When it comes to robot dogs, Boston Dynamics' Spot machine is certainly among the first ones to come to mind. The yellow quadruped has made the headlines ever since it was “born” last summer and it’s proved to be an inspiration for many. Including this guy right here, who built his own Spot-inspired robot dog, almost just as smart, but made of LEGO pieces.
When you think of LEGO robots, you can’t imagine them being anything else than cute toys or collectibles. But this particular one comes with stable walking, reliable steering, obstacle avoidance, remote control, and even dance capabilities, just like Spot.
It took three months of hard work to complete the feature-rich LEGO robot, including a lot of designing, building, and testing.
The result is a smart machine powered by LEGO’s EV3 robotics system, which includes several motors and sensors. It consists of 2 large motors and one medium motor that is attached via an axle to the steering system. All the motors are connected via cables to the main power brick, which is placed in the middle.
But the robot dog is not just a pile of LEGO bricks and motors. It was programmed by its builder to be manually controllable via remote, to execute some dance moves, and even to avoid obstacles (its sensor enables 180-degree obstacle avoidance), switching to reverse walking when necessary.
It walks at a speed of 1.1 mph (1.8 kph) and it has an average runtime of 60 minutes.
If you are impressed with the Spot-like LEGO robotic dog, you can show your support on the LEGO Ideas website where it has been submitted by its builder, the user “I Build Stuff”. The LEGO Ideas platform allows you to upload your LEGO projects and have the chance to see them turned into a commercial set. All builds that manage to raise 10,000 supporters within a year of submission have a shot at going to mass production.
Cristina’s always found writing more comfortable to do than speaking, which is why she chose print over broadcast media in college. When she’s not typing, she also loves riding non-motorized two-wheelers, going on hikes with her dog, and rocking her electric guitars. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News