Author: Christoph Bartneck

Wordovator Project Has Started

We had our first official kick off meeting for the Wordovators Project. The Wordovators project is a collaboration between the Northwestern University, New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour (NZILBB) and the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ). Continue reading “Wordovator Project Has Started”

Inversion effect in human robot interaction

We received some media attention for Jakub’s study on the inversion effect in human-robot interaction:

Building an off road car with LEGO Technic

It has long been a dream of mine to build a remote controlled LEGO car. LEGO has many Technic cars in their program that use the Power Functions to remote control certain functions, such as opening doors or lifting an arm. Power Functions use infrared light for communication between the sender and the receiver. In the past, LEGO also had remote controlled cars that use radio frequencies, which is much better, since it does not require a line of sight and has a much further reach.

Recently, LEGO released the 4×4 Crawler and it really triggered something inside of me. I ordered the set, but when it arrived I never put it together. I started to build my own cars right away. I looked for inspiration on the internet and found many great off road cars, trial trucks and multi purpose car technology. In particular the work Pawel “Sariel” Kmiec. Check out his book “The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide” or visit his website. LPE Power also has some wonderful instructions on how to build real car technology with LEGO. Continue reading “Building an off road car with LEGO Technic”