Video tutorials

There are a few main challenges with box robots and in the following tutorial we would like to resolve them. Read on and let's see how we could do this. 

This video tutorial focuses on accomplishing M01 Coral Nursery, M02 Shark, M03 Coral Reef, and M04 Scuba Diver of the FIRST LEGO League 2024-2025 SUBMERGED Challenge using the Nautiq box robot (a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot). The run uses a two-part pinless attachment designed to complete multiple missions in a single sequence. The small angled surface mounted under the robot flips the coral buds from M01 and pushes the shark from M02, while the front arm catches and delivers the Scuba Diver from the coral nursery to the coral reef support.

The back section of the attachment flips the coral reef from M03 using a friction-pin mechanism that stays straight during travel but drops the horizontal arm at the mission model to push the yellow plate and raise the coral reef. Extra axles on the front arm prevent the Scuba Diver from falling during delivery, ensuring reliable scoring. This coordinated multi-mission approach maximizes efficiency by combining pushing, collecting, and delivering into one smooth run.

It's a box! It's a robot! It's a box robot.  Box robots are very popular on different robotics competitions involving LEGO Mindstorms like the FIRST LEGO League or World Robotics Olympiad. Let's start with a brief introduction and continue in the next videos with explanation on the features of the robot and why such robots are frequently used.

This video tutorial focuses on accomplishing M01 Coral Nursery and M03 Coral Reef of the FIRST LEGO League 2024-2025 SUBMERGED Challenge using the Nautiq box robot (a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot). The aim is to see a consistent accomplishment by lifting the coral tree to the coral tree support and delivering reef segments outside the launch area in one smooth sequence.

The robot uses a motor-powered attachment to lift the coral tree precisely while a side holder secures the collected reef segments. This ensures both missions are completed without losing any pieces during movement. You can watch the full explaining tutorial here.

This video tutorial is part of the series on how to make your robot 100% precise and accurate. We accomplish the Emergency Walk mission 10 out of 10 times. The attachment works. Every time the attachment is started in successfully accomplishes the mission and this is one of the most difficult missions on FIRST LEGO League competitions ever. 

This video tutorial focuses on accomplishing M01 Coral Nursery and M03 Coral Reef of the FIRST LEGO League 2024-2025 SUBMERGED Challenge using the Nautiq box robot (a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot). The run uses a pinless motor-powered attachment specifically designed to raise the coral tree to the coral tree support while delivering reef segments outside the launch area. This attachment was chosen after testing multiple designs, and it proved to be one of the most reliable solutions for this task.

The motor-driven lifting mechanism is mounted using long axle pins due to the gearwheel’s position, and a heavy brick is added on top for extra sturdiness, preventing the attachment from popping off during operation. On the side, a simple holder secures the three reef segments collected in previous runs for easy delivery during this mission. This combination allows the robot to lift the coral tree smoothly, place it accurately, and complete the reef segment delivery in a single, well-coordinated sequence.

Here is Lintu. It is a marvelous LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Animal robot that looks like Kiwi, the famous New Zealand bird. It is quite rare to see a Kiwi bird in person. But fear not, we've prepare a robot that looks almost exactly like the original.

This video tutorial focuses on accomplishing M06 Raise the Mast and M07 Kraken’s Treasure of the FIRST LEGO League 2024-2025 SUBMERGED Challenge using the Nautiq box robot (a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot). The point is to achieve a perfect 10 out of 10 score for these interconnected missions in one smooth sequence.

The robot first secures the treasure chest before fully raising the mast, avoiding the mechanism that would otherwise lock the chest in place. This requires precise timing and control to push, lift, and stop at the correct point, then complete the mast-raising motion. You can watch the full explaining tutorial here.

Here we start with a second box robot that we would like to build. It is in a way improvement to the first robot and we would take a look at its features. 

This video tutorial focuses on accomplishing M06 Raise the Mast and M07 Kraken’s Treasure of the FIRST LEGO League 2024-2025 SUBMERGED Challenge using the Nautiq box robot (a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot). The run uses a pinless attachment connected to the bottom of the robot, featuring side guides with stoppers for precise mast lifting and a central rubberized section to catch the treasure chest.

The challenge in this run is to collect the treasure before raising the mast fully, as the mission model locks the chest if the mast is lifted too far too soon. The robot must push and lift with great precision, stopping at exactly the right point to avoid triggering the lock, then continue raising the mast to complete the mission. This sequence demonstrates careful mechanical design, accurate programming, and precise timing to accomplish two interconnected missions in one smooth run.

Mission

The robot should park in the parking positioned in the north-east corner of the field.

Scores

At the end of the match the robot is completely in the parking area in the north-east corner of the field: 50 points.

In this video tutorial, the MiniBox box robot accomplishes M14 and M15 of the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge robotics competition. The robot is a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot. In this run, the robot delivers the LEGO minifigures to their designated places.

With the shape of a box it is very easy to align this robot to different wall and to add very stable pinless attachments to it. The goal of the video is to discuss this feature of this particular robot construction.

In this video tutorial, the MiniBox box robot accomplishes M08, M14, and M15 of the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge robotics competition. The robot is a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime box robot. In this run, the robot delivers the LEGO minifigure to its designated place and then pushes the M08 camera down the track to shoot the movie scene.

The EV3 Gyro sensor is quite powerful, but there are some little tricks when using it. In the previous episode we showed a hardware solution to the problem and now we are exploring how could the sensor be calibrated from the EV3-G software. Thanks to Sharon and Faye (full names omitted) for the request for this video.

This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial in which the MiniBox accomplishes M14 and M15 of the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge robotics competition. The robot is a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime box robot. In this run, the robot should consistently and reliably deliver the LEGO minifigures to their designated places.

The second construction of the series along with a comparison with the first construction. The new robot requires more parts, but has a few more advantages. 

This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial in which the MiniBox accomplishes M08, M14, and M15 of the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge robotics competition. The robot is a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime box robot. In this run, the robot should consistently and reliably deliver the LEGO minifigure to its designated place and then push the M08 camera down the track to shoot the movie scene.

This is a 10 out of 10 tutorial in which we accomplish M04, M14, and M15 of the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge. We use the MiniBox, a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime box robot. The goal of the robot is to consistently and reliably deliver the LEGO minifigures to their designated place and then press down the M03 platform to trigger the immersive experience for the viewer in the mission model.

Five different robot chassis. This is the goal of the series. To present ideas for different design of the robots and especially the robot bases. If the base is stable and balanced, then in could easily be extended. Let's start with the most simple of the five. 

In this video tutorial, we demonstrate a full run of all the missions in the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge robotics competition, using the MiniBox - a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot.

These kinds of runs are extremely useful for teams looking to see how they can tackle the entire range of missions, pushing their accuracy, speed, and self-control to the limit.

We should how to build a frame that could hold the attachments for specific competition missions. This frame is added in a pinless manner. This means very fast and easy without any glitches of the pins.

In this video tutorial, we show how to accomplish M03 of the the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge competition. The robot featured is the Chain Monster box robot, built from LEGO Education SPIKE Prime.

This tutorial focuses specifically on the M03 Immersive Experience as part of a larger run, making it easier for you to learn and replicate the robot's behavior.

In this first part we stop at an algorithm that is the base for following lines and explains the basic idea for the proportion. A must watch if you want to understand the robot at its behaviour. At the end the program still wont work so check out Part 2 and Part 3 for the final steps.  

In this video tutorial, we demonstrate how to accomplish the second part of M8 of the the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge competition. We use the Chain Monster box robot built from LEGO Education SPIKE Prime.

The goal of the mission is to push the M08 rolling camera up the rails. Let's see how the robot does it.

In this tutorial we present a way to align your robot to a black line. Go through common difficulties, that the teams face, when they need to align their robot, and provide a solution for them.