle-solving LEGO robot. Basically, "it scans the sudoku puzzle using a light sensor, calculates the solution to the puzzle and then writes the digits." Touchscreen vending machines are so yesterday, the latest trend is the 8-bit-looking LEGO Mindstorms model, or so we'd like to think. This miniature version may not dispense dozens of varieties, but it comes complete with a functional coin slot. For his third year project, a college student "built a robotic face (from Lego mindstorm) capable of expressing emotion, and software that allowed the robot to responded to the tone of the user voice." In the future many more devices around the home may have the ability to recognise and respond to emotion. For those looking for a hands-free toilet flushing solution, look no further than the RoboFlush. It uses a motor-equipped LEGO Mindstorms NXT Kit, touch sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor (flush detection) for the dirty work.
What do you get when you combine LEGO Mindstorms NXT with a Samsung Galaxy S II and a custom program? The magnificent Rubik's Cube-solving CubeStormer II. Plus, "CubeStormer will be making a public appearance at ARM TechCon 2011 in California, later this month."I’ve had quite a few readers asking if I would do a post about my top 10 LEGO sets of 2016. Since this is the last week of the year, I guess this is now a good time to do that post. According to Brickset, there was 828 sets released this year, including gift with purchase sets, so whittling it down to 10 is quite hard to do. Again, this is just my list of top 10 sets and may vary from other people. Probably one of the best items for any Ghostbusters fan is the Firehouse Headquarters (75827). Coming in at over 4,600 pieces, there is a ton of little details from both the original Ghostbusters movies that you can find. Check out my review of the set here. As one of the largest non-D2C LEGO Marvel Super Heroes set to be released, the Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge (76057) is a great set with lots of exclusive minifigures included such as Scarlet Spider and Kraven.
Many fans have even bought two sets to make a complete bridge. This 3-in-1 set is a pretty neat set that looks great as the standard model but can also be rebuilt into a summer home and a yacht. The RV is one of the best models of this type of vehicle I’ve seen. Fans were surprised that LEGO released a series of Collectible Minifigures based on some memorable Disney characters but they’ve been a hit and have been well-received by the community. One of the more anticipated sets of the year due to its exposure during Toy Fair season was the LEGO City Fun in the Park – City People Pack (60134). The main things that made it stand out was the new wheelchair as well as the baby minifigure which were all new molds at the time. The Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-Up (76058) is one of my favorite LEGO Marvel Super Heroes sets of the year mainly because of the Ghost Rider minifigure. I’m sure many other fan feel the same way. The Hell Cycle isn’t a bad of a build either.
The LEGO Creator line keeps coming out with great sets and this year’s vehicle was the Volkswagen Beetle (10252). A very fun build combined with the nice color scheme makes it one of the best sets of 2016 for me. Check out my review here. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS (42056) was my first LEGO Technic build and I was very impressed with it from the packaging to the finished build. Although the price point is fairly high, the premium feel of the set as a whole justifies the price. LEGO Ideas has been stepping up with the details of the sets and the Caterham Seven 620R (21307) is a prime example of that. There’s a lot of little details in the set that makes it one of my top LEGO sets of 2016. Check out my full review of the set here. Out of all the D2C LEGO sets that have been released in 2016, probably the singular set that generated the most hype was the Disney Castle (71040). This massive set is packed with details from various Disney franchises which you can find throughout the build.