LEGO.com MINDSTORMS Meet the MDP's Kevin Clague

Kevin Clague
From:
Owatonna, Minnesota, USA

What I do besides building with MINDSTORMS:
In real life I'm a mild mannered computer engineer. I try to show that prototype computer designs have design bugs.

Why I signed up for the MDP:
I was added to the NXT project in the second group of MUPs (i.e. MUP2). I guess I'm MUP 6 out of 13.

Experience with MINDSTORMS:
I came out of my dark age (returning to LEGO after stop playing with it as a kid) when the Robot Invention System came out. Since then I've been very active in the LEGO community, especially hanging out with my friends that play with LEGO.

I've co-authored four books about LEGO: three were step-by-step building instructions for my designs. Most of my designs walk or crawl.

I also wrote a book on the free computer aided design programs written by fans to share virtual LEGO.

My first real creation was a two legged walker. It took me weeks to figure out how to make a good one. I then published it here on My LEGO MINDSTORMS RIS Personal Page.

Since then I combined RIS with LEGO technic to invent lot of things. I made a calculator that did the math using LEGO pneumatics, controlled by the RCX.

Two of the books I wrote involved the RIS. I think my favorite RIS based creation is my RCX based Star Wars AT-ST (the two legged walkers from the Ewoks' movie).

There are a number gatherings of grown ups that like LEGO throughout the year. My favorite is Brickfest in Washington D.C. in August. I've been there three years, and have all my creations in the TECHNIC/MINDSTORMS room.

This last year, I got a visit from Kjeld, the owner of LEGO in the TECHNIC/MINDSTORMS room. He was very interested in the many creations I brought from Minnesota.

NXT Project: Rooster

About this NXT Project:

My first NXT creation was a two legged walker which is very similar to AT-ST, only it was much easier to build. The motor/rotation sensor combination are very popular. My new creation, called Rooster (a chicken walker), can walk forwards, backwards and turn right and left. It can turn within its own footprint.

The NXT language is very powerful, and it only took a few programming blocks to make it walk. A very similar program can make it turn.

Rooster walks by shifting its weight from side to side, and turning its legs.

One motor is used to lean to the left and right. This motor works the hardest because it has to shift the NXT and its batteries from foot to foot. I only use two gears (8 tooth driving a 40 tooth gear that then makes the NXT move side to side).

Each leg has a motor too. The NXT motors are very strong, and can move the legs without any gearing at all. Rooster has pretty good sized feet so that he doesn't fall over. The leg motors are parallel to the floor, with the drive axles pointing straight down.

Rooster's feet should always be parallel to the ground, but bending of the plastic stops this from happening.

The vertical motor makes Rooster lean side to side. The leg motors are underneath the NXT and make the legs turn.

I also like to make my own building instructions for my creations. I included a couple pictures related to that. One is a list of all the parts used to make Rooster. The other is an example of building the chassis around one of the leg motors.

My Links
My LEGO MINDSTORMS RIS Personal Page
My Website

Play Well!

NXT Parts list for Rooster

Example building instruction for the chassis around one of the Rooster leg motors