2013 Lego 42006 B Model

Last days we have seen the 2013 Lego 42006 Excavator review, today here's the review of the B model by Cypr21, called: 

Lego Technic tracked tractor 42006-B

The LEGO USCSDT

USCSDT -- LeftAngle, a photo by Uspez Morbo on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I pushed the size boundaries to the limit for the vehicle and load capacity comes in at 163 bricks.

2013 Lego 42006 Excavator videos

The 42006 called "Excavator" has started to be sold in some shops of some countries. Described by TLC as: "Build the ultra awesome Excavator, a LEGO® Technic construction site staple! This hard-working vehicle features lots of authentic details, including a working 4-prong grabber, articulated extending arm, rotating superstructure and moving tracks. Create a model that's like the real thing! Motorize this cool construction vehicle with 8293 LEGO Power Functions Motor Set (sold separately). Rebuilds into a cross-country Tracked Tractor with raising/lowering rear and front tools, adjustable/detachable plow blades and an opening hood."

Here two early videos of it in action:

Lego Technic Chain-based CVT

This is not the first time that a Lego CVT  appears on this blog, but this one uses a different mechanism than all the previous appearances of this kind of gearbox, it uses a chain, like Bikes do, this solves some problems of the other CVT's like friction ans slippage.

View the full article at LEGOISM web (Highly recommended site) and/or the video here, very instructive and well explained.

Integrate with the Lego Prytz Polar Planimeter

A Planimeter  can calculate areas of shapes, it is just what this creation do but it is built with Lego Technic pieces, one more of the machines and devices [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] that Nico71  has built.

As video description says:

"Modified polar planimeter of pritz concept.When the tracer point moves along a line (here the surface), the wheel follows a tractrix. Note that the path of the wheel is always tangent to the planimeter (here is the integration phenomen) The angle between the initial and final positions of the wheel is roughly proportional to the area of the surface. The constant of proportionality is the square of the length of the planimeter. The longer the planimeter, the more accurately the area is measured."

NXT Robotic Humanoid Hand

This robotic hand goes one step further in the way this Lego Robotic Arm went, made by Barman (Barebos)

The MOC contains:
- 2 NXT units
- 6 NXT motors
- 1 Ultrasonic sensor for spotting movement tot start the program
- 1 Touch sensor for starting other programs

As written by Barman:

"De hand moves by 2 motors. 1 For moving the hand up and down en the other for rotation the hand. It can rotate 360 degrees, but the 4 not so flexible NXT cables make that difficult.
To hold the heavy hand, the wrist needs to be very strong, but also compact. I order to do that. I finally came up with a U-shape wrist section that holds a rotating tube with 2 pressure rings. This is the fourth version that finally works.
The rings are motorbike wheels (BL 88517), which can be connected to a Technic studless beam on the outside. The first wheel holds pressure on the turntable. Without it the turntable would detach from it's base, due to the weight of the hand. The second wheel conducts the weight of the hand to the rest of the wrist construction.

The hand holds 4 NXT motors to control the fingers and thumb. The 4 fingers are controlled by the 2 outside motors, that are attached to the index finger and pinky. All fingers are connected to a sliding beam, so that the middle and ring finger can also move. This system makes the hand compact, because you don't need 4 motor for each finger. The drawback is that the fingers can't be move separately. Anyone who has seen this always asks if it can give 'the finger', the answer is NO :)
The middle motor has 2 functions. It moves the thumb from and towards the hand. When the motor rotates further it touches the construction that make the fingers spread. So the thumb first moves a bit and the last past of that movement the fingers spread as well. The last motor moves the thumb in and out. It give a nice impression as a palm of the hand.

This hand was made for showing hand movements and not for grabbing. The construction isn't strong enough for grabbing.

In the near future I will reprogram the hand to make other movements."

Hope that the near future is almost here...