Anexos

1.
Attachments
1. FIRST LEGO League Competiti...
2. Attachments
Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3

Competition Robots (Part 1)
You think that you can quickly change the attachments of your LEGO Mindstorms EV3
competition robot? Are you sure? In this first episode of the series you will see how to
create and attach attachments without using pins and how faster and easier this could
be. You will see the design logic of a few attachments and how they work on the field.
Construction
The first part shows a construction similar to the one shown in Episode 60. The
construction presents the logic of how to make a quick pinless attachment. The robot
from Episode 58 has been used for the current presentation.
Attachment base
The second part of the video shows how to make a base for various pinless
attachments. Usually, there are two bases designed for one robot. While the robot is
using one of the bases on the field, the other remains with the team who attach the
construction necessary for the following missions. When the robot returns to the base,
the quick pinless attachment base is removed and the other one is attached and vice
versa.
Adapter
The third part of the video shows how to build an adapter. This is a construction
connecting the base to the attachment. One adapter could be used for several
attachments. It is also possible to have an adapter for each attachment.
The purpose of the base, the adapter and the quick pinless attachment is to save
parts which could be used for the making of whole attachments.
The last part of the video shows how the robot behaves on the field.
We are looking forward to your comments. We would be happy if you share how this
video has been useful to you.
Pinless Attachments (Part 2)

If you think that the quick pinless attachments shown in video 63 are quick enough, see
this tutorial and you will find out that the quick pinless attachments could be even
quicker. These attachments can work without motors but by using the inertia forces.
This tutorial shows the logic of creating quick pinless attachments which do not have
any moving parts. This facilitates their placement and is the key to the quicker change
of attachments on the LEGO Mindstorms robot construction.
There is a short description of how the attachments work; how the inertia forces affect
the robot parts and what causes these inertia forces. The tutorial once again focuses on
the building process of the quick pinless construction base, the attachment and the
adaptor.
Try to use this type of quick pinless attachments and see how many new opportunities it
will give you. Share with us your comments and ideas.
Instruction for building the Quick Attachments

Instructions for building the quick attachments for this LEGO robot
Quick Pinless EV3 Attachment
The attachment shows how to do build a pinless robot attachment with LEGO EV3
Mindstorms.
Second quick pinless attachment
Another example for a quick pinless attachment build with LEGO Mindstorms EV3
robots.
Pinless attachment added below the robot
Pinless attachments are smart and quick and could make a big differences between two
robot constructions. In this video we are sharing a nice idea for a pinless attachment
placed below the robot.
It is actually an extension for pinless attachments. One could place this or similar LEGO
attachment on almost any robot construction, but this one is designed specifically for
the EV3 Competition Robot from video 58.
Placing the robot above the construction is a very easy and fast way do to attachments.
Other pinless attachments:
Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3 Competition Robots (Part 2)
Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3 Competition Robots (Part 1)
Pinless Attachment for LEGO Mindstorms

Robots
Probably the simples trick for pinless attachments that we've found. It is a construction
build in just three steps. Simple as that. But it has a lot of potential to teach you how to
use pinless attachments. Pinless attachments are very useful during FIRST LEGO
League and World Robot Olympiad competitions.
Rubber bands attachment for circular motion -
solving FLL 2012 stove
The attachment builds on previous episodes this time using two LEGO rubber bands.
When a lever is released the rubber band exerts pressure on it and moves it in a
circular motion. As an example we are solving the 2012 FIRST LEGO League, Senior
Solutions, stove mission (which was quite interesting as a mission)
The FIRST LEGO League 2012, Senior Solutions, Oven mission involved a circular
motion. Teams had to build attachments that could move the Oven lever in half a circle.
Now this proved to be challenging to do without the use of a motor. It is always a good
idea to do every possible mission without a motor because you could save the motor for
missions where it is actually not possible to accomplish without them.
Having said that, rubber bands for this mission is a very elegant solution.
Check out the video and leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions for
new videos.
Previous videos on rubber bands:
1. Rubber bands - Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class

COMMUNITY TREE
2. Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment that triggers with a motor
3. Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment triggered with a motor - part 2
removing the motor
4. Rubber bands - one more way to remove the LEGO attachment
dependency on the motor for triggering
5. Rubber bands pinless attachment for taking loops
1. Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3 Competition Robots (Part 1)

Pinless Rubber Band attachment for solving the

Oven
Building instructions for the LEGO Mindstorms attachment using Rubber Bands
2. How to on Attachments with Gears

2. How to on Attachments with ...
How to on Gears (part 1)

Gears could be a powerful tool for those who know how to use them appropriately. In
this episode we introduce some of the basic terms and concepts behind using gears in
your construction.
Each mechanism you build has its unique needs, based on its aim. In some cases, you
need more speed and in others - you need more torque or power. In some cases, you
need a linear motion and in others - it should be circular. To achieve that you need to
build a system of gears that will fit your needs. In this part of the gear tutorial we will
cover and explain some of the basic terms behind the physics of gear systems.
Speed
First of all, let's take a look at the term "speed" and explain the difference between
linear and rotational speed:
 linear speed is the distance an object travels for a certain amount of time. It is
measured in kph, mph, m/s etc. Knowing the speed of an object enables us to calculate the
distance it will travel. For example, if a car is traveling at a speed of 50 kph, then it will
travel 100 km in two hours.
 rotational speed is the number of rotations an object makes for a certain
amount of time. Usually, it is measured in rotations per minute or RMP. For instance, the
Large LEGO EV3 Motor has a rotational speed of 150RPM when set to 100% power. Hence,
if we program it to rotate for 120 seconds or 2 minutes, it will rotate 300 times.
Torque
After we have learned what speed is, we will move on to the next key characteristic -
torque. Torque is a rotational force. Simply put, it is the force you have to apply to stop
an object rotating. The larger the torque of a motor is, the greater the force you will
need to stop it.

For example, if we want a robot to climb on an inclined plane or surface, or if we want it
to pull a large load, we will need more torque. On the other hand, if we want our robot to
compete, we will need more speed.
Mechanical Power
The last concept we will cover is mechanical power. For our purposes, we can consider
the following:
Mechanical Power = Rotational Speed X Torque
When we set the power of the motors from the Move Blocks, we actually set the
mechanical power. So, when we increase the value, we not only increase the speed of
the motor but also we increase its torque.
Gear Wheels
Now, we are ready to put into practice what we have learned so far. Gear is the group of
gear wheels that engage and hence drive each other. The gear wheel that is directly
driven by the motor is called a driver gear, while the one that is attached to the wheels,
or the output gear, is called a followergear.
Each gear wheel has multiple teeth on its circumference. When we put two gear wheels
next to each other, the teeth engage. As a result, when we rotate one of the two gear
wheels, the other one also rotates. Interestingly, every time a tooth from the first gear
passes through the engage point, a tooth from the second gear will also pass.
To see this in practice, construct the gear following the instructions in the video.
How to on Gears (Part 2)

In part 1 of How to on Gears tutorial I introduced you to the basics of the gear systems.
Now we are going to examinate gear systems with more than two gears and take a look
at cascade gear systems.
In the first part of the tutorial I add a LEGO gear between the driver and the follower
gear. After calculating the ratio we conclude, that it does not matter how many gears
there are between the driver and the follower gear - the ratio is the ratio between the
driver and the follower gear.
However, this does not mean that we are limited to ratios less than 5:1. If you want to
achieve higher ratios you need to build cascade gear system - gear system where you
have more than one gear per axle. In such cases the ratio between the gears multiply.
To test this I use a gear system consisted of four gears. I attach one motor to the driver
gear and one to the follower gear. Then set the first motor to move forward and using
the Experiment tab in the LEGO EV3 Software I determine the number of rotations
made by the second motor. By dividing this number by the number of rotations made by
the first motor we reach the ratio of the gear system.
You could find the instructions for building the gear system together with the two LEGO
EV3 Large Motors attached to it under the Materials tab.
LEGO Gear Demonstration model

These are building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 demonstration model. In
the tutorial, we are using it to demonstrate the working and relations of LEGO Gears.
The EV3 Project file with Experiment
Active attachment for changing gears
orientation
Based on feedback from many of you in this episode I would like to show you how to
build an active attachment that changes the orientation of a gear wheel placed vertically
to a gear wheel placed horizontally. This attachment could be used in competitions and
shows a basic principle of changing the orientation. All attachments could follow the
same principle.
This video is all about constructing and is starting a news series. Appart from changing
the orientation I also stop at how to improve the stability of the construction which would
be shown in Episode 56
The robot used will be presented in next videos.
Active attachment for changing gear

orientation
Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Active attachment for changing gear
orientations
Active attachment for changing gears direction
- part 2: improving durability
In this episode we continue from Episode 55 and we improve the durability and stability
of the attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot. Many times attachments are not
very stable which results in gaps between parts. The goal of the video is to give basic
construction ideas.
The previous Episode 55 introduces the basic idea of changing gears orientation from
vertical to horizontal. In this episode we stop at some of the principles of improving the
stability and durability of the construction.

orientation - part 2
Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 active attachment for changing gears
orientations. This is the second attachment from the series.
Active attachment for changing gears direction
- part 3: moving up&down
In this video lesson I am building a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 active attachment powered
by a small gear wheel. The attachment could move up and down, it is very useful for
collecting objects. It could easily be adapted and used on other robots.
We are making a parallel with Video Lesson 56 from the series and we are also
showing ways to improve the stability of an axle which is most of the time neglected, but
could lead to great problems.
Changing the orientation of gear wheels involves at least to axles that are perpendicular
to one another. Check Video Lesson 55 and Video Lesson 56 for details on changing
from vertical to horizontal.
The challenge is how to position those axles. As a general rule of thumb the driver
wheel should be smaller than the drive wheel (also known as input and output wheels).
In next episodes we would improve the construction to make in more reusable and
applicable to more situations.

orientation - part 3
Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 active attachment for changing gears
orientations. This is the third attachment from the series.
Reusable geared active attachment for
changing LEGO gears orientation
In this episode we build a reusable attachment for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot that
changes gears orientation and direction. It is one of the most useful attachments that
you could use to move levers up/down and right/left. Adding the attachment on the robot
takes 2-3 seconds and shows a very useful general principle of how to build reusable
attachments.
Successful teams have the experience, but even more importantly they have
attachments build from previous years that could directly be used in next year missions.
We have seen teams that just reuse the last year robot and with small modifications and
adaptations use it on this year missions.
In this episode we build such an attachment. You could also use it in classrooms to
challenge students to improve speed/power, to use different gear wheel, to solve
specific challenges.
What I would challenge you to do is to think of a way to build a similar attachment, but
without the grey framework used in the video, but stud part or straight beams. Send
your solutions to us at team@fllcasts.com or as comments on the page and we could
give you feedback on them.

Reusable Geared attachment 1

This LEGO Mindstorms Attachment has three gears, one frame and two axles. The goal
of the attachment is to use the gears to change the direction in which the motion is
transferred.
Reusable LEGO Geared Attachment 2
A similar LEGO attachment the previous once, but this one is with a different gear ratio.
Again using a frame, two axles and two gears you can change the direction of the
motion.
Reusable LEGO Geared Attachment 3
One LEGO gear is powering two LEGO Gears and at the end, from one motor we rotate
two axles in opposite directions. Follow the building instructions.
Reusable Geared Attachment 4
Next
Previous
3. Attachments with Rubber Bands

2. Attachments with Rubber Bands
Rubber band attachment with a flywheel -

solving FLL 2014 Search Engine (part 1)
Let's try to integrate more of the things we have learned into a single attachment. One
that could accumulate energy, conserve it and use it at the appropriate time. All this
because of a Rubber Band and a Flywheel - and if you don't know what a flywheel is
you should definitely watch this videos
The FIRST LEGO League 2014, World Class competition has a mission called Search
Engine. It is the standard loop collection mission and we have done many videos on
this. But the mission challenge has a random element. You should return to base a
specific loop with specific color and the color is drawn by rotation a system of gears.
What we are doing in the video is to introduce Flywheels without going into the physics
of a Flywheel. Just the observed behaviour. The flywheel allows us to solve the mission
without a color sensor and without depending on the random element of the challenge.
Which is just magnificent.
Interesting information
Flywheels are part of the design of a new robot that would be used to land on Asteroids
and Coments and generaly objects with less gravity - This "Hedgehog" Robot Could
Hop And Tumble Over Asteroids And Comets
Flywheels could be used in various
The attachment
The attachment is again a pinless attachment and could be added to almost any robot
construction in a very fast and precise way. For more on pinless attachments check out
these videos:
1. Pinless attachment added below the robot

Pinless Flywheel and Rubber band attachement

for LEGO Mindstorms robots
Kiril Mitov's most favourite attachment. To quote him "I had a really great fun building
this attachment and recording the videos for it".
It's an attachment with a Rubber band and a Flywheel and a Gear Wheel and a Worm
Gear. So much knowledge in just one small attachment. The goal of the attachment is
to be able to have an active attachment without actually having a motor. So you can
place that attachment and it will do the work for you instead of using a motor to power
it.
Build with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 set.
When placing the rubber bands check out the tutorials
Placing the white rubber band is shown at https://www.fllcasts.com/tutorials/105-rubber-
band-attachment-with-a-flywheel-solving-fll-2014-search-engine-part-2 at around 05:40.
Placing the red rubber band is shown at https://www.fllcasts.com/tutorials/104-rubber-
band-attachment-with-a-flywheel-solving-fll-2014-search-engine-part-1
Pinless Attachment for LEGO Mindstorms
Robots
Probably the simples trick for pinless attachments that we've found. It is a construction
build in just three steps. Simple as that. But it has a lot of potential to teach you how to
use pinless attachments. Pinless attachments are very useful during FIRST LEGO
League and World Robot Olympiad competitions.
Seach Engine (part 2).
In this tutorial of the series we would get into more details on how the flywheel works,
what's its purpose and how the whole attachment is triggered with the first rubber band.

As you so in the previous video - Rubber band attachment with a flywheel -
solving FLL 2014 Search Engine (part 1), the FIRST LEGO League 2014, World
Class, Search Engine mission is very interesting. We are accomplishing it by slowly and
precisely pushing to the mission model.
The attachment is a pinless attachment build for the EV3 competition robot.

1. EV3 Competition Robot Construction
Two tasks at once (part 3).
The third part of the series the goal is to extend the robot attachment so that we could
solve the second part of the FIRST LEGO League World Class mission challenge - to
take the loop.
The Search Engine mission consists of two parts:
1. push on a lever to select a color

2. take the loop with the specified color
In the previous video - Rubber band attachment with a flywheel - solving FLL
2014 Search Engine (part 2), we finished with just pushing the lever and now we
should also build an attachment for taking the loop.
The attachment is a pinless attachment build for the EV3 competition robot
Two task at once (part 4).

The attachment is now so advanced that we can do two tasks at once with it in order to
solve the FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class Search Engine Mission.
The Flywheel, build from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parts, accumulates the energy and
uses this energy to complete the mission. Accumulation is done with the Rubber Band,
Very tricky and nice principle for completing different missions.
Find the previous videos from the series at:
1. Rubber band attachment with a flywheel - solving FLL 2014 Search
Engine (part 1)
Engine (part 2)
Engine (part 3). Two tasks at once
Important improvements (part 5).

"The devil is in the details". We are improving the Rubber band attachment with a
Flywheel by introducing a few small, but important modifications that make the whole
robot attachment more stable and reliable. With the conclusion of the series this
attachment could be used as a basis for some very interesting STEM demonstrations
on energy accumulation and conservation.
Challenge at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition:

With this video tutorial we conclude this series on whole to complete the World Class
Search Engine mission without using any of the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 sets and using
a rubber band with a flywheel.
The goal was to give you an idea how you could accumulate energy and use this
energy at a later moment to complete a robot competition task.
The attachment
Pinless, of course. Discussed in previous tutorials, but you should also check out these
videos for more on pinless attachments and different robot constructions

Previous videos tutorials

Engine (part 1)
Engine (part 2)
Rubber bands, gear wheels and motors for

solving FLL 2013 Truck and Ambulance (part 1)
With this series of videos we are looking at FIRST LEGO League 2013 Nature's Fury
competition and we are building a robot for accomplishing some of the mission. It would
be a tutorial with at least four parts and we are building a complex attachment that could
catch, lift and release different parts with only one motor and rubber bands. Not one, not
two, but three movements with only one motor.
FIRST LEGO League 2013 Nature's Fury included a truck and an ambulance missions.
The goal was to move the truck and the ambulance to a specific place on the
competition field. This required some engineering on how exactly to move the two
objects with the robot. Do you lift them, push them, pull them.
In this video tutorials we are using a robot with an active attachment that lifts the
mission models.
The attachment will use rubber bands and will execute three movements with only one
motor.
Ambulance and Truck Robot Lifting Attachment

Attachment part of a series of robot attachments for accomplishing the FIRST LEGO
League 2013 competition. This specific construction lifts the two vehicles. It uses rubber
bands for locking the levers. Take a look at the video tutorials for details explanation on
how it works.
Build from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parts.
Rubber bands...(part 2)
Extend the previously build attachment for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Nature's
Fury competition so that we can move the Truck and Ambulance up and down.
Challenge at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition

When moving the Truck and the Ambulance we could lift them in the air. This would
require us to transfer power from a LEGO Mindstorms Motor to the robot attachment.
Previous video tutorials

 Rubber bands, gear wheels and motors for solving FLL 2013 Truck and
Ambulance (part 1)
Ambulance and Truck Robot Attachment

If you take a look at the videos for this attachment you will see a nice idea on taking the
track and the ambulance. These two vehicles from the FIRST LEGO League 2013
competition had to be collected and returned back to base.
Built from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parts.
Previously we caught the Truck with two rubber bands. The next step was to lift it. For
lifting we used the Medium LEGO Mindstorms EV3 motors. In this video we are
extending the attachment so that we could catch also the Ambulance. In forth video we
would explore how to release both vehicles after transporting them.
The robot attachment is again pinless. The robot moves, catches the vehicles, and lifts
them. For the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Nature's Fury mission the robot should also
transport them to a specific region the competition field.
Previous videos:
Ambulance (part 1)
 Rubber bands, gear wheels and motors attachment for solving FLL
2013 Truck and Ambulance (part 2)
Ambulance and Truck Robot Attachment

In the final video we explore how to trigger the release of the attachment with just a
rubber band. The release is triggered with a gear wheel that rotates in a specific
way. This saves speed, does not require additional LEGO Mindstorms motor and
is precise enough for a competition.
One motor, three movements. This saves parts, time and efforts durring LEGO
competitions like FIRST Lego League (FLL), World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) and
others similar competitions.
Previous videos:
Ambulance (part 1)
Truck Robot Attachment for FLL Nature's Fury

Building instructions for a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Truck Robot Attachment for the
FIRST LEGO League 2013 Nature's Fury robotics competition
Multiple rubber bands attachment for Solving-
FLL-Nature's-Fury. Part 1
Accomplishing many tasks with a single attachment for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL)
2013 competition. The attachments are using many rubber bands. What is interesting is
that it collects/lift/triggers many things at the same time. This is how you could save time
and parts during a competition.
Multiple rubber...(part 2)
In this second part we continue with the next few tasks from the FIRST LEGO League
(FLL) 2013 competition. Using the same rubber band attachment we lift the house and
collect a few of the humans and cargoes.
Previous episode:
 Multiple rubber bands attachment for Solving-FLL-Nature's-Fury. Part 1
Rubber band and axles attachment

Multiple rubber...(part 3)
Using a number of axles, beams and rubber bands we collect many loops at once.
This is an important part of every competition, mostly of the FIRST LEGO League.
Previous episode:
 Multiple rubber bands attachment for Solving-FLL-Nature's-
Fury. Part 1
 Multiple rubber bands attachment for Solving-FLL-Nature's-

Fury. Part 2
FIRST LEGO League Nature's Fury Robot

Attachment
Building instructions for this LEGO Mindstorms EV3 attachment for the FIRST LEGO
League Nature's Fury robotics competition
Next
Previous
How to on taking loops from LEGO parts
Each year the FIRST LEGO League robotics Competition involves loops. In this video
tutorial I will go through the most common way of taking loops, show its
disadvantages and suggest another way to do it.
Carabiner
A LEGO Mindstorms construction for taking loops. Uses the same principle as a
carabiner.
Introduction
In this series we will do a short demonstration on the FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek
2015 solutions by one of the teams. These are example solutions with good tips and
tricks along with some interesting strategies and videos directly from the team
FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Learn more about the competition by visiting our FLL 2015 resource page
Pinless attachments
In this video we discuss part of the pinless attachments build by the ELM team. Without
pinless attachment it is nearly impossible to achieve a good score at the FIRST LEGO
League competition.

Pinless attachments
Find more resources on builing pinless attachments in the following playlists and videos:
Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO Mindstorms Competition Robots
Rubber bands pinless attachments
Music by
Amobacrew, https://soundcloud.com/amoebacrew
Precisely dropping the chicken

This is one of the very interesting attachments by the ELM team. It is using rubber
bands and some rubber to precisely drop the chicken. Very interesting way. Check it out
and try to learn from it.

Learn more about the competition by visiting our FLL LEGO League Page
Music by

Demolition. Destroying and Gathering
Many FLL competitions have a mission for demolition. You should always destroy
something, but destroy it in a regulated manner and probably collect the destroyed
mission model after that.
It is interesting that the demolition is near the base so it could be destroyed and the
robot could be return back to base very fast.

Nice carabiner idea for pulling an object.

You need to pull. And also catch. You need a carabiner. We have done a number of
videos on carabiners and this is one of the ideas for the FIRST LEGO League 2015
Trash Trek competition.

Music by
Dropping a LEGO human carrier.

This is a very interesting idea that is worth sharing with the rest of the teams and the
ELM team has provided it to us. Check out how they drop a LEGO human at a specific
place.

Scrap car and leaving the engine.

You can collect the car for scrap or repair it. The ELM teams decide to repair it. This
requires them to place the engine in the car and it's very interesting to think about this
problem.
Methane Loops and Truck.

There are many loops in the FIRST LEGO League competition. In this video we collect
some of them by following the idea of the ELM team.

Composting.
Go to the missions model. Do the missions. You can then continue to the next mission
or wait a few seconds at this FIRST LEGO League 2015 Trash Trek mission model and
receive a few more points. Isn't it interesting. The ELM team has build a LEGO
Mindstorms attachment for this robot. Let's see how it works.

Truck and its cargo.

Many teams have followed the same idea as the ELM team. To build a LEGO
Mindstorms attachment for the robot and to lift the truck very lightly. In this way they
could more the truck and place it in the special region. See what the ELM idea was.
5. FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class.

Example solutions
2. FIRST LEGO League 2014 Worl...

Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class
sports mission
In this video tutorial we experiment with different ways of solving the sports mission for
throwing the ball. We show seven different LEGO MIndstorms EV3 and NXT robot
constructions and attachements. Most of the techniques could be applied for any
mission involving throwing a ball or an object.
The first step toward solving a mission is to get familiar with the rules related to it. That
is why I begin with repeating the required condition and the required method for
throwing a ball. The two documents, you must know by heart are the the
Challenge and the Challenge Updates.
After you have read the rules, you can proceed with thinking for different ways for
solving the mission. In general we overview the following techniques, shown by different
EV3 LEGO Mindstorms robots:
 throw over the ball with attachment powered by the motor - here we take a look at three
different attachments. We test what will be the difference when using a small arm and a larger
arm. Also show a possible attachment where we use the ricochet from the motor for the shot;
 throw over the ball with attachment powered by rubber bands - this is the most common
attachment, built by students. Rubber bands are attached to the arm and are stretched. When
the arm is released the rubber bands pull the arm upwards and the ball is thrown;
 shoot the ball by deforming LEGO pieces - this is one of the most interesting techniques.
Using a motor or as shown a linear actuator, the LEGO pieces are deformed. Due to the laws of
physics, the pieces try to get to their normal position. When the tipping point is reached they do
so rapidly, which results in shooting the ball.
All of the methods are illustrated with examples from teams competing in the FIRST
LEGO League 2014 World Class Challenge.
Your turn
What do you think about the shown techniques? Which one do you find most effective?
Let us know in the comments below!
Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class

Robotics Competition mission
Here we continue examining FLL 2014 World Class missions. We show different ways,
for putting the insert in place as well as taking the loop from the robotics arm. Some of
them are quite specific, which reminds us, that you need to think out of the box, while
solving the missions.
In the tutorial we have divided the mission into three tasks. The first one is to put the
robotics insert in place. We have suggested one straight forward solution and one that
count on the shape of the insert. In both cases you need to be precise, while leaving the
insert. You could achieve that, by aligning either to the border of the field, to the green
line in front of the mission model or to the mission model itself. Find more by watching
more tutorials on the topic here.
The next challenge is how to push the insert, so that it unlocks the loop from the arm.
With the first attachment we make a small modification, while with the second we make
a modification in the program. This is great example how you could solve a problem
both with hardware and software, depending on the situation.
The third part is how we catch the falling loop. This is not necessary for completing this
mission, but it is part of the Project-Based Learning mission. Here the main point is that
you must try to catch the loop as close to the arm as possible. The larger the distance
from the arm is, the larger are you will need to cover to be sure that you catch the loop.
At the end we illustrate the methods with examples from teams competing in the FIRST
LEGO League 2014 World Class Challenge.
Your turn
How did you solved the mission? Did I missed an interesting way for solving it?
How to solve "Using the Right Senses" mission

from FIRST LEGO League World Class
competition
This time we stop on "Using the Right Senses" mission, or actually on how to solve the
"Right Senses" mission without "Senses" (sensors). To achieve that we use the
carabineer counstructed in one of the previous tutorials, of course after a small
modification.
Once again the video begins with repeating the mission
requirements.
Yo
u can find the full document with all mission rules here. As in Episode 89, where we
were interested not only in solving the mission, but in taking the loop, here we proceed
the same way.
In Episode 47, we made an overview on how to take loops and suggested a carabineer
attachment for taking the loops. In the "Robot Competition" mission it was hard to
implement this solution, but today I have stopped on using a carabineer for taking the
loop from the mission model. You could find building instructions under the Materials
tab, below the video in Episode 47.
However we face another challenge. When the lock falls down it locks the carabineer.
To overcome this we add one more part to the carabineer as shown below:
Your turn
Did you like the idea? I would love to hear your suggestions for solving the mission!
Rubber bands - Solving the FIRST LEGO League

World Class COMMUNITY TREE
Rubber bands can be quite powerful. Based on several requests from you we are
starting a series on using the LEGO Rubber bands available in the Mindstorms set.
Using Rubber Bands is not always very accurate, but is quite fun and can do the job.
This video tutorial is showing a simple solution to the FIRST LEGO League World Class
Community Tree challenge. The challenge involves a loop that should be pulled out
from the mission model.
What a rubber band gives you in this situation is the ability not to use a motor for solving
the challenge. You "save" the motor for other attachments and mission models.
As a result the loop should be removed from the mission model.
Mindstorms attachment with rubber band

These are building instructions for one of the greatest LEGO Mindstorms attachments
that we've built. Super simple and easy to follow and at the end, you have an
attachment with a rubber band that controls a lever and that could lift objects from the
field. It could lift them up. Also because it is with a rubber band you don't need a motor
and you could use the motor for other attachments.
Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment that
triggers with a motor
The robot attachment build in this tutorial gives an idea on how to release a rubber band
at a specific moment using a motor. It's a simple, but yet powerful technique on using
rubber bands.
The Mindstorms EV3 Robotics sets come with a few rubber bands in them that could be
used for different robot construction.
Most of the time Rubber bands are used for triggering an attachment without using a
motor when the robot touches a mission model. This is shown in Rubber bands -
Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class COMMUNITY TREE.
Rubber band attachment triggered with a

motor
Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment
triggered with a motor - part 2 removing the
motor
In part one we build an attachment that uses a rubber band to solve a competition
challenge. The rubber band was released with the use of a motor. In this video we are
removing the dependency on the motor and you could use the motor for other missions.
Ideally one could solve all the competition challenges from every FIRST LEGO League
competition with only one attachment. I have personally seen this at a competition in
Manheim, Germany a few years ago. Well, actually, not all the mission models were
solved because there was not enough time, but if they had more time - they could solve
the whole competition with only one attachment.
This is where the rubber bands come to play. For most attachments you need a motor
and you can only use a limited number of motors at each competition round. So an
attachment triggered with a rubber band could solve a model without the use of a motor.
And you could use unlimited number of rubber bands for a robot construction and there
are few in each EV3 and NXT Mindstorms set.
Rubber band attachment without motor

Rubber bands - one more way to remove the
LEGO attachment dependency on the motor for
triggering
The previous rubber bands video showed a way to trigger the rubber band without a
motor. This video gives one more idea on how to lift an axle and in this way release the
rubber band. Use the idea for you LEGO Mindstorms robot constructions.
Rubber bands - Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class
COMMUNITY TREE
Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment that triggers with a motor
Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment triggered with a motor - part
2 removing the motor
Rubber band LEGO attachment without motors

Building instructions for the Rubber Band Attachment
Let's try to integrate more of the things we have learned into a single attachment. One
that could accumulate energy, conserve it and use it at the appropriate time. All this
because of a Rubber Band and a Flywheel - and if you don't know what a flywheel is
you should definitely watch this videos
The FIRST LEGO League 2014, World Class competition has a mission called Search
Engine. It is the standard loop collection mission and we have done many videos on
this. But the mission challenge has a random element. You should return to base a
specific loop with specific color and the color is drawn by rotation a system of gears.
What we are doing in the video is to introduce Flywheels without going into the physics
of a Flywheel. Just the observed behaviour. The flywheel allows us to solve the mission
without a color sensor and without depending on the random element of the challenge.
Which is just magnificent.
Interesting information
Flywheels are part of the design of a new robot that would be used to land on Asteroids
and Coments and generaly objects with less gravity - This "Hedgehog" Robot Could
Hop And Tumble Over Asteroids And Comets
Flywheels could be used in various
The attachment
The attachment is again a pinless attachment and could be added to almost any robot
construction in a very fast and precise way. For more on pinless attachments check out
these videos:

Pinless Flywheel and Rubber band attachement

for LEGO Mindstorms robots
Kiril Mitov's most favourite attachment. To quote him "I had a really great fun building
this attachment and recording the videos for it".
It's an attachment with a Rubber band and a Flywheel and a Gear Wheel and a Worm
Gear. So much knowledge in just one small attachment. The goal of the attachment is
to be able to have an active attachment without actually having a motor. So you can
place that attachment and it will do the work for you instead of using a motor to power
it.
Build with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 set.
When placing the rubber bands check out the tutorials
Placing the white rubber band is shown at https://www.fllcasts.com/tutorials/105-rubber-
band-attachment-with-a-flywheel-solving-fll-2014-search-engine-part-2 at around 05:40.
Placing the red rubber band is shown at https://www.fllcasts.com/tutorials/104-rubber-
band-attachment-with-a-flywheel-solving-fll-2014-search-engine-part-1
In this tutorial of the series we would get into more details on how the flywheel works,
what's its purpose and how the whole attachment is triggered with the first rubber band.

As you so in the previous video - Rubber band attachment with a flywheel -
solving FLL 2014 Search Engine (part 1), the FIRST LEGO League 2014, World
Class, Search Engine mission is very interesting. We are accomplishing it by slowly and
precisely pushing to the mission model.
The attachment is a pinless attachment build for the EV3 competition robot.

solving FLL 2014 Search Engine (part 3). Two
tasks at once
The third part of the series the goal is to extend the robot attachment so that we could
solve the second part of the FIRST LEGO League World Class mission challenge - to
take the loop.
The Search Engine mission consists of two parts:
1. push on a lever to select a color

2. take the loop with the specified color
In the previous video - Rubber band attachment with a flywheel - solving FLL
2014 Search Engine (part 2), we finished with just pushing the lever and now we
should also build an attachment for taking the loop.
The attachment is a pinless attachment build for the EV3 competition robot

solving FLL 2014 Search Engine (part 4). Two
tasks at once
The attachment is now so advanced that we can do two tasks at once with it in order to
solve the FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class Search Engine Mission.
The Flywheel, build from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parts, accumulates the energy and
uses this energy to complete the mission. Accumulation is done with the Rubber Band,
Very tricky and nice principle for completing different missions.
Find the previous videos from the series at:
Engine (part 1)
Engine (part 2)
Important improvements on Rubber band

attachment with a flywheel
"The devil is in the details". We are improving the Rubber band attachment with a
Flywheel by introducing a few small, but important modifications that make the whole
robot attachment more stable and reliable. With the conclusion of the series this
attachment could be used as a basis for some very interesting STEM demonstrations
on energy accumulation and conservation.
Challenge at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition:

With this video tutorial we conclude this series on whole to complete the World Class
Search Engine mission without using any of the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 sets and using
a rubber band with a flywheel.
The goal was to give you an idea how you could accumulate energy and use this
energy at a later moment to complete a robot competition task.
The attachment
Pinless, of course. Discussed in previous tutorials, but you should also check out these
videos for more on pinless attachments and different robot constructions

Previous videos tutorials

Engine (part 1)
Engine (part 2)
One attachment for Solving FIRST LEGO

League 2014 World Class missions - part 1
One attachment to rule them all...We have seen it and it works -> solving most of the
competition models with only one attachment. In this video tutorial without programming
we would walk you through the principles and methods of using a single attachment for
most of the FIRST LEGO League competition models. One can learn alot from using as
few parts as possible to solve as many missions as possible.
We have skip the programming, because there are other tutorials on positioning and
moving on the competition field. But we are demonstrating the way of thinking.
Accomplishing most of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) missions does several things:
 reduces the usage of parts

 teaches you to think
 much faster
Of course, it is more difficult, but as everything there are advantages and

disadvantages.

One Attachment to rule them all

Building instructions for the One Attachment. Built from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parts
and with an Ultrasonic sensor we've used this attachment to accomplish most of the
missions at FIRST LEGO League 2013.
SIngle robot attachment, many points.
We show the principle of solving the next FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Nature's Fury
2013 competition missions. Again, without any programs, but just the principles of using
one attachment for most of the missions.

Previous videos
 One attachment for Solving FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class missions -
part 1

Third, and last video of this series on how to use ONE attachment to solve the FLL 2014
World Class missions.
Previous videos
 One attachment for Solving FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class
missions - part 1
 One attachment for Solving FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class
missions - part 2
Attachment that mechanically aligns to a

mission model - Cloud Challenge from FLL
World Class
This is the oldest and most classic problem in the field of robotics. Shaft in an opening.
Basically robotics and in improvement of many of the actuators is about improving the
solutions to such problems. Let's see how we ca do this using a mission model from the
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition.
Passive Attachment for mechanical alignment

This attachment presents a way to mechanically align the robot to a mission model and
solves the Cloud mission from FLL 2014.
6. FIRST LEGO League 2012 Senior
Solutions. Example soluations

2. FIRST LEGO League 2012 Seni...
How to categorize your FIRST LEGO League

Senior Solutions missions
Robotics competition is a large part of the FLL Competition. The field contains missions
which give points and the main purpose is to gather maximum number of points for
2:30min. FIRST LEGO League competitions have different themes every year but the
tasks have similar functionality. In this video tutorial we will give a brief of missions in
Senior Solutions (the theme for 2012).
Thinking icon designed by iconoci from The Noun Project
Gear construction and Ultrasonic for the FIRST

LEGO League Senior Solutions Medicine
In this episode I would like to show you a way to solve the FLL 2012 Medicine mission
using an LEGO Mindstorms NXT Ultrasonic Sensor and a system of gears that converts
circular motion to linear.
There are a number of ways to solve the FLL 2012 Senior Solutions Medicine mission.
Here I would like to show you an interesting way to do that using an LEGO Mindstorms
NXT Ultrasonic sensor and a gear system. Teams are using light or color sensors most
of the time during the competitions most of the time teams were using light or color
sensors and the Ultrasonic sensor is neglected.
The gear system that we are using transofrms circular motion to linear motion. It is an
interesting attachment that you could learn much from. Feel free to use it in this or
similar way in your robot.
Share with us some pictures and stories of how you are using it. It would be valuable for
us :)
Mentioned Episodes:
Take a look at Episode 10 for building the menu block used in this video.
Building Instructions:
 You could find the instructions for building the robot in Episode 13
How to Solve Senior Solutions Medicines,
Cardiovascular and Strength exercise missions
with one attachment
In this tutorial we will go through a solution for three of the missions from 2012
FIRST LEGO League competition using only one attachment. By accomplishing the
medicines, strength exercise and cardiovascular missions we earn 55 points. You can
download the programs from the link in the Materials tab.
We use a robot based on LEGO Mindstorms NXT. For EV3 solutions look at newer
episodes.
Mentioned Episodes
Here is a list of episodes, that might be useful to watch. The following videos explained
things we use in this tutorial:
 Episode 10 - Here you can find more about the programming of the Menu
myBlock.
 Episode 11 and Episode 14 -You can find more on calibration of the light sensors
in these episodes.
 Episode 13 - Here you can find building instructions for the robot used in the
tutorial.
 Episode 29 - In this episode we have explained step by step how to we make the
myBlock for alligning with direction
 Episode 31 - You can find an explanation of how to follow a black line using one
sensor and five states.
Missions solved:
 Medicine mission;
 Click the clock of the Cardiovascular Exercise mission;
 Strength Exercise mission.
How to solve FIRST LEGO League Senior

Solutions Woodworking, Similarity, Gardening,
Stove and Ball game in one run
In this video we are solving Senior Solutions missions: Stove, Gardening, Similarity
recognition, Ball game and Wood Working. We will make step-by-step of everything we
do on the FLL field.
We would use a LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot for accomplishing the missions.
Mentioned Episodes:
Take a look at Episode 29 to become more familiar with how the robot is aligning to a
line.
Missions Solved:
1. Woodworking
2. Similiarity
3. Gardening
4. Stove
5. Ball Game
Building instructions:
 You could find the instructions for building the robot in Episode 13
How to FIRST LEGO League Solve Senior

Solutions Video Call, Blue Quilting And
Woodworking
In this video we are solving part of the FIRST LEGO League Senior Solutions
challange missions (FLL 2012) using LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots. I make a step by
step explanation of each move I make. The goal of this video is to help you with ideas
and suggestions on how one should look at the missions.
Missions Accomplised:
1. Video Call
2. Blue Quilting
3. Woodworking
Mentioned Episodes:
Here is a list of episodes, that might be useful to watch. The following videos explain
things we use in this tutorial:
 Episode 29 - Aligning to a line block with direction

 Episode 13 - You could find the instructions for building the robot used in the
tutorial.
Heavy lifting with a detachable LEGO

Mindstorms attachment
How do you lift heavy objects with an attachment? In this episode we show a simple,
interesting, but yet not very popular way to lift something heavy with and LEGO
Mindstorms EV3 robot and without gears and motors as attachment. As a specific
example we are using the Strength Exercise mission from the FIRST LEGO League
2012 competition.
Many of the constructions in the LEGO world mimic the "real"/"engineering" world. But
initially students need some time to come to such solutions and must see them
somewhere. In this episode we are building an attachment that follows an interesting
principle for lifting heavy objects. Our observation is that this are hardly ever used in
competition.
Try to follow the same principle to push objects, not only lift them. If you use the
attachment share with us the results and what have you achieved with it.
Instructions and rules for the use of the heavy lifting model can be found at FIRST
LEGO League 2012 competiton materials
Heavy lifting detachable attachment for the

Senior Solutions Competition
Rubber bands attachment for circular motion -
solving FLL 2012 stove
The attachment builds on previous episodes this time using two LEGO rubber bands.
When a lever is released the rubber band exerts pressure on it and moves it in a
circular motion. As an example we are solving the 2012 FIRST LEGO League, Senior
Solutions, stove mission (which was quite interesting as a mission)
The FIRST LEGO League 2012, Senior Solutions, Oven mission involved a circular
motion. Teams had to build attachments that could move the Oven lever in half a circle.
Now this proved to be challenging to do without the use of a motor. It is always a good
idea to do every possible mission without a motor because you could save the motor for
missions where it is actually not possible to accomplish without them.
Having said that, rubber bands for this mission is a very elegant solution.
new videos.

COMMUNITY TREE
removing the motor


Oven
Building instructions for the LEGO Mindstorms attachment using Rubber Bands
Rubber Band Attachment for loops pushed to
the border - FLL2012 Medicine
Enchansing a previous attachment, but only this time we are solving the FIRST LEGO
League 2012 Medicine mission. There is a lever and a rubber band. When the lever is
released the rubber band activates the attachment.
The FIRST LEGO League 2012, Senior Solutions, Medicine mission involves a loop.
Only the green loop must be taken, but the position of the green loop is random at the
beginning of the round. This means the robot construction should use a
color/ligth sensor and should also collect the loop with an attachment and return it back
to base. This mission was quite near the base and it is very elegant to solve it without
the use of a motor so that the motor is free for other missions.
new videos.
1. Rubber bands - Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class COMMUNITY
TREE
3. Rubber bands - LEGO robot attachment triggered with a motor - part 2 removing
the motor
4. Rubber bands - one more way to remove the LEGO attachment dependency on
the motor for triggering
6. Rubber bands attachment for circular motion - solving FLL 2012 stove


Medicine
Throwing a ball with a rubber band attachment
- FLL 2012 bowling
The Department of "throwing" is ruled by rubber bands. Impulsive power release in a
short amount of time. In this video we are building an attachment that throws a ball and
accomplishes the FIRST LEGO League 2012 bowling competition.
The Bowling mission of the FIRST LEGO League 2012, Senior Solutions robotics
competition involves a ball that must be thrown. This might seem quite easy so why
waste a motor on this mission. It could easily be accomplished with an attachment with
a Rubber Band.
Again the attachment is Pinless and could be quickly attached to practically
every competition robot construction.
Your turn:
new videos.

COMMUNITY TREE
removing the motor
6. Rubber bands attachment for circular motion - solving FLL 2012 stove
7. Rubber Band Attachment for loops pushed to the border - FLL2012
Medicine


Bowling
Rubber bands pinless attachment for taking
loops
Rubber bands in the LEGO Mindstorms sets are very handy when it comes to collecting
objects, especially loops. The mechanism most of the time could work like this - an axle
is pushed, a rubber band is released and a lever collects the loop.
In this video tutorial we are building an attachment for an EV3 competition robot
construction. This attachment uses a rubber band to collect a single loop without the
use of a motor. The attachment is also pinless, which means it could quickly be
attached to the robot without any pins being involved.

COMMUNITY TREE
removing the motor

Pinless Rubber Band Attachment

Building instructions for the Pinless Rubber Band Attachment:
Destroying the FIRST LEGO League Senior
Solutions Field
This is not the standard video lesson. We have always wanted to just destroy the field
and see how easy it would be. We would prepare a detailed lesson in the next few
months, but this was one of the first tries on completely destroying the FIRST LEGO
League Seniour Solutions field.

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1.

Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3

Pinless Attachments (Part 2)

Instruction for building the Quick Attachments

Pinless Attachment for LEGO Mindstorms

Previous videos on rubber bands:

1. Rubber bands - Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class

Other pinless attachments:

1. Quick Pinless Attachments for LEGO EV3 Competition Robots (Part 1)

Pinless Rubber Band attachment for solving the

2. How to on Attachments with Gears

2. How to on Attachments with ...

How to on Gears (part 1)

How to on Gears (Part 2)

LEGO Gear Demonstration model

Active attachment for changing gear

Active attachment for changing gear

Active attachment for changing gear

Reusable Geared attachment 1

3. Attachments with Rubber Bands

2. Attachments with Rubber Bands

Rubber band attachment with a flywheel -

1. Pinless attachment added below the robot

Pinless Flywheel and Rubber band attachement

The attachment is a pinless attachment build for the EV3 competition robot.

1. push on a lever to select a color

Two task at once (part 4).

Important improvements (part 5).

Challenge at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition:

1. Pinless attachment added below the robot

Previous videos tutorials

Rubber bands, gear wheels and motors for

Ambulance and Truck Robot Lifting Attachment

Challenge at the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition

Previous video tutorials

Ambulance and Truck Robot Attachment

Ambulance and Truck Robot Attachment

Truck Robot Attachment for FLL Nature's Fury

Rubber band and axles attachment

 Multiple rubber bands attachment for Solving-FLL-Nature's-

FIRST LEGO League Nature's Fury Robot

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Precisely dropping the chicken

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Nice carabiner idea for pulling an object.

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Dropping a LEGO human carrier.

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Scrap car and leaving the engine.

Methane Loops and Truck.

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

FIRST LEGO League Trash Trek 2015

Truck and its cargo.

5. FIRST LEGO League 2014 World Class.

2. FIRST LEGO League 2014 Worl...

Solving the FIRST LEGO League World Class

How to solve "Using the Right Senses" mission