The word genius comes to mind after watching the above video. Depicting a fully working computer printer made entirely of Lego, it shows the brilliance of 14-year old Leon Overweel. Known for creating a Skype controlled Lego car that allows anyone in the world with an Internet connection to control it, Overweel is no newcomer to the upper echelons of the Lego scene. By using a Lego Mindstorms kit with a NXT controller, he was able to create a device that makes use of a felt tip pen to create a 50 x 50 pixel image.

 

Called the PriNXT, the working model uses three different motors to control both the head of the printer, and to lift and lower the felt pen. A series of gears and pulleys provides the power needed to make everything function, as well as the NXT module itself. Three different sensors that detect touch, color, and light were included in the design to aid with the PriNXT’s operation. The touch and color sensors serving as guides to tell the printer where to start drawing, with the light detector actually helping to move the pen up and down.

 

Overweel decided to pick one of his favorite Internet tech celebrities as the subject of the first complete drawing with the PriNXT. Taking over ten hours (it’s not fast), the printer takes an image that has been converted to RobotC (a language designed for NXT models) and then reporduces it on a piece of paper. While the result doesn’t rival even older inkjet printers, the image it creates looks enough like the original to be impressive.

 

I can’t wait to see what this kid comes up with next.

 

lego-printer

 

 

Read more at World of Mindstorms, via Make 

SOURCE: (www.geek.com)