My Rover Wheel Design

Whilst finishing off a new wheel design for my rover I thought I'd grab a quick pic and post.

The wheel design uses a mindsensor bracket to house a continous servo turning a Lego off roader wheel. This sits under a turntable which will turn using a medium PF motor. This was the last wheel so all I have to do is attach to the Rocker-bogie!

NEW - NXT Temperature Sensor

A new temperature sensor has started shipping from Active Robots in the UK!

From their website "The temperature sensor is a digital sensor powered by the NXT brick. Using the NXT brick and NXT software version 2.0, it can be calibrated to measure both Celsius and Fahrenheit (-20 °C to +120 °C/-4 °F to +248 °F)."

Click here to visit their site - NXT Temperature Sensor

50% Off Technic Lego Sets at Amazon UK

Grab them whilst they are going cheap! Bulldozer and Telescopic handler with 50 % off!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/

Which Colour?

Unfortunately my parts arrived but I had ordered the wrong colour!

I ordered Dark Grey instead of Dark Bluish Grey so had to do it all again!

The good news is I've constructed the rocker bogie part of my rover and am now slowly working on the chassis.

One part I wish lego or someone would make is a larger and well built turn table.

I really hope I have at least 70% finished by Christmas although I haven't even started on the robotic arm...

Bits and Pieces

Well I've completed the first part of my Rover and its big! Alot bigger than I had planned so parts have become an issue. Thanks to bricklink I have managed to secure everything I need for the next phase.

I hope to have some pictures online at the weekend. Dont want to spoil too much though!

I have also adapted my PF Battery case so it can receive power from a solar source. Quite easy to do once you have the case open. I'll add these pictures too!

PF Battery Box and NXTServo

Philo has provided a nice hack to the PF Battery pack to power the NXTServo. Very nice hack if you want to try and keep it lego and not use the battery pack provided by Mindsensors.

Check the hack out here -

http://philohome.com/alimservo/alimservo.htm

Mindsensor stuff at Active Robots

Active Robots are now selling a select range of Mindsensor products including the NXTServo, Acceleration Sensor and Pressure Sensor.

Good news as this means easier to get their products in the U.K!

http://www.active-robots.com/products/mindstorms4schools/mindsensors.shtml

Hitec Continuous Servo

When deciding how to move my rover i had to decide what with? Large PF motors or an alternative. I made the decision to go for a continuous servo because of several advantages over other types of motor:-

• NXT Servo supports 8 servos (6 x wheel, 2 x tbc)


• NXT Servo could be powered by a battery / solar charger


• Servos include rotation sensor for precision control

Mindsensors don't (as of yet) sell a continuous servo so I had to buy from Active Robots. They did however deliver a prototype mounting kit which fitted perfectly.

These will provide the movement and accuracy I need for my rover - Model purchased Hitec HSR-1422CR.

Solar Powered PF

I'm in the design stages now and thanks to a few (my brother the sparky & Justin Fisher) i am close to a prototype. Essentially i hope to make the Pf battery case into a solar battery charger including 6 batteries (maybe 5) and a small capacitor bank.

Pictures to follow!

New Hitechnic Sensor

NXT EOPD

Quite new out, i'm not too sure how this will fit into my new project although it could replace the need for ultrasonic sensors for terrain mapping.

As i'm not ready to implement this yet if anyone has one and give some feedback i would be very grateful!