The vehicle that Steven built had a custom-made differential... since the NXT kit doesn't come with one, Steve improvised and built this one... here's a closeup pic of the differential:
Comments
Anonymous said…
I know that 'straight line' issues are a thing of the past with the servo/rotation combination, but ommission of a differential seems like a big oversight. Do you know of the reason why they didn't include one?
I do NOT know, but I will ask today at the small MDP gathering... someone might know the answer to that.
That said, Steve's solution was awesome to look at... I hope my photo gave you enough detail of how it works. I built it last night with my kit just to try it out... very elegant solution.
One of the reasons I suspect was, simply, cost. In other words, if you want to put a differential in the kit, either the price will have to increase (which would rive away some purchasers), or something else has to come out (and I for one don't want to choose - this would probably be a very difficult discussion). Since the motors & software can now drive straight, maybe the need for a differential was reduced. Note that the expansion set Jim pointed us to on LEGO Education seems to have a differential - so there is at least one in an "official" expansion.
Comments
I do NOT know, but I will ask today at the small MDP gathering... someone might know the answer to that.
That said, Steve's solution was awesome to look at... I hope my photo gave you enough detail of how it works. I built it last night with my kit just to try it out... very elegant solution.
Jim
--
Brian Davis