How to build a toilet-flushing Lego robot

We were always a little wary of bringing our Legos into the bathroom, but if you've got no such baseless fears, BattleBricks has published a handy how to on building one of those fancy auto-flushers you see in some of the finest washrooms worldwide. Using only parts from a standard NXT Mindstorms kit, Will Gorman rigged up a contraption that employs the ultrasonic sensor module to detect the presence and then absence of a bathroom-goer, and also features a dedicated button to perform a Rube Goldberg-esque manual flush. Keep on reading for a thankfully-SFW demo vid of the so-called "RoboFlush"...

[Vincent @ Sep 28th 2007 8:16AM]

heh-heh. Nifty. Actually, I just read about the one person who can really use this. Lord knows she doesn't want to get a callous on her finger from too much flushing...

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/face/news/20070928p2g00m0dm016000c.html

[Paul @ Sep 28th 2007 8:31AM]

I only made it to the second paragraph before I could not continue, that was one of the most disturbing things I have read.

"She contributes her figure to her incredible regularity and clearing of the bowels"

[hh83917 @ Sep 28th 2007 9:15AM]

I'll bet his water bills had significantly went up while he's building it...

[richard @ May 20th 2008 9:57AM]

i bet

[Neil @ Sep 28th 2007 9:17AM]

Can I be the first to jump in and say

"THE PLURAL OF LEGO IS LEGO, not LEGOS. ARRRRRGGGHHHH"

[bombastinator @ Sep 28th 2007 11:07AM]

I think that words are best defined by actual popular use. In this case the plural should be legoses. Ask any 5 year old.

[Richard Ford @ Sep 28th 2007 2:11PM]

Here here!

I hate it when the yanks in the office say Legos... It is LEGO. Like SHEEP or FISH or COKE.

While we are at it. It is "Buffet" and not "Booffet"

The "H" in Herb is NOT SILENT

It is pronounced "Craig", like "CrayG". Not Creig or Greg or whatever....

And the mother of all periodic table of basic physics changing chagrin is Aluminium. There is an I after the N and before the UM.

Grey is spelt with an E and not an A

The gas meter is located five metre's to the right - you know, metre as in that lump of platinum in Paris that never changes length or size whatever the temperature...

One can CHECK if the client has paid with a valid CHEQUE or not...


Defence is spelt with a C, while offence can be spelt with either an S or a C based on what you mean

Reading Engadget is quite painful at times, for people who are supposed to be PAID to write for a living?

Crikey!

[Andy @ Sep 28th 2007 3:52PM]

"Here here!

I hate it when the yanks in the office say Legos... It is LEGO. Like SHEEP or FISH or COKE.

While we are at it. It is "Buffet" and not "Booffet"

The "H" in Herb is NOT SILENT

It is pronounced "Craig", like "CrayG". Not Creig or Greg or whatever....

And the mother of all periodic table of basic physics changing chagrin is Aluminium. There is an I after the N and before the UM.

Grey is spelt with an E and not an A

The gas meter is located five metre's to the right - you know, metre as in that lump of platinum in Paris that never changes length or size whatever the temperature...

One can CHECK if the client has paid with a valid CHEQUE or not...


Defence is spelt with a C, while offence can be spelt with either an S or a C based on what you mean

Reading Engadget is quite painful at times, for people who are supposed to be PAID to write for a living?

Crikey!"


(Takes a deep breath)

Alright, first off... If someone once to say "Legos", let them say "Legos". Does it bother you that much if someone were to say that? Get a life. There's more important things to do than argue about that.

Next is the pronunciation of the word "buffet". It's two seperate languages putting the stress on differnt syllables, give it a rest already. I'm Ukrainian and we share a lot of the same words as Russians in our language. The difference? The stressing of the syllables in a word. Ukrainians stress the first syllable whereas Russians tend to stress the last. Neither Russians nor Ukrainians or either right or wrong over the other. "Bu-ffet" is not entirely wrong over "Buf-fet". Take the word privacy. We'll even use people from the UK for this example. Some say "Priv-acy", while others say "Pri-vacy". Who is right? Both.

"H" in "herb" not silent you say? What about in "hour"? It may not be for you, but over here in America, it is. Do you pronounce the "k" in "knife"? Didn't think so.

Once again, in America the element is Aluminum, not aluminium. Neither is wrong over the other compared to where you live.

If you have a problem with the way the creators write on this site, then by all means adhere only to the ".uk" sites. This is an american site, so it is written in American English. Black mixed with white is "gray" and it is a "color", people write a "check". We have a Department of "Defense". It's only words and they are only letters.

So the point to this is get a life. Obviously your life may not be short enough that you don't sweat the details. Here's a word of advice: find a hobby.

[Elodie @ Sep 29th 2007 9:50AM]

"Here here!"

-giggles- but you DO realize that's supposed to be "hear, hear"? It's a call for people to listen to what is being said, not to point out where it is.

That said, cool robot, but I'm not putting my mindstorms in the bathroom XD

[aeo @ Sep 28th 2007 11:03AM]

I can't go when it's watching me.

[B_Lizzard @ Sep 28th 2007 11:04AM]

Actually, this could prove quite useful for people with disabilities or motor problems...

[rzlmlchm009 @ Sep 28th 2007 12:21PM]

Because we all know that people with disabilities or motor problems are the ones that play with Legos. ;-)

[indolent @ Sep 28th 2007 1:01PM]

How far can it detect a person? For example, would it work if a male was standing in front and going? Or, does it only work if someone was sitting?

[Charlie Calhoun @ Sep 28th 2007 8:46PM]

Did you watch the video? It clearly shows a man walking up, lifting the seat, standing there for a second or two, putting the seat back down, and walking away. There is the answer to your example question. And about the distance, my guess would be around 3 feet.

Also, @Andy, THANK YOU!! You are absolutely right, look up Herb on dictionary.com, it clearly says pronunciation is "urb", not "Herb". Herb is a person, and he can pronounce his name the way he wants it, not like the stuff that grows which is pronounced URB. This is a .COM and not a .UK! All I am doing it reiterating your point. This is Today's America, and we pronounce things the way we want to, even AT&T is using words like "njoy" and "myob", it's just the way it works people.

[Kevin @ Sep 29th 2007 1:02AM]

"Did you watch the video? It clearly shows a man walking up, lifting the seat, standing there for a second or two, putting the seat back down, and walking away. There is the answer to your example question."

Ah, but that begs the question... does it work because of the guy walking up and leaving, or because of the seat going up and then back down? 'Cause if it's the latter, well, how useful would it really be to the average, stereotypical, male? *g*

But still... Dude, I gotta build me one of THESE!

[Ron @ Sep 28th 2007 1:45PM]

Awwww... It even says "Thank You"

Must be build by the same people who will build the doors
on the "heart of gold" : ^ )

[Ramesh @ Sep 29th 2007 12:39AM]

How far does this detect persons? Can we walk across it without triggering a flush?

It'll be funny when the toilet gets clogged. :)

[Ed @ Sep 29th 2007 1:43AM]

Now, if it would wipe your bum, I would be impressed. Ok, I'm still impressed - I can fly a 28 million dollar helicopter but I can't figure out how to make my Mindstorms kit walk about my flat. Cheers to the builder.

[emerson @ Oct 1st 2007 3:06PM]

They cheated, true Lego has no screws or even glue

[Maarten @ Nov 18th 2007 6:42AM]

Dear Richard Ford-person,

I'd like to point out that the plural of meter (or the, mainly British, metre) does not need a quote in it. It's neither meter's or metre's, but meters or metres.