Book Image

Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor

By : Aaron Maurer
Book Image

Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor

By: Aaron Maurer

Overview of this book

LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor is the latest addition to the LEGO MINDSTORMS theme. It features unique designs that you can use to build robots, and also enable you to perform activities using the robot inventor application. You'll begin by exploring the history of LEGO MINDSTORMS, and then delve into various elements of the Inventor kit. Moving on, you'll start working on different projects which will prepare you to build a variety of smart robots. The first robotic project involves designing a claw to grab objects, and helps you to explore how a smart robot is used in everyday life and in industry. The second project revolves around building a working guitar that can be played and modified to meet the needs of the user. As you advance, you'll explore the concept of biomimicry as you discover how to build a scorpion robot. In addition to this, you'll also work on a classic robotic challenge by building a sumobot. Throughout the book, you'll come across a variety of projects that will provide you with hands-on experience in building creative robots, such as building a Dragster, Egg Decorator, and Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants. By the end of this LEGO book, you'll have got to grips with the concepts behind building a robot, and also found creative ways to integrate them using the application based on your creative insights and ideas.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Building the claw

Before we build the claw, let's explore the strategy being used for these claws. There are many LEGO robotic claws to be found online. This one tries to do some things differently, as follows:

  • The claw needs to be able to be controlled by a human.
  • The claw needs to be able to move from side to side.
  • The claw needs to be able to move up and down.
  • The claw needs to be able to open and close the claw to grab various objects.

We are going to start this build using a large teal 11x19 base plate as the main building foundation for this robotic claw. Ensuring that we have a solid foundation is key, and the teal 11x19 base plate shown in the following screenshot is perfect for building on top of when designing an claw:

Figure 3.2 – The LEGO teal base plate

Let's build the robotic claw now, starting with the frame for the Intelligent Hub!

Building the frame for the Intelligent Hub

One part of this...