Comments on: Robotic Lego ball contraption to beat them all

By: noah django

noah django — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:04:00 +0000

my face when

By: mjfgates

mjfgates — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 06:27:00 +0000

Just enough for that, anyway. If there had been more time, there would be more modules!

By: Noctilucent Studios

Noctilucent Studios — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 01:24:00 +0000

Can’t decide if they had too much time on their hands, or just enough….

By: bcsizemo

bcsizemo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 23:52:00 +0000

I want to know the price for all that…cause I suspect it ain’t cheap.

By: atteSmythe

atteSmythe — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:22:00 +0000

In my mind, this is how all packing and sorting facilities work.

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:39:00 +0000

Damn, I have the spare time… wish I had the Lego.

By: Kimmo

Kimmo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:38:00 +0000

There’s a whole meme to the opposite effect; the plumber’s dripping taps, etc.

By: tlwest

tlwest — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:34:00 +0000

Somehow I feel that this is the work of someone who designs industrial processes for a living.

Sort of like programmers who finish their day job to go home an work on open-source projects in their free time.

By: Doc_S

Doc_S — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:31:00 +0000

I think I just nerdgasm’d.

By: benher

benher — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Watch the video from start to finish. Almost every module has some sort of a return/backup/holding area so that it doesn’t matter if a certain amount of balls get backed up. The first and last components had the largest “reserve” area.
It is not only amazing that balls mostly continue as expected, but that there are so many safety nets in place per each piece. It may be subtle, but it’s all there.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:04:00 +0000

And that, son, is how babies are made.

By: Glen Able

Glen Able — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Agreed. I’d happily sit and watch for another hour or so if there was a video showing the effect of the batteries running low on each module, and it becoming overloaded.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:24:00 +0000

Translation: “Get this person a job designing a ball factory. “

By: kmoser

kmoser — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:15:00 +0000

What I find most amazing is that none of the modules get backed up with too many balls to handle at once.

By: Robert Baruch

Robert Baruch — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Awesome. Just awesome.

By: Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Okay, in my own kludgey fashion, I did it:

http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/lego_ball_machine–with_powerhouse/

By: Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:51:00 +0000

The only possible way to improve this video is for someone more technically adept than I to replace the original soundtrack with Raymond Scott’s POWERHOUSE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfDqR4fqIWE

By: Cactaur

Cactaur — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Set the audio to an extended Futurama theme.

By: chris coreline

chris coreline — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:41:00 +0000

magnificent.

By: disillusion

disillusion — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Well, if the person just works out the kinks in the system so none of the balls get stuck like what I was seeing from time to time, we just might have a new way to do the Lottery.

By: Snig

Snig — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:15:00 +0000

My mom asked my brother what my nephew wanted for the holidays, and he told her the “Earth Defense Lego” set. “But they have so many legos, why do they need another set?” “They have a lot, but not enough to reliably defend Earth.”