This August at BrickFest, the Lego hobbyist's convention in Arlington, VA, robot Lego hobbyists from around the world will attempt to daisychain a series of independently created "ball machines," to set the world's record for "Great Ball Machines."
A "ball machine" is a robotic Lego contraption that takes in miniature Lego soccer balls at the rate of one per second, rolls them around various tracks, coaster-loops, troughs, bounces, etc, and then outputs them again, at the rate of one per second.
Because all the ball machines have standard interfaces for accepting and outputting balls, it's possible to link them together, making a gigantic meta-ball-machine out of all the independently created machines. This all sounds incredibly cool — I can't wait to see the video once it's all put together.
1. Each module should have an "in" basket, and will move balls to the next module's "in" basket, which must be directly in line.
2. The IN basket should be 10 studs by 10 studs (outside dimension) with an 8×8 opening, and should be 10 bricks (beams) tall.
3. The front of the basket should be 32 studs from the back of the module. This will allow all modules to be lined up against a wall. The back of the module CAN be closer to the basket, but not farther.
4. The In basket should be located on the left side of the module, and output should go to the right.
5. There are no size limits, beyond those listed
6. Each module should be able to accept balls at an average rate of 1 ball per second. Balls can be passed continueously, or in a batch. A batch should not exceed 30 balls.
(via MAKE Blog)
