The Spike Color Sensor is often used for tracking markings on the floor in activities like FLL or WRO challenges. It is important to understand, that the sensor has a certain size of a spot that it watches. To determine exact dimensions of the spot I have built a test rig:
Recently I have purchased a second-hand LEGO set only to find some large, rare (as in: expensive to replace) parts WARPED.
I searched the net and found several threads where people reported on similar issues, but no good solution. So I have put my experience with plastics to work and found an easy fix.
Continue readingSo you flip the LEGO switch on your LEGO Railroad system and… nothing happens. Or the switch moves half-way and stops.
There is a post here: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/11141/lego-track-switch-doesnt-close-properly describing what I was facing recently. I found a better solution than described there and a more permanent fix.
Continue readingA lot was posted all over the internet about capturing HDMI output and whether CamLink is worth its $120 price tag since there are $20 alternatives out there. Trying to decide for myself I googled around and all I found were discussions on image/video quality, like this very informative video from Tech Audit TV:
What this (and similar videos) don’t go into, but what is as important, is what these dongles really do, because that’s where the rub is.
| Elgato Camlink 4k | China HDMI to USB dongle |
| does not do scaling of image | scales image to set size |
| passes through raw data stream | compresses data stream to MJPEG |
| PC side needs to process data rate at resolution and fps the camera sends it | PC side can request data at lower rate (resolution, fps) |
| Provides the actual camera fps | Provides own fps, you can select from a list, but for non-standard ones you are at loss |
Lego has released their Classroom app for Windows/Android. Which is great, as now you can actually do some serious programming on your Android tablet (previously you had to go for a full-fledged Windows system to get variables, custom blocks etc. pp.). And you get a scratch-like programming interface, which is helpful as Scratch is sort of beginner-standard in learning to code. However, this works only as long, as the software works as expected. Which it doesn’t.
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