The Lego Group's apparently asked Thingiverse to remove everything with their name in the title. So I guess I need to be more careful about how I refer to my Lego brick built R2-D2 model.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Monday, October 23, 2017
Inquisitive Inferno
I was trying to troubleshoot L3-G0's sprayer a while back and Inferno the Cat decided to help out. Unfortunately L3-G0's shoulder doesn't support a 24lb/11kg cat:
His adventure caused a little damage:
Inferno has a small album on Flickr.
His adventure caused a little damage:
Inferno has a small album on Flickr.
Friday, October 23, 2015
L3-G0 and Terrain
Artoo is a terrible mechanical design. You can see that in some of Lucasfilm's R2-D2 Extras where they talk about building him and stuff.
For starters, the front foot appears to merely be there as something for him to trip over. In the replica droid business this leads what is known as a "faceplant." Yes, L3-G0 has faceplanted (fortunately without the dome).
Basically, there's not enough distance in the front foot from the center of gravity to provide good leverage when you run into an obstacle. In this case a sidewalk crack as I was trying to get in out of a light drizzle.
In order for the front wheel to turn, it's on casters, and those can't be very big because they'll hit the foot shell. So the small diameter also makes it hard to cross cracks like the one at the bottom of the picture. (I thought all of the cracks would be as small as the earlier cracks).
L3-G0 is "worse" in this regard because the Lego bricks make his front foot shell pretty thick on the bottom, reducing the available wheel diameter to about 2" (about 5cm). Another problem is that his front foot is hinged at the ankle (thinking about 2-3-2 mode), which means that if the front wheel drops in, then it stays.
Any kind of bump is potentially disastrous. So I really look out for those. If the caster drops in or has to climb over, it leads to tripping. If its "small enough" I try ramming it gently and seeing if he'll make it. If not, then I either back over the obstacle or lift the front over it.
The gap in an elevator is usually "OK" and about the maximum that he can travel over. Small door sills like on a front door are iffy, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. Something like an extension cable at an event may be traversable, though high bumps can cause me to drag on the foot shell (he has about 1cm or 3/8th inch clearance)
If the terrain is too soft, then his wheels dig in. This happens on padded carpet. He either can't climb out or the foot shells can even ride on whatever it is.
Another problem is "rough" terrain. The drive train can handle a sidewalk or pavement, but most exterior surfaces are pebbly and cause a lot of vibration, which wants to shake him (literally) to pieces.
There's also a limit to the incline L3-G0 can safely traverse. Especially ramps going down he wants to coast and we have to use power to brake him.
Fortunately most convention halls and public spaces have big flat smooth concrete floors. I just have to watch for the expansion gaps between slabs and cable runs. Most houses have similarly smooth slabs in their garages, but watch for the crack! Driveways or streets are often too rough or steep. (For Halloween we put out mats for him on our driveway).
He can usually climb the 1/4" onto the carpet some folks put down for their booths (like when he visited the Lego booth at Celebration). The wood floor in our house is fine, though we have a 1/4" rise between rooms I have to watch.
Tile is another scary area because it has lots of little cracks, and can be rough on top depending on the style. Close fitted tile or linoleum tiles are fine.
Industrial carpeted areas are usually OK, though they can drain the battery a bit more than concrete. However the carpet in the lobby at Rose City (Oregon Convention Center) seems padded more than normal. A typical house carpet is too soft to really be passable.
Wheelchair ramps are often a good path for him, not being too steep.
As a practical thing, if I have complicated terrain, then I drive over it backwards. The load is better distributed on the back feet that way, and he can drag the problematic front foot over whatever it is. For the foot shell clearance issue, I raised the shell a tiny amount, which helped a lot. (Some of the "real" Artoos have a gaping 1" or more clearance, but I think that looks funny)
Tracks (like a tank) could help some, but you still have steering issues. Some builders have created a system that can navigate a grass yard (though that would shake L3-G0 apart).
Some of the fanciest systems have a single large diameter rotating wheel up front, sometimes even powered, but that typically requires complicated mechanical systems.
L3-G0 could also have a more rigid front ankle, however that can lead to other issues. I've limited it's play a little, but he was designed to have it be flexible so stiffening it is tough.
Oliver and Lee came up with a system using a hub motor for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, which seems to help a lot. Some of the other builders are trying that. (I confess that it's on L3-G0's to-do list).
In the meantime I watch out for rough surfaces.
And cracks.
For starters, the front foot appears to merely be there as something for him to trip over. In the replica droid business this leads what is known as a "faceplant." Yes, L3-G0 has faceplanted (fortunately without the dome).
 |
| Lego R2-D2 doing the "Faceplant" |
In order for the front wheel to turn, it's on casters, and those can't be very big because they'll hit the foot shell. So the small diameter also makes it hard to cross cracks like the one at the bottom of the picture. (I thought all of the cracks would be as small as the earlier cracks).
L3-G0 is "worse" in this regard because the Lego bricks make his front foot shell pretty thick on the bottom, reducing the available wheel diameter to about 2" (about 5cm). Another problem is that his front foot is hinged at the ankle (thinking about 2-3-2 mode), which means that if the front wheel drops in, then it stays.
Types of terrain that gives L3-G0 trouble
Any kind of bump is potentially disastrous. So I really look out for those. If the caster drops in or has to climb over, it leads to tripping. If its "small enough" I try ramming it gently and seeing if he'll make it. If not, then I either back over the obstacle or lift the front over it.
The gap in an elevator is usually "OK" and about the maximum that he can travel over. Small door sills like on a front door are iffy, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. Something like an extension cable at an event may be traversable, though high bumps can cause me to drag on the foot shell (he has about 1cm or 3/8th inch clearance)
If the terrain is too soft, then his wheels dig in. This happens on padded carpet. He either can't climb out or the foot shells can even ride on whatever it is.
Another problem is "rough" terrain. The drive train can handle a sidewalk or pavement, but most exterior surfaces are pebbly and cause a lot of vibration, which wants to shake him (literally) to pieces.
There's also a limit to the incline L3-G0 can safely traverse. Especially ramps going down he wants to coast and we have to use power to brake him.
So is there anything L3-G0 CAN drive on?
Fortunately most convention halls and public spaces have big flat smooth concrete floors. I just have to watch for the expansion gaps between slabs and cable runs. Most houses have similarly smooth slabs in their garages, but watch for the crack! Driveways or streets are often too rough or steep. (For Halloween we put out mats for him on our driveway).
He can usually climb the 1/4" onto the carpet some folks put down for their booths (like when he visited the Lego booth at Celebration). The wood floor in our house is fine, though we have a 1/4" rise between rooms I have to watch.
Tile is another scary area because it has lots of little cracks, and can be rough on top depending on the style. Close fitted tile or linoleum tiles are fine.
Industrial carpeted areas are usually OK, though they can drain the battery a bit more than concrete. However the carpet in the lobby at Rose City (Oregon Convention Center) seems padded more than normal. A typical house carpet is too soft to really be passable.
Wheelchair ramps are often a good path for him, not being too steep.
What can be done?
As a practical thing, if I have complicated terrain, then I drive over it backwards. The load is better distributed on the back feet that way, and he can drag the problematic front foot over whatever it is. For the foot shell clearance issue, I raised the shell a tiny amount, which helped a lot. (Some of the "real" Artoos have a gaping 1" or more clearance, but I think that looks funny)
Tracks (like a tank) could help some, but you still have steering issues. Some builders have created a system that can navigate a grass yard (though that would shake L3-G0 apart).
Some of the fanciest systems have a single large diameter rotating wheel up front, sometimes even powered, but that typically requires complicated mechanical systems.
L3-G0 could also have a more rigid front ankle, however that can lead to other issues. I've limited it's play a little, but he was designed to have it be flexible so stiffening it is tough.
Oliver and Lee came up with a system using a hub motor for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, which seems to help a lot. Some of the other builders are trying that. (I confess that it's on L3-G0's to-do list).
In the meantime I watch out for rough surfaces.
And cracks.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Brickcon 2015!
Subtitle: how to be completely out-of-sync since I haven't even posted about (much) earlier events.... Oh well.
This weekend was Brickcon 2015, one of the biggest Lego conventions around. Tons of "well known" Lego artists show stuff there, and we've been going most recent years. We represented the R2-D2 Builder's Club, showing off the banner we picked up at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.
MCK-Y the Mouse Droid and I had tons of fun entertaining folks
On Saturday we had some excitement when the fire alarm went off. Apparently some mom had her kiddo in one of those backpack things, and was leaning against the wall to rest. When she went to leave, the kid was apparently really curious about this thing attached to the wall and tried to hang on.
Lara was wrangling L3-G0 at the time and was wondering what kind of whacky noise she'd triggered!
MCK-Y also took it upon himself to go entertain some of the folks in the crowd outside waiting to get tickets (there's often a line, particularly in the morning). Unfortunately, he also tried to test the strength of this wall by backing into it!
The line curved around this shallow fountain, so MCK-Y decided to show off his off-road skillz!
Now maybe I'll get around to posting some of the things that happened earlier in the year...
This weekend was Brickcon 2015, one of the biggest Lego conventions around. Tons of "well known" Lego artists show stuff there, and we've been going most recent years. We represented the R2-D2 Builder's Club, showing off the banner we picked up at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.
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| L3-G0 and MCK-Y, Lego Droids at BrickCon 2015 |
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| Entertaining kids at BrickCon |
Lara was wrangling L3-G0 at the time and was wondering what kind of whacky noise she'd triggered!
MCK-Y also took it upon himself to go entertain some of the folks in the crowd outside waiting to get tickets (there's often a line, particularly in the morning). Unfortunately, he also tried to test the strength of this wall by backing into it!
The line curved around this shallow fountain, so MCK-Y decided to show off his off-road skillz!
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| Lego Mouse Droid driving through fountain! |
Here are some of the other MOCs (My Own Creation, 'cept that these other people's creations, it's a Lego Builder acronym for things they make).
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| Cool Lighthouse, 2nd place in People's Choice |
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| Nifty Lego Mosaic, Our Neighbor won an Mosaic award |
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| These computers were also our neighbors, Look at those Lego cases! |
On Sunday we were privileged to receive the BrickCon 2015 People's Choice Award. What a cool honor! We're glad you liked L3-G0 and MCK-Y, and thanks to everyone who voted for us. We go to the cons because like showing off the droids for the crowds, especially when folks are excited and curious, but we don't mind winning prizes :) There were tons of other great and deserving Lego Creations at the show, so we're thrilled and humbled that you chose us.
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| L3-G0 with People's Choice Award |
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| L3-G0 trying the People's Choice Trophy on as a hat! |
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Holoprojector Repair - Rose City Comic Con Damage
Taking something like L3-G0 out and exhibiting him causes a lot of wear and tear. Foot motors break, shoulders get smashed, fuses blow, etc.
One common problem I've had is with the holoprojectors.
There are 8 panels on each one (alternating fat/narrow), attached by Lego clips. The clips break, as on the bottom left. This HP lost a panel before the show even started, but I lost 3 more during the show. I moved one down to be less conspicuous earlier, but right after the show closed some toddler yanked the HP off his back and when it came back it had even fewer panels.
Anyway, this is one place I have to Kragle. The narrow arms especially want to fall off, and the 1x1 rounds. The clips are free to move though, and the axle fits in a round hole that lets the entire HP move and be positioned.
Biggest problem was that one of the chargers failed. We made do, but fortunately Shorai replaced it under warranty.
At RCCC the slip ring that powers the dome lights also got disconnected at the plug, and shorted, blowing a fuse. So that needs repaired too.
Also a few misc parts form the feet. Left battery box isn't staying on very well.
Lastly one of the feet might be slipping. The RCCC convention center has nasty carpet.
One common problem I've had is with the holoprojectors.
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| L3-G0 Lego Holoprojector |
Anyway, this is one place I have to Kragle. The narrow arms especially want to fall off, and the 1x1 rounds. The clips are free to move though, and the axle fits in a round hole that lets the entire HP move and be positioned.
Biggest problem was that one of the chargers failed. We made do, but fortunately Shorai replaced it under warranty.
At RCCC the slip ring that powers the dome lights also got disconnected at the plug, and shorted, blowing a fuse. So that needs repaired too.
Also a few misc parts form the feet. Left battery box isn't staying on very well.
Lastly one of the feet might be slipping. The RCCC convention center has nasty carpet.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Can Lego Bricks be Jinxed?
L3-G0 went to a small school's kid's dance last night. Everyone had a great time, and he danced with some of the kids.
Most of the kids at the school knew L3-G0 already, but they were happy that he could join in. Given the environment, there was a lot of touching and stuff, and eventually there was a small accident with his LEFT shoulder, which had to be repaired. And made me wonder if bricks can be cursed?
Is it possible to have unlucky bricks? Cursed? Jinxed? Did I run afoul of a Voodoo Doctor somewhere?
On the completed L3-G0's first outing, to Emerald City Comicon (ECCC), there was a bit of a mishap. He was driving along and the escalator reached it's rail out to smash him in the right shoulder. (I'm sure that's what happened, I would have never driven that close to the rail!) Since the escalator was moving, bricks when flying everywhere. Huge gasp from the crowd. Very impressive. We even got censured by security and prohibited from the escalator for some reason.
You don't get it, I know. How is he cursed if those were the right shoulder, but the party broke the left. Patience young Padawan, I'm getting there...
Next time the curse struck was at Rose City Comicon (RCCC, kinda like ECCC, but smaller). Things were going well, but one of the vendors shoved his table out into his shoulder as I turned the corner (I'm sure that's what happened, I mean he looked nice and all, and the table was loaded with stuff so it looked like it couldn't possibly move, but there's no way I was inept enough to drive down a 50 foot path and smash into a table on one side).
You guessed it, the right shoulder was destroyed AGAIN!!!! No pix, sorry. Of course we're getting better at fixing the shoulder by now.
Mishap #4 was back at that accursed book store. This time it was an endcap full of books that attacked. Darth Vader was there and may have used the Dark Side to yank L3-G0 into the books. This time we were picking right shoulder bricks out from between the books.
We had uneventful trips to Children's and some schools and work and stuff, but then it was time for Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim. Which I know I still need to blog about, but until then he has some pix on facebook.
On the way down we stopped in Endor (Redwoods park) to take a cool photograph. Unfortunately Lara stumbled. I'm sure she was falling away from R2, but at the last instant she jumped towards him and smashed down on the... wait for it... right shoulder! (You could've guessed by now. The fifth time we smashed his right shoulder). Fortunately a couple kind schoolteachers helped get the bricks out of the dirt and a while later we were ready for the pictures.
After several stops (including LEGOLAND) we reached Celebration! And there was a lot of activity, running around, launching lightsabers and generally showing off, which all went pretty smoothly.
R2 Builders have had huge debates and discussions about "Buttons Front" or "Buttons Back". You see, at the top of his legs, each of Artoo's shoulder has 2 buttons on one side and a hydraulic bar on the other side. Unfortunately the legs are kind of interchangeable, so in some scenes and movies, they're flipped, sometimes buttons are front, sometimes buttons are back.
At Celebration we met Lee and Oliver, a couple great fellow builders who built R2-D2 for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens! (Way to go guys, he looks great!) Anyway, building Artoo for the movie they had to make a decision, and the decided "Buttons Front."
That's all well and good, however L3-G0 was built "Buttons Back". I don't remember all of my reasoning, but thought about flipping the shoulders. On day three, we were hanging out by the Sandcrawler, and someone teased us that Oliver had said "Buttons Front".
I was like "fine", and ripped the shoulders off and flipped them, putting the left shoulder on the right side and the left on the right. I think I surprised him, most builders are pretty picky about the buttons decision. They're symmetrical so it was pretty easy and I'd been thinking about it anyway. I thought it looked a little funny at first, but now I don't notice.
What do Buttons have to do with this story?
Now that you ask, an interesting thing happened. A little bit after I swapped the shoulders we had what I call "The Great Parking of the Droids". We all got together for a group photo. As you can imagine, it took forever, but it was tons of fun. Notice the buttons front in the picture.
Of course there was lots of maneuvering and people getting their droids into place. During all of that activity someone was a little unbalanced and reached for... wait for it.... Can you guess? L3-G0's LEFT shoulder. Small pile of bricks on the floor, fortunately not too bad of a fix.
Got that? His right shoulder was smashed 5 times, then we flipped the bricks around and the next time it was the left shoulder, SAME BRICKS! They must be cursed.
Which brings us back to the dance. No picture, but there was a small oops and L3-G0's left shoulder fell apart onto the dance floor. Now it's twice since moving the bricks to the other side.
L3-G0 is made out of Lego, and all sorts of things happen, his feet have to be snapped back together quite often as that what sticks out the most. His head gets dizzy and bricks wiggle loose. The dog's stepped on his head. We've fried electronics, etc, etc. But smashed shoulders is one of the most annoying problems and he's had his shoulders destroyed a total of 7 times now. It's been different shoulders now, but the same bricks all seven times!
The totally random odds of having two shoulders and smashing the same shoulder bricks 7 times in a row is 1 in 128. Kind of between the odds of rolling double sixes on 2 dice and triple sixes on 3 dice. I use to think I was just leading with the right shoulder somehow, but now??? I thought it was bad when it was 4 in a row.
I think he's got some cursed bricks. Maybe they were bought from a seller that runs a Voodoo shop on the side or something. Somehow his bricks have been jinxed. Maybe it's just the main ones that connect to the rest of the leg. Maybe it's the whole thing. At least I know which side is L3-G0's unlucky one!
Most of the kids at the school knew L3-G0 already, but they were happy that he could join in. Given the environment, there was a lot of touching and stuff, and eventually there was a small accident with his LEFT shoulder, which had to be repaired. And made me wonder if bricks can be cursed?
Is it possible to have unlucky bricks? Cursed? Jinxed? Did I run afoul of a Voodoo Doctor somewhere?
You see, there's a kind of Déjà vu here...
On the completed L3-G0's first outing, to Emerald City Comicon (ECCC), there was a bit of a mishap. He was driving along and the escalator reached it's rail out to smash him in the right shoulder. (I'm sure that's what happened, I would have never driven that close to the rail!) Since the escalator was moving, bricks when flying everywhere. Huge gasp from the crowd. Very impressive. We even got censured by security and prohibited from the escalator for some reason.
Then a bit later we took L3-G0 out to a friend's bookstore for Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be With You! Unfortunately there was an earthquake which opened a gap in the sidewalk, tripping L3-G0 and causing a faceplant, along with the right shoulder. (I'm sure it was an earthquake, this is Seattle after all. I'm sure it wasn't something so mundane as me trying to outrun the rain and not looking at the crack!)
(Ironically this is one of my favorite pictures of him. I just love the Tuskan Raider's expression - it was he who invited me, and this is before the event I was supposed to participate in).
(Ironically this is one of my favorite pictures of him. I just love the Tuskan Raider's expression - it was he who invited me, and this is before the event I was supposed to participate in).
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| Wrecked Lego R2-D2 |
Next time the curse struck was at Rose City Comicon (RCCC, kinda like ECCC, but smaller). Things were going well, but one of the vendors shoved his table out into his shoulder as I turned the corner (I'm sure that's what happened, I mean he looked nice and all, and the table was loaded with stuff so it looked like it couldn't possibly move, but there's no way I was inept enough to drive down a 50 foot path and smash into a table on one side).
You guessed it, the right shoulder was destroyed AGAIN!!!! No pix, sorry. Of course we're getting better at fixing the shoulder by now.
Mishap #4 was back at that accursed book store. This time it was an endcap full of books that attacked. Darth Vader was there and may have used the Dark Side to yank L3-G0 into the books. This time we were picking right shoulder bricks out from between the books.
We had uneventful trips to Children's and some schools and work and stuff, but then it was time for Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim. Which I know I still need to blog about, but until then he has some pix on facebook.
On the way down we stopped in Endor (Redwoods park) to take a cool photograph. Unfortunately Lara stumbled. I'm sure she was falling away from R2, but at the last instant she jumped towards him and smashed down on the... wait for it... right shoulder! (You could've guessed by now. The fifth time we smashed his right shoulder). Fortunately a couple kind schoolteachers helped get the bricks out of the dirt and a while later we were ready for the pictures.
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| L3-G0 smashed shoulder on Endor (Redwood's National Park) |
Buttons Front!
R2 Builders have had huge debates and discussions about "Buttons Front" or "Buttons Back". You see, at the top of his legs, each of Artoo's shoulder has 2 buttons on one side and a hydraulic bar on the other side. Unfortunately the legs are kind of interchangeable, so in some scenes and movies, they're flipped, sometimes buttons are front, sometimes buttons are back.
At Celebration we met Lee and Oliver, a couple great fellow builders who built R2-D2 for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens! (Way to go guys, he looks great!) Anyway, building Artoo for the movie they had to make a decision, and the decided "Buttons Front."
That's all well and good, however L3-G0 was built "Buttons Back". I don't remember all of my reasoning, but thought about flipping the shoulders. On day three, we were hanging out by the Sandcrawler, and someone teased us that Oliver had said "Buttons Front".
I was like "fine", and ripped the shoulders off and flipped them, putting the left shoulder on the right side and the left on the right. I think I surprised him, most builders are pretty picky about the buttons decision. They're symmetrical so it was pretty easy and I'd been thinking about it anyway. I thought it looked a little funny at first, but now I don't notice.
What do Buttons have to do with this story?
Now that you ask, an interesting thing happened. A little bit after I swapped the shoulders we had what I call "The Great Parking of the Droids". We all got together for a group photo. As you can imagine, it took forever, but it was tons of fun. Notice the buttons front in the picture.
 |
| The Great Parking of the Droids, L3-G0 and R2-KT |
Of course there was lots of maneuvering and people getting their droids into place. During all of that activity someone was a little unbalanced and reached for... wait for it.... Can you guess? L3-G0's LEFT shoulder. Small pile of bricks on the floor, fortunately not too bad of a fix.
Got that? His right shoulder was smashed 5 times, then we flipped the bricks around and the next time it was the left shoulder, SAME BRICKS! They must be cursed.
Which brings us back to the dance. No picture, but there was a small oops and L3-G0's left shoulder fell apart onto the dance floor. Now it's twice since moving the bricks to the other side.
So Can Lego Bricks be Jinxed?
L3-G0 is made out of Lego, and all sorts of things happen, his feet have to be snapped back together quite often as that what sticks out the most. His head gets dizzy and bricks wiggle loose. The dog's stepped on his head. We've fried electronics, etc, etc. But smashed shoulders is one of the most annoying problems and he's had his shoulders destroyed a total of 7 times now. It's been different shoulders now, but the same bricks all seven times!
The totally random odds of having two shoulders and smashing the same shoulder bricks 7 times in a row is 1 in 128. Kind of between the odds of rolling double sixes on 2 dice and triple sixes on 3 dice. I use to think I was just leading with the right shoulder somehow, but now??? I thought it was bad when it was 4 in a row.
I think he's got some cursed bricks. Maybe they were bought from a seller that runs a Voodoo shop on the side or something. Somehow his bricks have been jinxed. Maybe it's just the main ones that connect to the rest of the leg. Maybe it's the whole thing. At least I know which side is L3-G0's unlucky one!
Friday, May 8, 2015
The Death Star had plans, what about Lego brick Artoos?
Every occasionally I get asked to share plans for L3-G0. I encourage everyone to build things they love with Lego bricks, but sharing the plans is hard. REALLY hard.
L3-G0 had a rough design, however the "plans" don't come close to the as-built model, so there's a lot of work/confusion that would happen if someone started to build another. It'd probably take me a month of hard work to have something decent enough to share. Nothing personal, but I don't have a ton of free time.
In addition to the Lego model, there are many internal bits of other materials that add to the complexity of the build. He has an aluminum and wood frame with laser cut wood bits. Nothing individually that crazy, but this isn't your normal Lego brick build. You could get away without some of that if you wanted a static version, but he wasn't designed to "stand" without some of that structure.
For the dynamic version he also has 3D printed bricks internally and of course wires and motors and electronics. None of that's a huge deal, but does make things a bit more complicated.
Probably the biggest problem is 16,000 Lego Bricks.
Very specific Lego Bricks.
Think about that. 16 thousand bricks. Big Lego sets are 1-2 thousand bricks. And those are a completely different very specific group of bricks.
So how do you get 16K bricks? There are places that people part out sets like bricklink and ebay.
But lets go back to that number: 16K bricks. Bricklink has 251 million bricks listed right now. But almost all of those are the completely wrong bricks. When I bought bricks for L3-G0, I ended up buying several kinds for which I bought all of the only bricks of that shape/color available.
Now lets consider what happens if I post the plans. Obviously 10 kids are going to ask dad (or mom) to help build him. If word got out, then it's 100 or 1000 or more. The Lego Group sells 7 sets a second. A quarter billion a year. Presumably 0.001% of those would consider building a Lego brick R2 instead (or in addition). That tiny number would be 2,000 builds started a year. Let's pretend I'm way off and it's only 20.
Lets look at Bricklink again. Take those 16K bricks times 20 people. That's 320K very specific bricks. That is a HUGE number. Buying the bricks for one L3-G0 distorted the market price of some bricks for a year.
I just looked at one of the common bricks. There are enough for make 2 or 3 Artoos on sale right now. Most of those however are in small lots, which is going to make shipping fees prohibitive. Supply and demand would do the rest. 10 people trying to make Artoo would cause the price of those bricks to skyrocket. Instead of asking $3,000 for the bricks, you'd be looking at more like $10,000 or $25,000. So most of the people that started wouldn't have a chance of finishing.
Worse, look at the Lego fan clubs and exhibitions around the world. Where do they get their bricks? What if someone wants to build a really cool white castle? Then we've totally messed up their ability to get bricks as well.
All that sounds pessimistic, and, to be frank, it sounds like I'm making excuses for not wanting to share the plans. Mostly though I don't have the time to create usable plans, and I don't want to set up a bunch of kids for failure.
At this point our best bet is Lego Ideas. You may want to follow me there...
[Update: Lego Ideas no longer accepts these kinds of ideas, bummer]
L3-G0 had a rough design, however the "plans" don't come close to the as-built model, so there's a lot of work/confusion that would happen if someone started to build another. It'd probably take me a month of hard work to have something decent enough to share. Nothing personal, but I don't have a ton of free time.
In addition to the Lego model, there are many internal bits of other materials that add to the complexity of the build. He has an aluminum and wood frame with laser cut wood bits. Nothing individually that crazy, but this isn't your normal Lego brick build. You could get away without some of that if you wanted a static version, but he wasn't designed to "stand" without some of that structure.
For the dynamic version he also has 3D printed bricks internally and of course wires and motors and electronics. None of that's a huge deal, but does make things a bit more complicated.
Probably the biggest problem is 16,000 Lego Bricks.
Very specific Lego Bricks.
Think about that. 16 thousand bricks. Big Lego sets are 1-2 thousand bricks. And those are a completely different very specific group of bricks.
So how do you get 16K bricks? There are places that people part out sets like bricklink and ebay.
But lets go back to that number: 16K bricks. Bricklink has 251 million bricks listed right now. But almost all of those are the completely wrong bricks. When I bought bricks for L3-G0, I ended up buying several kinds for which I bought all of the only bricks of that shape/color available.
Now lets consider what happens if I post the plans. Obviously 10 kids are going to ask dad (or mom) to help build him. If word got out, then it's 100 or 1000 or more. The Lego Group sells 7 sets a second. A quarter billion a year. Presumably 0.001% of those would consider building a Lego brick R2 instead (or in addition). That tiny number would be 2,000 builds started a year. Let's pretend I'm way off and it's only 20.
Lets look at Bricklink again. Take those 16K bricks times 20 people. That's 320K very specific bricks. That is a HUGE number. Buying the bricks for one L3-G0 distorted the market price of some bricks for a year.
I just looked at one of the common bricks. There are enough for make 2 or 3 Artoos on sale right now. Most of those however are in small lots, which is going to make shipping fees prohibitive. Supply and demand would do the rest. 10 people trying to make Artoo would cause the price of those bricks to skyrocket. Instead of asking $3,000 for the bricks, you'd be looking at more like $10,000 or $25,000. So most of the people that started wouldn't have a chance of finishing.
Worse, look at the Lego fan clubs and exhibitions around the world. Where do they get their bricks? What if someone wants to build a really cool white castle? Then we've totally messed up their ability to get bricks as well.
All that sounds pessimistic, and, to be frank, it sounds like I'm making excuses for not wanting to share the plans. Mostly though I don't have the time to create usable plans, and I don't want to set up a bunch of kids for failure.
At this point our best bet is Lego Ideas. You may want to follow me there...
[Update: Lego Ideas no longer accepts these kinds of ideas, bummer]
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Attempting to build a Lightsaber Launcher
Working on a Lightsaber Launcher for his dome. Man this takes up a TON of room! I plan to stretch the lever arm a couple mm because the servo is rubbing, but this would probably work if I needed it to.
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| Lightsaber Launcher for Lego Artoo, Mark I Overview |
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| Closed Position Lightsaber Launcher Clamp |
And here's a picture with the saber loaded.
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| Loaded Lightsaber Launcher |
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| Open clamp position |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Some bits of L3-G0's Innards
I was poking around looking for some of my pictures to show off and couldn't find them, so I've uploaded them to an album on Flickr...
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
R2-D2 in Star Trek Redshirt Costume
Well, L3-G0 decided to crash a Star Trek convention. And, of course if you're gonna mix canons like that, your gonna need a costume:
Our daughter has been collecting signatures, so we wanted to see some of the stars, and Lara thought it would be a good idea to bring L3-G0. I wasn't so sure, but she had the idea for the red shirt. Of course we put off actually making the costume 'til the last minute. Anyway it turned out pretty fun.
Artoo wasn't the only cosplayer there:
Of course, there were scarier things than Klingons:
Artoo did get to meet some of the Star Trek talent. Some of them left early and missed him, but Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby and John De Lancie all got a chance to say hi to him. They also had some talks that were pretty enjoyable with funny anecdotes, their an entertaining crowd. (I guess that's their job.)
Marina was really funny. She saw R2 in his red shirt and whipped out her phone... a Blackberry... asking if she could tweet a picture. There was lots of tapping and phone wrangling, but finally she held it out to take a picture... Whoops, another one... And another. Finally she apparently has a picture and taps a bunch more (all the while insisting she loves her Blackberry). Viola, she announces that she's done it and posted the pix to twitter.
Curious about this 5 minute picture taking of course I check twitter when we move on:
Later in the day the talent had no visitors, so we went back and let her know about the faux pas. It didn't take as long this time:
Another hilarious bit was when the talent first arrived. Apparently they had been told to bring photos, but Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes apparently hadn't been listening. Marina was like "men". Brent was griping and grouching, digging around his bag and pulled out the only shot he could find, all bent and torn, turning around and asking the fans if they'd buy that. (Someone did scrounge up some stills for them eventually.)
In short, we had as much fun as Lara predicted, and he was better received than I expected, considering that we had the wrong genre. I guess we're all just geeks.
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| Lego R2-D2 wearing Star Trek Redshirt |
Artoo wasn't the only cosplayer there:
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| R2-D2 with Star Trek Cosplay |
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| Borg with Artoo Red Shirt |
Marina was really funny. She saw R2 in his red shirt and whipped out her phone... a Blackberry... asking if she could tweet a picture. There was lots of tapping and phone wrangling, but finally she held it out to take a picture... Whoops, another one... And another. Finally she apparently has a picture and taps a bunch more (all the while insisting she loves her Blackberry). Viola, she announces that she's done it and posted the pix to twitter.
Curious about this 5 minute picture taking of course I check twitter when we move on:
The universes collide!!!! R2D2 in a starfleet shirt!!!
— Marina Sirtis (@Marina_Sirtis) December 14, 2014
Hilarious, all that and no photo :)Later in the day the talent had no visitors, so we went back and let her know about the faux pas. It didn't take as long this time:
OK OK I know I'm dumb. Here's the pic of R2D2 pic.twitter.com/PPiGFOHRoT
— Marina Sirtis (@Marina_Sirtis) December 15, 2014
I know she likes that phone, but maybe she wants one with a better camera, just sayin'. Anyway, thanks a ton to Marina for providing us with such a fun story and memories.Another hilarious bit was when the talent first arrived. Apparently they had been told to bring photos, but Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes apparently hadn't been listening. Marina was like "men". Brent was griping and grouching, digging around his bag and pulled out the only shot he could find, all bent and torn, turning around and asking the fans if they'd buy that. (Someone did scrounge up some stills for them eventually.)
In short, we had as much fun as Lara predicted, and he was better received than I expected, considering that we had the wrong genre. I guess we're all just geeks.
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| L3-G0 (in costume) saying hi to famous people |
Friday, October 10, 2014
Brickcon 2014
Back to Brickcon!
This time L3-G0 brought a friend, MCK-Y, the Lego Mouse Droid. We spent so much time running around the hall interacting with the kids and folks that we don't have a lot of photos, but here're some decent ones.
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| L3-G0 and MCK-Y, the Lego R2-D2 astromech and MSE-6 mouse droids. |
Above you can see that MCK-Y has some glowing undercarriage LEDs that provide a nice effect, if not canon. MCK-Y has his own set of bleeps and noises, we'll try to post some video later. MSE-6 Mouse Droids also go by the name "Baby Box Droid." Here's a close up of MCK-Y.
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| MCK-Y the Lego MSE-6 Mouse Droid |
We Win!
I know we win because I have a picture of the trophy to prove it :) We one the "Sublime Shape" artistic category in Brickcon 2014. That's one of the art categories. We're honored, there are tons of amazing MOC's at Brickcon. And, as you can see, the trophies themselves are pretty cool. This is our second trophy, the Lego Disney Wonder won a microscale contest a few years ago.
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| "Sublime Shape" trophy for the Lego Droids, Brickcon 2014 |
Anyway, we'll leave you with a photo of the droids:
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| Lego R2D2 and Mouse Droids |
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Rose City Comicon
I've been remiss in posting. L3-G0 has visited a school, Children's Hospital, and a few conventions, and attended a Unicode Technical Committee meeting (last post was backdated). He's also gotten a new friend, MCK-Y the Lego MSE-6 Mouse (aka Baby Box) droid.
Anyway, here he is at Rose City Comicon. Roaming the halls we met lots of folks, including Master Chief from Halo!
It wasn't as crowded as ECCC, so we were fairly free to roam at will, though we always attracted a crowd. Some weren't very well behaved though, vandals!
And, of course, there was tons of other cool stuff. Here L3-G0 poses on the red carpet with a Back to the Future Delorean replica, and a Doctor Who Tardis.
This hexacopter was flying around the celebrity area, Artoo took offence and tried to tell him that it was a no-fly no-camera zone! (I'm still hoping to find his video of this confrontation).
And we all posed together in the lobby. Group photo time.
It can get quite crowded though....
Things went pretty well this time around, I guess we're getting better at this. We had two problems: the drive wheels keep slipping on the driveshaft. The chain turns a sprocket which uses a bolt as an axle, but the set screws (on all 4 shafts, he's 8-wheel drive) keep slipping. I tried drilling a notch in the shaft for the set screw to grip, and broke the bit. That seems to have helped the most, having the ground up bit mashed in there to keep it from slipping! Anyway we had to fix it several times.
I also drove ineptly (again) and mashed a shoulder (same one) into a vendor's table. The right shoulder's smashed itself 3 times now!!!
The lights died right before seeing Wil Wheaton, so we had to come back for a better pix.
The other problem is an odd electrical thing. He started freaking out and spraying his mist all the time (he can startle folks with canned air), and his dome started spinning madly. We'd had a similar problem where the mist freaked out, so we unplugged it. Then his dome refused to move. But we thought it was fixed before the con. Last day we had to leave early though.
When I got home I checked EVERYTHING trying to repro the problem, but it wouldn't happen. Eventually I replaced the fuse on that circuit (it's the car-type fuses) and he was great. I left his head spinning for a half hour to prove it. What happened is that the fuse was apparently weak. Eventually the dome motor controller got it hot enough that the volts dropped (from resistance), but it didn't blow. That confused the motor controller which was also reading the RC signals, and sent gibberish to the Arduino controlling the mist, and of course it confused itself about the dome's movement. What a freaky problem. What a relief to have figured it out.
We had tons of fun at Rose City Comicon, we'll try to see if we can make it next year!
Anyway, here he is at Rose City Comicon. Roaming the halls we met lots of folks, including Master Chief from Halo!
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| Hey, Master Chief! |
It wasn't as crowded as ECCC, so we were fairly free to roam at will, though we always attracted a crowd. Some weren't very well behaved though, vandals!
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| Vandal Attacking Lego R2D2 With a Bat! |
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| L3-G0 with Tardis and Delorean |
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| L3-G0 tries to fend off a Quadrocopter |
While we were in the celebrity area, Wil Wheaton took notice. He was nice.
Just a full-sized R2-D2 made out of LEGO, that talks and does R2 stuff. O.o pic.twitter.com/gCzGGO7MKv
— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) September 21, 2014
Garrett Wang was also hilarious on the red carpet. He saw L3-G0 while talking to a fan and flew over his table to run up to L3-G0 and take his photo. Startled us terribly. I heard him apologize to his fans when he went back.
Oh, no, L3-G0's lost his head! We also participated in the R2-D2 Builder's Club talk about building Astromechs, where we showed off some of our droids and how they are built. It was a talk like this that helped me decide to make L3-G0, lots of folks get there start building by seeing the other droids at a 'con and seeing such a talk.
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| L3-G0 at builder's talk with head off. |
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| Astromechs in the Lobby at Rose City Comicon |
And of course everyone wanted to pose with L3-G0 and the other droids. I don't think he minds.
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| L3-G0 likes her R2-D2 skirt |
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| Crowds of picture takers |
I also drove ineptly (again) and mashed a shoulder (same one) into a vendor's table. The right shoulder's smashed itself 3 times now!!!
The lights died right before seeing Wil Wheaton, so we had to come back for a better pix.
The other problem is an odd electrical thing. He started freaking out and spraying his mist all the time (he can startle folks with canned air), and his dome started spinning madly. We'd had a similar problem where the mist freaked out, so we unplugged it. Then his dome refused to move. But we thought it was fixed before the con. Last day we had to leave early though.
When I got home I checked EVERYTHING trying to repro the problem, but it wouldn't happen. Eventually I replaced the fuse on that circuit (it's the car-type fuses) and he was great. I left his head spinning for a half hour to prove it. What happened is that the fuse was apparently weak. Eventually the dome motor controller got it hot enough that the volts dropped (from resistance), but it didn't blow. That confused the motor controller which was also reading the RC signals, and sent gibberish to the Arduino controlling the mist, and of course it confused itself about the dome's movement. What a freaky problem. What a relief to have figured it out.
We had tons of fun at Rose City Comicon, we'll try to see if we can make it next year!
Friday, August 8, 2014
L3-G0 attends Unicode Technical Committee Meeting
L3-G0 has a good buddy that's interested in millions of forms of communication. He couldn't make it, so L3-G0 decided to attend the Unicode Technical Committee meeting in his stead. (L3-G0 follows me to work somewhat often. I'm losing count, but he's visited about 10 of the buildings on campus).
I saw a copy of the meeting minutes, and he's listed on the attendee roster :)
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| L3-G0 with colleague at UTC meeting |
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Star Wars Day, May the 4th be With You!
(General L3-G0 Video is at http://youtube.com/myL3G0 if you are just looking for Lego R2D2 videos)
@()$*&)(*& Sandpeople!
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| L3-G0 faceplant, @#$_()* Sandpeople! |
His right shoulder got mangled again, and one of the front panels screws got pulled out. A few bricks were scratched or dented and I'll probably replace them.
On the plus side, I don't think I have another picture of the bottom of his feet, and from the label I can now clearly tell which one is the Right Foot! (As if I didn't know).
Fortunately the 501st was there, though where an Imperial learned to repair Lego Astromechs is beyond me.
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| L3-G0 the Lego R2-D2 and a 501st Jawa |
.jpg "501st trying to repair L3-G0 the Lego R2D2") |
| 501st trying to repair L3-G0 the Lego R2D2 |
Unfortunately he missed the group photo while I put his shoulder back together, but I got a couple more photos with the 501st.
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| L3-G0 the Lego R2D2 with some of the 501st |
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| L3-G0 considering a Tuskan Raider |
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| No Gus, you may not collect L3-G0 the Lego R2-D2 :) |
(I'm not quite sure what's up with the pigeon-toed Sandtrooper, I guess he's still looking for the right droids :-)
After going back home (and finding my daughter who managed to vanish) we went back out to the mall for a few minutes. Apparently the Minifig he bought at Comicon wasn't enough for him.
First stop was to check out the Lego store. I tried explaining the birds and the bees, but apparently I didn't make the right beeps and whistles, so L3-G0's still trying to figure out where he came from.
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| L3-G0, the Lego R2-D2 trying to figure out from whence he came |
After my earlier wipe out (and random stranger kids wonder why we don't let them at the remote control), my daughter insisted that she be the one with the controls. I'm not quite sure if it was her or L3-G0 that wanted to look at XBox One games...
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| L3-G0 the Lego R2D2 perusing a shelf of XBox One games |
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| L3-G0 with a fan on Star Wars Day |
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| L3-G0 at the local Disney Store |
Anyway, that was L3-G0's Star Wars Day, May the 4th be With You!
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