A while ago, I tried to build a NXT F1 car and ended up with the NXT Roadster. I have since revisited the idea with the aid of the Technic 1:8 F1 Set (#8674). The results are as you see below. I hope you will agree it’s much better than my last attempt.
The set uses the NXT set and the F1 set and no other parts – no wierd old chain link pieces this time. Once again there are three motors, two at the back (one driving the wheels and one driving the engine) and one at the front turning the steering.
I built the NXT into the F1 car as I built from the F1 set’s instructions. This means the front of the car is very similar to the original and still has working suspension. The back of the car is almost completely redesigned, due to the size and shape of the NXT and motors, and the need for strength to hold everything together. The rear suspension has gone because it would make it impossible to transmit the power to the wheels through the universal (bendy) joints.
As for sensors, the ultrasonic sensor is built into the front wing to avoid objects. The light sensor at the back is used as a brake light, but doesn’t actually do any sensing!
You might wonder how it can detect collisions while going backwards with no touch sensors. The answer is that by writing the program to monitor the rotation sensor of the motor driving the wheels it can detect when it has stopped moving and can take evasive action. I’ve done this by having a loop which resets the rotation sensor, waits for a short time then reads it. If it is zero, a boolean variable is set to flag that the car has stopped. Other parts of the program can then pick this up and deal with it.
The software is pretty simple otherwise, I’ve made it act as a remote control car using the Lego Mindstorms Mobile Application. Like the roadster the engine can idle and changes speed with the wheels, and as an extra bonus, the brake light comes on when stopped.
Bigger versions of the photos:
0 Responses to “NXT F1”