MCK-Y the Lego Mouse Droid Build

[kresty]

Going to build a Lego Mouse Droid. One of these days I'll post a pix of the plan...

[kresty]

Here's the 3D file idea anyway....

It's a little harder than anticipated, the angles are pretty annoying

[kresty]

Some video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0qOqexU3LU (it's not that exciting). But the chassis works and drives!

At least until the wheels fall off.

It sort of needs an RC chassis (it's a bit much for mindstorms, though it could probably be done. To try to keep it looking Lego, we mounted Lego wheels onto the RC axles, by printing hubs. The printed hubs also get the right widths. Unfortunately my pins aren't secure enough. We know how to fix that (different pins, and maybe Kragle), but for the moment it's odd.

Had a fit with the electronics. They're being hyper, but I overcame the last hurdle, so now it's just a matter of shoving them on the board.

- Kresty

[savagecreature]

Some video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0qOqexU3LU (it's not that exciting). But the chassis works and drives!

At least until the wheels fall off.

It sort of needs an RC chassis (it's a bit much for mindstorms, though it could probably be done. To try to keep it looking Lego, we mounted Lego wheels onto the RC axles, by printing hubs. The printed hubs also get the right widths. Unfortunately my pins aren't secure enough. We know how to fix that (different pins, and maybe Kragle), but for the moment it's odd.

Had a fit with the electronics. They're being hyper, but I overcame the last hurdle, so now it's just a matter of shoving them on the board.

- Kresty

Awesome! Drives over stockinged feet and everything!

[kresty]

Awesome! Drives over stockinged feet and everything!

Yup, at least until the wheels come off.

He's getting much more complete in the last couple days. Attaching the shell was kinda blocked on electronics, but the electronics are done now, so that'll help.

He's HEAVY.

[savagecreature]

He's HEAVY.

Actually, my shell is surprisingly heavy as well. Must be something about the design (or more like, our building techniques)

[kresty]

He's HEAVY.

Actually, my shell is surprisingly heavy as well. Must be something about the design (or more like, our building techniques)

Our battery & stuff is quite a bit of it.

---

Starting to get there (which is good 'cause brickcon starts tomorrow).

PS: MCK-Y has a twitter now. (Just what we needed) http://twitter.com/ourMCKY

[kresty]

Whew, finally running. Tried yesterday, but his tires were flattened by his 18 pound weight. Now he has beans in his wheels (yes, beans), runs OK (kinda a funny wobbly gait, but good enough). At least he'll be running today for brickcon. We'll post pix later.

[kresty]

Whew, made it to Brickcon. It was a long weekend with lots of trial & error, but we got there and tons of folks had a ton of fun watching MCK-Y (and L3-G0 too, and both interacting).

Here's a decent photo of MCK-Y. Seems a tad overexposed (L3-G0 is very pale), but you can see MCK-Y's brick.


During setup on Friday we discovered that the 20lb weight of MCK-Y was too much for the Lego tires. They flattened and fell off the rims as we tried to enter the show. So we ended up taking him back home and shoving beans (yes beans) in the wheels and CA gluing the tires on.

The beans worked pretty well, but we were novices at installing beans, so one was firmer than the other. During the show, one of the tires fell off the rim, causing the wheel to fall off the hub. Not realizing that the tire was loose, we attempted a repair, but it immediately fell off again.

We collected the parts, going back to our backstage area for a more complete fix, and I noticed some tic-tac like candy on the floor. As I picked it up, a lady asked if that was ours, showing another candy. No, of course not, it wasn't Lego.

With the droid propped up and taking a closer look at the wheel we turned it over and beans fell out. Oh, those were beans back there, not tic tacs. Of course we hadn't brought spare beans, but luckily there was a grocery store a couple blocks away.

After packing the wheel tighter and re-gluing, we haven't had another problem with the tires either day.

The beans seem to give him an interesting gait though (or maybe the knobs on the Lego tires, not sure). Lara thinks its cute though, so we'll probably leave it.

We tried the expanding foam insulation, but it totally didn't work. We think there wasn't any air to let it cure, so it collapsed. (The one tire we tried is caved in and smaller than before).

[savagecreature]

Way awesome! Looks just like the computer design said it would.

The bean story is friggin' hilarious. What ever made you think of beans?