DailyDirt: Science With Lego
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
People do all sorts of creative stuff with Lego -- even though Lego hasn't always been cool about people using Lego or Lego-like bricks in various ways. But when- Scientists from the Natural History Museum London built an insect manipulator out of Lego because it was a cheap way to make a customizable specimen holder. Using these Lego-based insect manipulators, the researchers will be able to digitize a wide variety of little critters. [url]
- If you've ever wondered how tall the tallest stack of Lego anyone can make would be, the theoretical answer is 3.5km using all 2x2 bricks. That's about 375,000 bricks stacked until the bottom brick starts to deform from the weight. However, in reality, it would be extremely difficult to stack bricks without any leaning -- so the tallest Lego tower actually built has only been about 32 meters tall. [url]
- The Open Worm project has put a virtual worm brain in a Lego robot body. The software simulates 302 neurons of a worm's brain, but it's not a complete biological replica in Lego plastic -- otherwise if you put two together in a room, they'd be able to make a third robot. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: ai, diy, interconnecting blocks, open worm, robots, science, worm brain
Companies: lego
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
An Open (can of) Worms...
Technological process is like a bad drug addiction pattern, where you start with nice soft drugs then can easily go through an escalation that makes you into a crack addict, where you've lost near-total control of yourself, a zombie.
You gotta control it, or it runs out of control. Top scientists now have warned us about the danger of AI, so what are these idiots here doing? That's what the Hippocratic Oath was about... now the mad scientists like those of the Open Project just thrown in the trash bin, like the rest of their ethics, their consciousness, their sense of scientific accountability.
Stupid idiots doing this "cool" project don't realize how they contribute to sign a death warrant for the whole of mankind... or just building The Matrix.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
2x2xthick is very stable, though. But probably wouldn't stand up to wind.
Pairs of 4x2xthick, alternating direction, would be rock-solid, though. & could probably resist more weight.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: An Open (can of) Worms...
I didn't want to know that Daleks originated from this planet -.-
[ link to this | view in thread ]
it hit me like a brick
Open source Lego prosthetic limbs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: An Open (can of) Worms...
To be able to understand how brains actually work it is very important to do these kinds of experiments.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Not to worry
No way would they allow our young uns to build things that would replace them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
That's why it's only theoretical. The idea is to figure out how high such a tower could be under perfect conditions before the weight of it crushed the blocks at the bottom.
It also may not be as structurally sound as you may think. 2x2xany & larger have one or more reinforcing cylinders in the center; 1x1s are completely hollow.
The cylinders in the center typically aren't as thick-walled as the edges of the bricks. They're not there for reinforcement, but to reduce the open area in the bottom of the brick so that the pegs from other bricks will have something to snap into.
While a 1x1 block is all hollow, there's much less empty space than in a 4x4 brick. Also, I'm not talking about thin 1x1 blocks which are only slightly thicker than the pegs on top of the blocks (do they even make these?) but rather the ones that are the same height as normal blocks. They're often used for making pillars and such.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
Whether you use 1x1xthin or 1x1xthick, both become unstable VERY quickly. I often made horizontal chains on the floor of the same size & color of blocks when I was working on larger custom projects for organizational purposes. Even horizontal, it didn't take long for 1x1 chains to become unstable, forcing me to just allow it to break & have 2 or 3 chains for that color. If they become unstable at manageable lengths horizontally, they'd be less stable, even under prefect conditions, vertically.
& I still think the cylinders in the middle are also structural (it often isn't JUST a cylinder). There are some strangely shaped blocks that still have the cylinders (some also have lines going out from it to support the cylinders), but they don't go all the way to the bottom. They're rare, but do exist. I also was aware they provide additional friction points.
Also, 4x4xthick bricks are rare, if they even exist (which is why I suggested 4x2xthick pairs). I know there are 4x4xthin. I know one of the imitation brands had a specialized brick that was 4x4x2 (as opposed to the usual 4x4x3 = 4x4xthick), w/ a hollow center, allowing for a rotatable top piece, which was used in that set for helicopter blades.
[ link to this | view in thread ]