There are many people show their love to Lego by creating
ambitious constructions, such as Lego record player, the integration into
prosthetic hand, even presenter James May has ever built a Lego house in BBC
Toy Stories show. But as a robotics expert, Danny Benedettelli has managed to
create a super-epic masterpiece called Exoskeleton to control a Lego robot.
Benedettelli calls his robot as Cyclops MK II, and the
assembly is not as simple as regular Lego constructions. The inventor combines
a mobile app, smartphone, Arduino circuit boards, and other trinkets. In the
demonstration, Benedettelli wears the exoskeleton, and when he moves his hand,
the Lego robot will follow. The movement of Cyclops MK II is very flexible, the
level of flexibility is awesome - it looks like the animatronics technique.
Let's discuss about the Exoskeleton unit or Exo-suit first. As has been described, almost all the parts are assembled by using Lego blocks. Benedettelli puts Arduino board to transmit command signals via Bluetooth connection. Exoskeleton is equipped with potentiometer circuit to ensure the robot has movement flexibility closer to the flexibility of human body - when it's following the operator.
Cyclops MK II robot utilizes Lego Mindstorms NXT kit, it's
chosen because it could be compatible to smartphone app. The robot's appearance
will remind us to the Transformers miniature robot (Decepticon more precisely).
In the head, there is an 'eye' that lights up from the handset screen
(referring to the name of cyclops, the one-eyed monster in Greek mythology).
Even though Benedettelli said that the Cyclops is still a prototype, but its
appearance and presentation may make a lot of Lego collectors interested.
Cyclops development actually had begun in 2011 through MK 1 variant. Then, after getting advice from friends, Danny Benedettelli
re-designed the Cyclops, and then MK 2 was born in 2012. Now reportedly he is
working on and perfecting the MK 3.