Following a series of innovative LEGO based projects, one engineer has made his masterpiece. The Pancake Bot (PB) is a 3 axis CNC router. The Z axis is a Pancake Batter Dispenser Control. The end results were a pancake Micky Mouse and my favorite, a pancake truck.
The creator, going by the name Mexican Viking, originally designed the controllers using Python NXT. After encountering some issues, M-Vik went to the standard LEGO Mindstorm programming language. Which, for those who do not know, is the original NXT platform.
M-Vik's Pancake Bot has a Compressed Air Dispersal Apparatus for the batter distribution that he made from a NXT Motor, 2 pnumatic cylinders, a holding tank make of a ketchup bottle, and bi-directional switches. The switch changed the direction of airflow so he can use air flow and then switch back to compressing. The table itself is controlled with 2 NXT Motors.
This shows the simplest building blocks can make a complex machine. Just a thought, but if it can create pancakes, it could also become a 3D printer.
Pancake Bot fun fact: To calibrate how big M-Vik wanted his pancake drawing, he first determined that an eight toothed gear would traverse 4 standard LEGO units for 360 degrees of motion. So, in turn he could convert LEGO units into degrees for the motor movement.
Eavesdropper