Summer of LEGO - "The Beast"

The Summer of LEGO continued on well after the construction of Mondrian City. As my son and I sat across from each other at our dining room table with a pile of LEGOs between us, other creations sprang to life. With very little guidance, he was able to create a number of masterpieces. Here are some of my son's beautiful creations:

While he opted for volume, creating a veritable army of vehicles, dwellings and abstractions, I opted to design and build a single vehicle. I always tell my students that whenever you are creating art or designing something, you push the art and the art pushes you. As I started to combine LEGO pieces from the hodge-podge of kits in front of us without any real objective, a truck started to take shape. One thing I really enjoy doing with LEGOs now as an adult is taking the parts from "prescriptive" LEGO sets (the sets that direct you how to build something specific, with step-by-step instructions) and re-purposing them along with traditional bricks, Technics parts, and elements of EV3 Mindstorms.

I call the truck I created "The Beast," as it's a pretty cumbersome monstrosity of a vehicle. I utilized the brick controller and two large motors from an EV3 kit to get it moving. In order to control it, I downloaded a free app called LEGO Robot Commander to my iPad, switched on the brick's Bluetooth and synced them up. Since I own a GoPro, I also created a custom LEGO mount and placed it on the roof of "The Beast," so I could capture a POV shot.

The beginnings of "The Beast"

The completed vehicle.

Side view.

Taking a peek under the hood where the brick lives.

Custom GoPro mount.

GoPro camera on custom LEGO mount.

The GoPro on top of "The Beast"

A closeup of the GoPro on top.

Admittedly, it's not the best design. It would have been better to create a 3-wheel vehicle, using the omni-directional pinball that comes with the EV3 kit. This would have provided better turning, since all of the wheels are fixed and turns are a little clumsy. I really just wanted to see if I could get the Bluetooth control breathing and get the GoPro on board. If I had more time, I would have incorporated the medium motor and created a turntable for the GoPro to swivel it like a tank turret. Next time!

Check out the video below (kinda low quality as I shot it on my iPhone):

Thanks for checking out my blog! Hope you found it entertaining and/or inspiring. Go build something cool!