Candy Machine III

Young humanoid had done it.  He had constructed a four-item vending machine with coin differentiation (quarter, nickel, penny, dime), coin return, coin sorting and change.  All using one NXT, and one PF battery box.  Young humanoid covered over the front of the machine with clear plastic sheet that allowed users to view the products, which fell from four independently operated treads.  The user could decide which product he wanted from the on-screen interface, and then enter in any coin combination he desired.  Then, the applicable change would be calculated and dispensed.  The largest problem with the machine was the frequent jamming of the coin slot.  However, young humanoid considers this his largest (well, that's no question) and one of his best projects yet.

Mole Day Project 2011

Young humanoid was required to make a Mole Day (October 23) project for one of his classes.  Mole Day celebrates Avogadro's Number, 6.022 x 10^23.  Of course, he immediately turned to NXT.  Constructing a simple quadruped in the form of a horse, young humanoid also implemented a simple motor synchronization mechanism inspired by the mechanism on Laurens Valk's NXT 2.0 bonus model Manty.  A mol, named "Sir Mol" was mounted on top, and autonomous navigation was programmed.

Amphibious Explorerbot

Young humanoid, seeing the Explorerbot challenge on NXTLog, was inspired by one of the award categories - the All-Terrain explorer.  Young humanoid decided to make a robot that was truly all-terrain - both land and water!  Young humanoid constructed a V-shaped wheel base frame utilizing six NXT 1.0 wheels and two 4X4 Off-Roader wheels on each side.  He added two balls on each side to supplement the robot's buoyancy.  In order to challenge himself and raise the electronics out of the water, young humanoid hinged the robot in the middle and added a device to automatically flip the wheel sets so that they faced downward.  Two paddle wheels, each powered by its respective wheel set, moved the robot in water.  Although it was fast on land, the robot was unstable and quite slow in water.  However, young humanoid was quite happy with it.

Offroad Explorer

Young humanoid again teamed up with his friend 058606 to build an off-road machine.  It featured four PF XL motors, each geared down 5:1.  A light frame, outside-mounted battery boxes to reduce sag and an actuated center completed the machine, which was driven by the PS2-Nx interface. 

Candy Machine III Coin Modules Final

Young humanoid then rebuilt the two modules, making them sturdier and more compact.  Suddenly, he realized that he could stack the two on top of each other - the coins coming from the differentiation unit could simply falli into the sorting unit!  Doing so also allowed the dispensed change to become much more accessible.  Now, all young humanoid had to do was build a vending machine around it..

Candy Machine III Protoypes Combined

Young Humanoid then worked with his friend 058606 to combine the two prototype modules and make the dispensing coins (from both the coin return and the change dispenser) accessible.  It worked, and young humanoid decided he was ready to build the final version.

Candy Machine III Coin Sorter and Change Dispenser Prototype

Young humanoid then made a mechanism that would sort the coins by denomination and dispense them as change as needed.  After attempting rotational storage, young humanoid decided on a sliding divider over a smooth base of beams.  A ramp delivered coins from the differentiation unit to the sorting unit.  Coins could then be dispensed by moving the desired coin stack over a wheel on bottom, and then rotating the wheel to dispense the coins one by one.