Legotronics

Something that’s been intriguing me for a couple of days now is the possibility of integrating classic electronics directly into Lego. A quick prototype kind of thing where you can just clip things in and out and have them work.

Now, I could fork out a sizeable amount of cash and get a Mindstorms NXT 2.0, or, I could use the Lego I already have, my dremel and some paperclips lying around to make things happen..

I’ve got an Arduino, so I would like to break that out directly into Lego. My first obvious question is how to modify a brick with simple materials easily on hand (and a high-speed, teensy tiny drill press) and get them to be quickly stackable to build a circuit out of them.

I’ve seen a solution out there, using small nails and then clipping wires onto them, I’m not sure I like that approach though – way too many fickle wires to worry about..

A couple of minutes at the workbench, fiddling, and here’s what I came up with – Holes on top and on the sides, bend paperclip, and voila. It’s kinda springy too! I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

Top view:

Bottom View:

Two clipped together, has a sturdy electrical connection:

So will see where this ends up!

PS. Yes, I’m mauling my spare MegaBlocks which I consider aliens to my collection first No sense in experimenting with the real thing just yet!

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