June 21, 2012

The full LEGO Turing Machine Comes True

As Teuk comment in the previous Nxt turing machine post there's a video of a fully mechanical Turing machine made by SeTechnic member Phi with fellow students.

"At the occasion of Alan Turing's centenary, Masters students in fundamental computer sciences of the "Ecole Normale Supérieure", located in Lyon (France), pay homage to him through the building of a Turing machine in Lego."

This "pneumatic" turing machine really stunned me as the Lego digicomp did some years ago.



The Turing Machine Comes True por CNRS

My congratulations for the team! If you are able to  read French (or use google translate) and liked this superb machine is a must read the thread of the creation of this machine in the Setechnic forum

June 20, 2012

BrickWorld 2012 GBC Layout explained


Nothing is better than a great Lego GBC layout explained by their creators.

Some new concepts here, like the water-carbon cycle GBC, introducing the learning through gbc module idea!

Enjoy all kinds of modules form the simplest to the biggest and most complex explained by the authors:

June 19, 2012

LEGO Turing Machine

Interesting machine, the mother of all the computers we know today:


LEGO Turing Machine from ecalpemos on Vimeo.


"This is a short documentary about the LEGO Turing Machine built by Jeroen van den Bos and Davy Landman at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Amsterdam (Netherlands). They built it for CWI's exposition "Turings Erfenis" in honor of Alan Turings one hundredth birthday this year.

Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician who helped define the theoretical model of the computer as we know it today. He was a visionary, one of the few people of his time who recognized the role the computer would play for humanity.

The Turing Machine (1936) is an adequate model of a computer. It can do anything the computers of today or tomorrow can do."

Turing Machine built using LEGO

This LEGO Turing machine uses a tape based on a classic interpretation of computer memory: switches. Additionally, it uses a light sensor to determine the value of a switch: if the switch is on, the sensor will  see  the black colour of the switch's surface. But if it is turned off, the sensor will  see  the white colour of the LEGO beam, making it possible to distinguish between the states. Finally, a rotating beam mounted above the tape can flip the switch in both directions.
Alan Turing's original model has an infinite tape, but LEGO had a slight problem supplying infinite bricks. So we chose to fix our tape size to 32 positions.

June 15, 2012

Lego Technic SKY RESORT (for technic figures)

This is the sky paradise for technic figures!!

Welcome to the Tailgunner Lego Technic SKI RESORT!! An amazing place to hang out with your arctic technic friends!
LEGO TECHNIC SKI RESORT


lego technic ski resort

lego technic ski resort

All the excellent photo gallery

This resort has everything that a technic figure might want:

-24 chairs ski-lift
-18 T-bars ski-lift
- snow-park
- snowmobile
- PF snowgroomer
- 4 snow cannons
- giant slalom track
-Technic skiers!

Better seing it in movement all the realistic mechanisms of the different lifts:


More videos in the Tailgunner088's youtube channel

Let's go for a ride!!


June 6, 2012

Astonishing first Lego Technic GBC module


I can't believe that this is the first LEGO GBC creation of TKEL86 from Comunidade 0937.



It works with a nice and complex mechanism that spin the transport arm in a combined movement, sinchronized with the two-step elevators in the inlet hopper, I can't figure better way to start building GBC's

June 3, 2012

Big GBC display at Cavallino 2012

This very big GBC display features lots of well known modules, and the new additions were just great!!


June 2, 2012

The Unofficial LEGO ® Technic Builder’s Guide.

You can pre-order the Book about LEGO TECHNIC from Sariel !!

The Unofficial LEGO ® Technic Builder’s Guide.

From Sariel's website:

"I’m happy to announce that this year (Fall 2012) you will be able to buy my book: TheUnofficial LEGO ® Technic Builder’s Guide. The book, published by No Starch Press, focuses on explaining the theory and principles that rule the world of LEGO mechanisms, while providing plenty of practical examples. With over 300 pages printed in full color, showing more than 500 figures and 40 building instructions, the book should be helpful to any LEGO Technic enthusiast, regardless of his building skills.
While the book uses vehicular LEGO models as primary examples, the theoretical knowledge and working principles it describes can be applied to any sort of mechanism. The 20 chapters start simple for first-time builders, but quickly move to advanced material. The book covers subjects like:
gear wheels and gear ratios
levers and linkages
pneumatics and custom pneumatic devices
LEGO motors and their characteristics
suspension and transmission systems
the modern LEGO Power Functions system and its elements
reinforcing your builds
studfull system vs. studless system
methods of scaling and modeling of various vehicles, from bikes to helicopters and airplanes, including challenges and opportunities that come with different types of vehicles
What the book does not include are complete instructions for any models that I have built. Instead, it introduces you to a vast array of mechanisms and provides examples of how to use them in your own constructions.
Eric Albrecht (Blakbird), the world-renowned collector and expert on LEGO Technic, has provided technical review of the book, and it comes with a foreword by Fernando Correia, the TechnicBRICKs editor-in-chief.
Visit nostarch.com/technicbuilder to learn more. The book is available for pre-order worldwide from your favorite booksellers, including amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
The book will also be available as an ebook."


Personally I'm very interested in this book and I have high expectations in its content because I'm working in two related projects, one the beginners Technic guide in Hispalug (actually abandoned...) and the other a private project consisting of three LEGO construction manuals, the last of them will be focused on advanced Lego Technic ^_^