Heart Candy Catapult

Valentines Day is coming up, and you just might have some classic cinnamon heart candy on hand. But who wants the hassle of actually getting up to get some, wouldn't it be better to have them launched at you? Builder and robotics guru JK Brickworks thought so, and whipped up this clever device with LEGO BOOST to do just that. Check out the video to see it in action.

RCX FTW

First generation mindstormers should get a kick out of this one. It's the RCX, the first programmable brick in the LEGO Mindstorms robotics system. I had two of these babies way back when, I still have one (donated the other to a school). Builder nobu_tary has faithfully recreated this classic so well I actually did a double take while scrolling Flickr.

High Tech Vintage Communication

I imagine if you had told Samuel Morse way back in the mid 1800's that in the future someone would use a combination of a child's toy and a rather advanced robotics system to make a system that could interpret his code and write it out in legible words on paper, he might have called the men in white coats to haul you off. But that's precisely what mad genius Jason Allemann has created here. And of course being the awesome guy he is, he shared the instructions to build your own on his website jkbrickworks.com.

Robot And Robot

I don't know if there's an underlying metaphor for this image by builder jigsawjo. It's the kind of image that an uppity artist might say "represents the struggle of one generation blah blah blah", or some other pretentious nonsense. To me it's just a striking visual, and some damn fine building. The large arm is a work in progress, work that I'll be watching with interest.

The Slowest Mech

This thing better pack a punch in the weapons department, because it's not going to surprise an enemy with a speedy attack. It's a snail mech, from builder ToyForce 120. I like to imagine a battle where a whole slew of mechanical species engage, and while the battle rages these guys slowly make their way in. And just when it seems the battle is lost, quite some time later, these guys creep in and save the day in some unexpected way. Slow and steady wins the war.

Endo

Who couldn't use an extra hand sometimes huh? Builder Centuri decided he needed one and here's the result, a clearly T800 inspired mechanical hand. Hand anatomy is hard to get right in bricks, robotic aesthetics are difficult to master as well, so to get them both spot-on in one MOC is a feat.

Johnny Five

I'll say one thing for Iron Builder, it makes my job easy, Today we're getting retro with some 80's robotic action. This is Johnny Five from the classic movie Short Circuit by Pepa Quin. I've always been a fan of this robot. Short Circuit came out when I was graduating high school and planning on going into the film industry...to do animatronics. It's hard to understate how inspiring this work was to me.

Bricasso

I posted this a while back while it was still a work in progress, but now it's done and a true work of art. This is Bricasso, a LEGO mosaic printer by JK Brickworks. I could go into some lengthy descriptions about how it works and the intricacies of it, but why bother, just check out the video and marvel at this little mechanical wonder.

EV3 Mosaic Printer

This is pretty cool! Thanks to the limitless possibilities of EV3 and the creative brain of JK Brickworks we can now watch a LEGO machine build a LEGO mosaic. Not only that, but he created some excellent videos to document not only the working machine, but some of the progress in building it. It's mesmerizing to watch, and fascinating to learn how it all came together.

Godzilla!

I grew up on Godzilla movies and Toho classics. Where I live we had a thing called the Saturday Morning Film Festival, and while they tended to play movies I wasn't really interested in most of the time (and WAY too much Popeye), every once in a while we'd get treated to some Tokyo stompin' action. So I have an affinity to this big green lizard. And as if this version by legorobo:waka wasn't mind-blowing enough, it also walks, opens his mouth and moves his eyes! Be sure to check out the video below for all the action and a cameo by Mothra.

Lumberjack 4000

The promise of mechanization and robotics is labor saving and improving life, but it can also kick ass. Take the Lumberjack 4000 by davekaleta, for instance. Sure you can eviscerate an entire orchard in no time flat, but you can also do it riding this baby and a screaming WOOOOOO the whole time.

SmartBrick- Bringing Bluetooth Control To Power Functions

Power Functions are awesome. There's just something magical that happens when you can bring a MOC to life with lights and motion. Well now there's something to take that magic to the next level, like exponentially to the next level. Some very smart people in the UK (Mark Bollobas and his team) have come up with a way to control PF over bluetooth with smartphones. And it's not just a bluetooth version of the standard IR block, this thing is supercharged with features. You can, among other things...

• Control from 100 Meters away
• Use it in direct sunlight (try doing that with the IR one)
• Control 64 ports (!)
• Tweak away with programmable firmware
• Use custom profiles
• Control MOCs over the internet
• Interact with other users with social functions 

There are so many cool things you can do with this awesome bit of hardware, I can't imagine what users will do with it once it's in the wild. But for now they need your help to get to mass production so head over to their Kickstarter project and throw some love their direction!

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Robotic Hand

Here at BrickNerd we like to look back from time to time, even to our own past. Way back before I made the switch to digital effects I did creature effects and animatronics. I've built many hands in my time, but I don't think any were as cool as this one from Barman76. I really like the linkage on the fingers, allowing all four to gracefully move independently, but be driven by two motors, genius! Watch the video, you'll be amazed.