Ambitious hobbyists can put all sorts of fascinating projects into practice with the colorful clamping blocks – now two have been added. A Czech LEGO team created a functional “McLaren P1” super sports car, while a Polish enthusiast put together three thousand components to build a mechanical computer.
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Turing – Totally LEGO
A Polish computer science and terminal building block enthusiast has submitted an ambitious project on LEGO’s “Ideas” platform: a Turing machine made of almost three thousand LEGO Technic elements. Unlike its model, which is a theoretical model of a computer designed by Alan Turing, the LEGO machine exists in reality and is fully functional.
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The inventor explains his LEGO machine in a detailed video.
Like the model developed by computer science pioneer Turing, the LEGO Turing machine has an infinitely long memory tape, the transfer function – i.e. the source code of the program executed by the machine – is located on a 32 stud or 5 bit long construction of LEGO plates. The LEGO software developer programs his computer with 1×1 bricks.
The inventor known as “The Bananaman 2018” has already created other gadgets such as a working Lego Pong and published them on his YouTube channel. Well He’s seeking support on LEGO Ideasto gain the necessary support from the hobbyist community. The Turing Machine contains around 2,900 bricks, mainly from LEGO’s Technic range. This means it stays just under the 3,000 component limit, which is important for Ideas sets.
Clamp building block enthusiasts can publish their own set ideas on the “LEGO Ideas” platform. However, unlike other communities around Rebrickable such as “MOC” (My Own Creation), sets published on LEGO Ideas have a chance of being developed as an official product by LEGO. To do this, young designers first need 10,000 votes from other Ideas users to work with the Danish manufacturer’s experts to refine their idea’s viability and market opportunities.
Building block bolides
A project by Czech LEGO employees, who used hundreds of thousands of clamping building blocks from their bread maker, turned out to be several orders of magnitude more comprehensive: a Full-scale McLaren P1 sports car. Possibly as a marketing gimmick for its smaller brother in 1:8 scale, the LEGO Racing Car is not available in toy or car shops.
For the ambitious project, the LEGO team used not only 342,817 Technic elements, but also a metal chassis, and other safety-relevant elements not made of clamping blocks. The LEGO creation weighs 380 kilograms and after more than 8,000 hours of construction time, Formula 1 driver Lando Norris tested the car at the Silverstone race track in England. His verdict: “Drives very well!”
Clearly visible in the video: The base of the LEGO sports car is made of tubular steel, but all structures are made of LEGO Technic
(Image: LEGO / Screenshot: Heise Online)
This isn’t the first time the Czech design team has created a replica of a sports car: six years ago, the builders tried their hand at a Bugatti Chiron, which they put together in its original shape from more than one million parts.
(CKU)
