Some pretty interesting things have been made out of LEGOs including a computer case, a USB thumb drive, even a working knitting machine, but in my opinion Phillipe Hurbaine has made the best with his 3D laser scanner. Mr. Hurbaine’s scanner came as a result of needing a way to design more complex Lego pieces for use with the freeware program Ldraw CAD. Built almost entirely out of Lego pieces the scanner also uses a laser line in conjunction with two 90deg. planes that serve as a reference point for the scanning software. He then attached a Logitech Pro 9000 webcam for high quality images that help give a more detailed scan. The probe he used is actually a sewing needle positioned on a LEGO Technic linear actuator that moves the needle up, down, back and forth to which every contact point is then recorded. The brain of the scanner is a LEGO Mindstorm NXT micro-computer that runs Hubraine’s pbLua code. You can grab Phillipe’s MLCad files along with a more detailed explanation along with a video of the scanner in action here: http://philohome.com/scan3d/scan3d.htm
Eavesdropper
