Lego Mindstorms Used To Make Artificial Bones 42
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists at Cambridge University have used Lego Mindstorms robots to create an artificial bone-like substance. The toy robots proved to be much easier to set up and vastly more economical than more high-tech solutions. Their research is featured in a video for the 2012 Google Science Fair."
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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Not quite edgy/ethically questionable enough.
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Well, maybe they could steal the Mindstorms?
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Yup, I can actually see that.
Throw in a few inappopriate remarks similar to the already used "they need that energy for other things, like crying" .. maybe some moment about 3/4 through where House is shocked into a weird sense of guilt after witnessing some selfless act or something.
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The only thing that didn't do this, was the first Season of Dexter. Felt like the book's story playing out.
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Yup! I'm a box set junkie .. and some shows are definitely worse than others.
You also start picking up painfully repetitive elements that you'd otherwise miss / let slide. ST:TNG is horrible for this. Not just on major plot elements, but on minor character interation. Example:
When refering to the past (i.e. human achievement, historical events), it's almost always two people/events from real life, followed by one fictional.
The first 3 or 4 seasons of SG1 have to be the worst though. I mean I know they set a
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Love it (Score:5, Interesting)
Love stuff like this..
Where someone who would normally draw from a mostly vertical market (industrial robotics) draws from a more horizontal one (toys).
In the time it takes to even figure out who to call about getting information on the stuff they need built .. someone can run to Toys R' Us and get everything they need, and at a fraction of the cost!
Whoever saw their kid playing with lego and thought this up deserves like a free toaster or something.
lego vaginas? (Score:2)
Re:Love it (Score:5, Interesting)
Where someone who would normally draw from a mostly vertical market (industrial robotics) draws from a more horizontal one (toys).
The first experimental modern soft contact lenses made of water-permeable plastic gel were manufactured in the 1960's on a machine constructed from the parts of a local (Czech) clone of the Erector/Meccano construction kit (named Merkur).
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Whoever saw their kid playing with lego and thought this up deserves like a free toaster or something.
The way that bearded super scientist assembled that robot...it's clear he's the kid who played with lego.
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Glad you prefaced this with the fact that you're not a scientist. I'm sure they (being the real scientists) have thought of this.
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In fact they say it in the video. The part is dipped in a water bath after being exposed to each chemical. There is a separate water bath for each that can be seen clearly.
Rapid prototyping (Score:3)
Lego is fantastic for cobbling something together quickly. I've used Lego scaffolding when building scale models, e.g. to hold a wing in the correct position when gluing it to the fuselage.
It has its limitations (Technic hole-and-pin structures tend not to be rigid, lots of play in geartrains), but still.
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Lots of fun. Disagree w/ the characterization in the summary that Mindstorms aren't ``high tech'' though.
I use it to prototype sizing or joint structure for woodworking projects, and to actually make some functional archery accessories such as a fletching jig, spine tester and cresting machine.
Re:Rapid prototyping (Score:5, Interesting)
The Mindstorms handle lots of the mundane details in robotics, like motor loading, sensor debounce, etc. You can add on your own sensors pretty easily too. I used v2 extensively to prototype stuff. For $300 you just can't beat the kit. Sure it's got limitations, but you know that going in. For a first-run, it's orders of magnitude cheaper than a 3D printer or machining parts.
FWIW, I'm a Professional Electrical Engineer.
Darn... (Score:1)
I thought if I broke a bone, I could just snap it back together. But it is cool how they are using the Lego robots.
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Megablocks (Score:5, Funny)
Can't wait for them to make artificial bones out of megablocks and use it for medical applications.
It'll cost less than half the price- but your arms will keep falling off.
Industrial-grade Mindstorms (Score:5, Interesting)
This gets me wondering if Lego shouldn't open up a technical division that specializes in buildable, cost-effective robots based on Mindstorms for corporate and scientific use. Tighten up the tolerance and offer parts in materials other than plastic, like aluminum or stainless steel. Obviously they wouldn't be competing with industrial robots, but I can imagine that these things could fill quite a few needs and pricing would be attractive, particularly to academia.
Meccano No. 10 (Score:3)
Slashdot Slashdot's Slashdot!!! (Score:2)
Did we really just have an article posted where the only link points to another Slashdot article?
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And a video...
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Ah, the video must be blocked at work. I don't see any video when I look at it.
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It actually took me a while to notice the video.
I was like half way through writing a similar post when I noticed it :)
Nitpicking ... (Score:1)
As I watched, I noticed that the top actuator is not connected to anything ...
It took a couple of viewings to realize that the actuator on top is just a counter-weight, and that the two actuators lying on their sides turn the crane and the spool.
I want to show this to a group of Boy Scouts using Mindstorms to do the Robotics Merit Badge, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't stop-action or something, and I'm pretty sure they'll notice that there's no cable attached to that actuator.
Bring Back Mechano! (Score:4, Interesting)
During WWII, when Alexander Flemming was developing penicillin, they couldn't get equipment, so one scientist brought his old Mechano set from the attic and used it to construct a shaker to agitate the flasks that they used to grow the mold.
Mechano has had its ups and downs since then (mostly downs), and when I tried to buy a set a few years ago for a friend's son (actually I wanted to use it myself), the current sets were a shadow of their former self. I hope they will or have come back.
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They have choke able parts! won't somebody think of the children?!?!
been there... (Score:1)
well, almost. back in the 80's I needed a robot to pick up a moving object on a semiconductor fab conveyor belt. Rather than get a section of that expensive belt in my lab, I realized that Lego trains moved at almost exactly the same speed, so I used them instead to develop the 'swoop and pick' the robot needed.
Do not use squirrel bones (Score:1)