The LEGO 3D Scanner

By on April 9th, 2009 in blog

Tags:

 

Philippe “Philo”Hurbain is a master LEGO hacker. How do we know? He’s built something truly amazing out of LEGO to solve a 3D problem. He normally posts tips and tricks for using LEGO Mindstorms® NXT®, showing folks how to build all manner of things.

One problem, though: while many LEGO projects involve relatively straightforward duplication of life-size objects such as buildings or machines, what happens when the object you’d like to LEGO-ize is highly irregularly shaped? This can happen often if your subjects are biological, as those DNA-ridden creatures don’t often have straight edges.

Philo’s solution was to build himself a 3D Scanner to digitally capture the 3D model of those difficult subjects. Of course, he built it out of LEGO.

He realized that:

The solution came with 2008 LEGO Technic sets that include a new part, the linear actuator. These nifty device convert the rotation movement of a motor into a linear movement. Coupled with the high resolution of NXT encoder, I had all the elements to build a 3D scanner, precise enough for my purpose.

The result is the scanner pictured above. It’s very slow, as you’ll see in his video, but regardless it’s pure coolness. Well done, Philippe!

Via MAKE and PhiloHome

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

Leave a comment