It seems that you can’t open a newspaper or turn on a TV lately without seeing a member of the VLC featured.

The architect behind a number of fantastic MOCs was interviewed by his local newspaper the Squamish Chief about his builds and his love of Lego®

Read the interview here:
https://www.squamishchief.com/community/about-a-grown-up-squamish-lego-builder-1.23644096

The LEGO® Retail Design team is very excited to hear from adults about their shopping experiences and expectations and how we can make the experience even better! Around the world there are different types of LEGO Stores (LBR and LCS) with the goal of providing an inspiring, interactive, creative and fun experience for kids and adults alike.

Whether you visit a LEGO Store every day or have never even seen one, it is important to know what adults expect and desire from a visit. Your feedback will be considered when designing the future LEGO Store experience.

Working with adult fans of LEGO, the LEGO Retail Design team has created a short survey and with the hope that you can take a few minutes to share your thoughts. Your insights will help to make visiting a LEGO Store a truly memorable event!

Just like a LEGO creation, each person offers a different and unique perspective so, the survey is open to anyone and everyone with the hope that thousands of adults from around the world share their ideas.

SURVEY LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/33JX7TD

The Survey is anonymous and available in both English and Simplified Chinese. Survey closes March 20, 2019.

The VLC will be hosting a public collaborative display of Ninjago City open to any full convention attendees. Please see the below instructions with guidelines and how to participate.

Full credit to The Brothers Brick for much of the text and specifications.

THE LOOK     –     The idea is there were old buildings at the bottom and people kept building on top of what was there

The visual style of Ninjago City, of the official sets and the movie, is of a vertically stacked city that’s an eclectic blend of traditional and modern architecture. The lower levels of the city are a bit run-down, or simply older, wood construction. Earth tones and simple, de-saturated colors, worn sidewalks, and plenty of vegetation set the scene. As we work our way up to the second level (there are generally two floors or stories for each level) the city is cleaner and newer, with brighter colors and plenty of shops and advertising. The third level, which not every block needs to have, can continue the aesthetic of the second level, or start to shift towards a more futuristic vibe.

Ninjago City is comprised of many skyscrapers, featuring billboards for advertising businesses. Within the city are small shops, lively subway systems, small arcades, schools, large banks, parks, cafes, and a vast sewer system.

The layers of the model show a city that has been built upon itself over the years. The city is broken up into three levels, known as the Old World, the Street and the High-rise.

• The “ground floor” of the city is the oldest occupied section.
• The street level boasts affordable shops and restaurants
• The upper level is home to some of the more exclusive restaurants and living spaces.

THE PLAN     –     Baseplates are all 32 x 32, in any color.

We will display our own version of the iconic setting of Ninjago City, based on the official set, with three baseplate templates for contributors to choose from, and adapt to create city “blocks” on 32×32 baseplates.

 

Light blue = foundation
Medium blue = waterCity block has 3 studs of water at the front, and 8 studs of water in the back. Water is composed of 1 plate + 1 tile. Levels are the same as standard above.

City block consists of at least 2 main levels:

Level 1 – (Lower city) 2 bricks + 1 plate from baseplate, with a 4 stud deep sidewalk.
Level 1 sidewalk can and should have some variation of height to a minimum of 1 brick + 1 plate, as long as they match up to standard 2 brick + 1 plate on any end that connects to an adjoining base. Also, a mixture of plate, tile, vegetation, as well as use the silver ingot tile, are encouraged to create the weathered and worn look of the official set.

Level 2 – 12 bricks + 1 plate above level 1 standard, also with a 4 stud deep minimum sidewalk.
Level 2 sidewalk is 1 brick + 2 plates, and this sidewalk should be much more even, and in better condition. Beyond the two standard levels, any additional sidewalks, bridges or platforms are entirely up the individual builder.

 

 

Placement of technic pin holes critical!Important Note:
Any construction like roof details, balconies, or other overhang are permitted, however, there can be no overhang beyond the left and right sides of the block, where joining to another baseplate. Rather, an overhang on either side needs to be set back from the edge of the baseplate. Overhangs beyond the edge of the block are permitted only in front, or back, where the building faces the water.

Major departures from this standard should be discussed beforehand, so as not to clash too much with the rest of the city. Front and back should be complete (no facades) as the block may be seen primarily from the back depending on final layout.
For the back of a straight block, filling in the water area in part or in full is an option, however, the back should either shift to 8 studs of water at either end, where the block joins with another baseplate, or show a finished edge along the visible side, so that when joined to a base with the water at the back, this will not look incomplete (as in, bright colors, or gaps).

Want to get social? Visit the Flickr group to check out what others are working on, and ask questions!

Some real-life inspiration for you from VLC member Joanna Mong’s recent trip to Japan:

A few people expressed interest in starting up a group of fighting robots with the hope of possibly holding tournaments during conventions.

I think our intention should be to provide constantly exciting tournaments during conventions, with entertainment value being the main focus. In many Lego robot tournaments, matches tend to become slow and meandering, with neither competitor really able to do much to the other. As such, they end up being relatively underwhelming and boring.

Lego is designed to be a toy for kids, but the motors have potential to be more than what they are. Current Lego brand speed controllers and power supplies are intentionally designed to underpower their outputs. As such, I think the following rules should be applied:

ROBOT DESIGN RULES:

1. ELECTRONICS AND POWER SUPPLIES
a. Motors must be LEGO Brand and unmodified.
b. Speed Controllers may be, but not limited to:
-third party bluetooth controllers. ex. SBrick
-LEGO Brand IR receivers
LEGO Brand IR receivers are discouraged though, as they are easily disrupted by interference from fluorescent lighting.
c. Battery packs and power supplies may be third party or LEGO brand.
d. Batteries may not be left exposed. Housings must have covers or shields to protect internal components. For instance, a x6 AA battery box MUST use its covers and may not be removed to save weight

2. BUILD LIMITS
a. Robot must fit in a 45x45x45 stud box.
b. The weight classes are 2 Pounds(907 grams) and 4 Pounds(1814 grams).
c. Robots using non-wheeled locomotion receive a 25% increase on their weight limit.
d. The number of electronic components used is unlimited.
e. The use of Tape, Glue or String to secure components is prohibited. However, tape may be used to insulate exposed wiring or other electronic components in danger of shorting out.
f. Unless otherwise noted as an exception, the robot must use LEGO brand parts.

3. WEAPON LIMITS
a. Prohibited weapons include but may not be limited to:
-Fire, heat or weapons designed to alter the temperature properties of the opponent.
-Liquids.
-Electro-magnetic devices.
-Projectiles.
-Devices intended to interfere with radio connectivity between the controller and receiver.
-Devices intended to obscure or blind the vision of the operators.
-Devices intended to entangle or otherwise render parts of the opponent as jammed or immovable, including nets, detachable harpoons and tow cables, debris dropped on the floor, such as ball bearings or pins.
-weapons that may cause extreme damage to the arena*.
(arena construction to be determined)
b. Robot MUST have an active weapon. An active weapon is defined as
-being independently powered from the drivetrain of said robot
-having a form of locomotion designed to over-power your opponent
-able to be activated by the operator’s remote control. Automation is allowed, but must be able to be overridden by the operator
c. Metal is prohibited as a weapon contact tip.

MULTI-BOTS:
a. You may operate more than one robot registered under the same name, simultaneously in the arena as long as:
-the total sum of the multi-bot’s weight may not exceed the weight limits of its weight category. For instance, two 1 pound robots may compete as a single entity in the 2 pound weight category
-at least one of the multi-bot robots has an active weapon outlined within the weapon limits column
b. A multi-bot will be counted as incapacitated if 50.1% of the robot’s total weight is rendered inoperable. This does not include debris dislodged from a competitor, but rather the full weight of a robot as determined at weigh-in.

COMPETITION RULES

LIABILITY:
a. Once a competing robot is placed in the arena, the operator and/or owner of said competing robot hereby acknowledges that their opponents and the competition organizers will be in no way responsible for any broken/damaged components to their robot entrant.
b. Operators/owners assume all responsibility for their own entrant.
c. Tournament organizers reserve the right to reject a robot from the tournament for safety concerns, unsportsmanlike conduct or other.

ARENA:
a. The arena shall consist of an enclosure with a total area to be determined by the host organizers.
b. There will be four transparent walls made of impact resistant plastic separating the audience and the arena.
c. A lower reinforced barricade shall surround the interior to prevent direct weapon impacts against the walls.
d. There may be arena hazards and obstacles concealed within the floor or along the walls.
e. There will be a roof made of impact resistant transparent plastic.

MATCH LENGTH:
a. A match’s duration will take no longer than 2:00 minutes
b. A match may end prior to 2:00 minutes if:
-a competitor is rendered incapacitated
-a competitor forfeits before or during the match
-a serious safety issue has occurred

DURING THE MATCH:
a. The goal of all competitors is to defeat their opponent by incapacitating and/or disabling them. In the event that this cannot be achieved within the allotted match time limit, then either competitor will be scored and judged on strategy, aggression, and damage inflicted upon their opponent.
b. Several events may occur to competitors during the match and are defined as follows:
-Pin: A competitor may hold their opponent in a way where they are unable to move for up to 20 seconds. After 20 seconds, an official will tell the competitor to release their opponent. For instance, you may push your opponent against a wall and hold them there for 20 seconds.
-Grapple: A competitor may hold and control their opponent in a way where the competitor is able to move and manipulate their opponent’s mobility.
-Stuck: When either competitor are unable to free themselves from each other after 20 seconds. Officials will pause the match to pull either robots apart. The match will immediately be resumed after this has occurred.
-Incapacitated: A competitor in unable to move. A 10 second countdown will begin before they are knocked out.
-Disabled: An operator in unable to show directional movement. A 10 second countdown will begin before they are knocked out.
-Directional Movement: Unless pinned or grappled, an operator must always be able to show that they have full control over their robot at an official’s discretion. If an operator is unable to display directional movement, a 10 second countdown will begin before they are knocked out. For instance, moving forward counts as directional movement. Spinning in place because of a malfunctioning drive motor or lost wheel does not count as directional movement.
-Knockout: When a competitor is either incapacitated or disabled after 10 seconds, they will be considered knocked out. That competitor loses the match.
-Tapout/Forfeit: When a competitor requests to immediately end the fight. That competitor loses the match.

GOOD FAITH RULES:
a. In good faith and in the spirit of sportsmanlike conduct, operators shall exercise restraint from causing excessive damage to their opponents at their own discretion. This would apply particularly in the case of when their opponent is in the process of being counted out for a knockout.

 

The latest rules update can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6557730 … 549021114/

For those of you who attended BrickCan 2018, you probably spent some time watching a big plexiglass case with LEGO robots battling each other built by WilF.  If you saw it and thought this looks like fun, and want to build your own for BrickCan 2019, then read on….

The rules are posted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6557730 … 549021114/

——————————–

 

This is going to be a comprehensive guide to beginning your adventure into destroying other people’s Lego by means of robotic combat. Here, I will be going over the basics of design and thought process, as well as a little of what I’ve learned over the past year.

PART 1

The Controller:

Let’s start with the brains of your robot and their effectiveness. To build a competitive machine you will need a micro controller that is capable of performing the tasks you want it to do. Let’s go over some of your options:

-Lego IR receiver: Lego’s previous generation controller for their Power Functions peripherals. It uses infrared to communicate with the user. It is capable of performing basic tasks but is susceptible to interference given off by fluorescent lights. It is also held back by a limited number of channels and the receiver must be visible to the user’s handheld control at all times. Its range is also limited to 15-25 feet and or even less in convention settings.

-Lego Powered Up: Lego’s new generation controller platform. At this point in time, Powered Up shows promise for the future of Lego robotics. Powered Up uses Bluetooth to communicate with the user’s controller or smartphone. It is compact, has an on-board power source and is not hampered by range or interference, unlike Lego’s previous generation IR controller. However, the only motor available for Powered Up is a motor equivalent to Power Function’s M Motor. Powered Up also only has two slots for peripherals which makes Powered Up useless for building a robot with two drive motors and a weapon motor. Powered Up-compatible motors also have new plugs which cannot be stacked on a single socket, unlike the old Power Function motors. Until Lego releases a socket splitter, then Powered Up is all but useless.

-Third party controller, “SBrick:”

The Sbrick is an extremely capable Bluetooth controller. It communicates to the user by smartphone app. It is Power Functions compatible. It receives power via a PF battery box or any power source that is PF compatible. It has four plug sockets on top and one power socket on the bottom. The Sbrick’s circuits are limited to approximately 11.6 volts at 2 amps.

The app is an extremely customizable way of building a control scheme for your machine. You may build your custom control scheme via their website or choose from a variety of premade control profiles. Follow the jist of these steps to get things working
1) Log in or sign up to https://designer.sbrick.com/
2) choose the aspect ratio of your phone screen that your control profile will be used upon.
3) place your sliders, joysticks, etc and save when done.
4) log onto the sbrick app on your phone, add your controller and then assign the appropriate SBrick motor sockets to your sliders, joysticks, etc.

Pro-tip: If you want to use the joystick to controller a tank drive, rotate the joystick placement in the designer phase by 45 degrees.

It is also possible to control SBrick with a game controller https://social.sbrick.com/videos/14132/ … gaming-pad

-Third party controller, “BuWizz:”

BuWizz is a polarizing controller among the community. It is a fairly recent addition to third party Lego controls. BuWizz has a lot of bugs to iron out, assuming they’ll ever iron them out. Its control interface is clunky. Customization is shallow and not nearly as in-depth as that of the SBrick. For instance, there is no way for you to be able to efficiently control tank drive by joystick through means of interface customization. The price point is also a massive downfall. At $200CAD, it’s a large financial investment to put down on a toy controller.

That being said, the devs behind the BuWizz have a clear set of intentions that are quite frankly, insane. Let’s run some bare numbers about the capability of this thing. The BuWizz has an on-board power supply that is a god damned 12 volt Lithium Ion battery. Its maximum output is 4 Amps of current. For those of you questioning whether or not that is a lot of power, yes. Yes it is.

To put into perspective, a Power Functions battery box runs somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7.4-7.8 volts with NiMH batteries, 9 volts with NiCd batteries. The Power Functions LiPo box runs at about 7.4 volts. All PF battery boxes have current limited to approximately .8 amps before thermal overload protection trips. We should also consider that Lego rates their motors to safely run between .5-.7 amps, and should not exceed 1 amp of current. So when you’re dumping that much current into Lego’s motors, well, you’re gonna do things with Lego that it may not have been specifically designed for, such as getting a weighted disk to whip around at a couple thousand RPM, moving from the category of “children’s toy” and more towards “potentially dangerous weapon.”

WEIGHING YOUR OPTIONS

There are two things to consider when investing in your controller.

The first one is price. These things can be heavy financial investments. An $80 SBrick costs a little bit less than a $200+ BuWizz. While I only mentioned these two as hardware recommendations, there are other third party controllers out there that may be cheaper. You may even go the route of buying an RC controller or an Arduino. It’s only through personal experience and ease of setup that I recommend the SBrick and BuWizz. I know the Pfx Brick is a preference for some, but I haven’t used it because I don’t believe it suits my needs.

Secondly, consider what sort of robot you want to build. You may find that what you want to design is limited by the controller you’ve bought. Do you want to build a robot that has a passive weapon or an active weapon(a weapon that is only used at the user’s discretion, versus a weapon that needs to be constantly turned on to be effective)? Do you want to design a robot whose strategy is centered around driving/maneuvering or kinetic energy? A robot that uses a clamp to grapple an opponent may use less electrical power than a robot that uses a spinning blade, and may require a controller that gives the user a superior control interface rather than sheer explosive energy.

MOTORS:

This section I will be going over some of the strengths and weaknesses of Lego Motors to the best of my knowledge. I am going to focus on the Power Functions line of motors because they are the most easily accessible and because I am most experienced with the PFs. If you are looking for extremely in-depth charts and power tests on the motors, I’d direct you to this website: http://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm

Have a look over the page. It’s an extremely useful resource for everything past and (nearly) present for all things Lego motors. In fact, check out the whole webpage http://www.philohome.com/

-MOTOR 5292 Buggy Motor:

Okay, I did say I’d be focusing on PF motors, but 5292 is the supposed Power Overwhelming of all motors that Lego has ever produced.

This thing is so power hungry that the modern standard power sources cannot even adequately feed it the juice that it needs to run at peak efficiency. At its base output, it runs at 1000rpm+, compared to say, the PF motors that run base in the low to mid hundreds. I myself have zero experience with this thing, so I cannot personally verify the claims that those on the interwebs have said about 5292. I also cannot personally speak for its speed to torque ratio, either. What I do know is that I cannot be bothered to put out $90+ for a used, approaching twenty years old motor that does not have any sort of overload protection and might cook itself in an instant if put in the wrong situation. If you can manage to get a hold of one of these motors, cherish it. Its notoriety as an unprecedented and legendary Lego part makes it more of a collectors item rather than something you’d want to dump into a scenario where you risk destroying it. On the off hand that you are considering using it, consider the following points:

Advantages of 5292 Buggy Motor:
-Essentially God Mode
– ∞ RPMs
-Will tear hole in space-time
Disadvantages:
-Underpowered if used with standard, currently available Lego Power Sources. Third party power sources required.
-Rare
-$90-$130CAD for a used one
-16 years old
-No built-in thermal/current protection
-Unverifiable statistics to tell if it’s a viable motor in robot combat

-MOTOR PF Medium:

Something you need to consider when designing a fighting robot is its weight as a finite resource. In all robot fighting competitions, classes are limited by weight. Because of this, you should think about how you’re attributing weight to your robot’s subsystems. How strong do you want your drive and weapon subsystems to be respectively? If you want to build a control robot where you are focused on outdriving your opponent, you may want to add bigger and more powerful motors to your robot’s drive. On the other hand, if you want to make an extremely powerful weapon, you need to dump more weight into the weapon drive.

This is where the M motor comes into play. It is the lightest out of the three PF motors at 31g, but it is also the weakest. Ungeared, it delivers the most rpm in the PF line, but is also susceptible to being overworked quickly and cannot move heavy loads without gearing it down.

Advantages of the M motor:
-lightest at 31 grams
-physically takes up the least volume/smallest footprint
-highest direct rpm
-lowest current draw
-Lego stud mounting base
Disadvantages:
-Susceptible to overheating and dying during overusage
-somewhat underpowered. Useful only in specific applications.
-Only 4 Technic mounting points

-MOTOR PF Large:

I’ve found the L motor to be a decent balance between torque, speed and weight. Additionally, it also has 14 mounting points–the most out of any of the PF motors.

Advantages of the L motor:
-significantly increased performance in every way over the PF M
-14 Technic mounting points
-42 grams
Disadvantages:
-Not good enough to be used for kinetic energy weapons
-Can be a power suck. If this motor stalls, you risk tripping the thermal overload on your battery box.
-For some reason this motor costs more than the XL motor

-MOTOR PF XL:

It is possible to mistake the XL motor as the weakest because its rpm is the slowest. This is not the case. The XL motor is by far the strongest of the PF line and quite possibly the best motor Lego has produced. This motor needs to be geared in order to be used properly due to its rather low RPM. A single XL Motor can be geared up to 1:7.5 to give you an excess of 1000rpm+ with a weighted load. For instance, Lego Nightmare is geared to 1:7.5 while pulling a 180 gram, 20 stud wide disk with ease at approximately 1350 rpm at 4 amps. I have tested an M and an L motor with the same 1:7.5 gear configuration. Both the M and L struggle with that load compared to the XL.

If you combine two XL Motors, you can gear them to 1:15.At that point you start moving into the physically dangerous weapons territory of things.

Kinetic energy weapons are not the only application XL motor can be used for. I use one on a 1:1 gear ratio on a lifter and 2 XL Motors on a 1:4 gear ratio to power an overhead swinging hammer. If you can manage to allocate weight and space into your robot design, then the XL is for you.

Advantages of the XL motor:
-Most versatile motor and has multiple applications
-Highest amount of torque out of all three PF motors
Disadvantages:
-69 grams. One of the heaviest Lego motors and the heaviest PF motor
-Very bulky. It’s nearly as wide as it is tall. Its overall shape and placement of mounting points makes it hard to place into a machine.
-Gearing this motor to fit your application is going to take up additional space
-So power hungry you can only attach two to a single modern Lego battery box at once
____________
This concludes the primer to basic electronics in regards to their usage in Lego robot combat. In the next part, I’ll go over the thought process on designing your fighting machine from the ground up.

-WilF