Hey, Lego my Droid, you remote-controlled fiend! (video)

That original Motorola Droid looking long in tooth? Not sure what to do with it once you upgrade to Incredible, X, or even the progenitor's most direct descendant? Take a cue from Mike Partain, who threw in a Lego NXT Robot kit and some ingenuity to create a rather clever proof of concept. The building blocks serve as the bulk of the structure and motor skills, the phone serves as camera, GPS, and compass. The missing links between these two elements and Partain's remote controlling are three little pieces of complex software... so maybe it's not in your immediate future, but having a few dreams and vicariously living through the videos after the break should get you through the weekend, right? And if you really want to fiddle with one yourself, the source code has been provided.

[littlea Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:01AM]

GO GO LEGO.

[JELP Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:04AM]

@littlea
GO GO Denmark!

[Professor Hubert J Farnsworth Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:21AM]

GO GO POWER RANGERS!!!

[Smart People Play Tuba Posted Jul 10th 2010 10:29AM]

GO GO GADGET BLOG COMMENT POSTING PROTOCOL

[Wolfticket Posted Jul 10th 2010 1:17PM]

GO GO C-C-C-C-Combo breaker...

...Damn

[warpaint Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:11AM]

Wait, this thing could potentially fetch me cold beverages.

I love the future.

[creiij Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:42AM]

@warpaint Yea imagine that thing with an arm or something. I would so drive around and pinch my wife in the toes... atleast once, until she destroyed it... meh so worth it =)

[Smart People Play Tuba Posted Jul 10th 2010 10:39AM]

@creiij

Pinch your wife in the . . . toes?

That wasn't what I was expecting you to say.

[tavisjohn Posted Jul 10th 2010 12:39PM]

@warpaint Is it a bad thing that I just read that in Fry's voice?

[devve Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:14AM]

Anyone know why I can't change my profile picture?
I click Edit picture and upload a small 64x64 picture but it won't change.
Tried IE and Opera.

[warpaint Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:20AM]

@devve

Did you try creating a GUI interface using Visual Basic to track the IP address?

[devve Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:05AM]

@warpaint

haha uhm.. no (:

Any other suggestions?

[stridermt2k Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:18AM]

Little WALL-E moment there.

[SeeThreepio Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:20AM]

Dear me! Did someone say "droid?" I am See Threepio, human-cyborg relations, and I am fluent in over three mill-

[Lord Vader Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:01AM]

I then killed him

[Imran Posted Jul 10th 2010 9:03AM]

@Lord Vader

Destroyed your own creation... A very Darth thing to do indeed

[Chewy71 Posted Jul 10th 2010 9:31AM]

@Imran
ha that was like a pun because i'd bet he creates the Seethreepio account

[SeeThreepio Posted Jul 10th 2010 10:19AM]

Where am I? I must've taken a bad step.

As I was saying, I am See Threepio, human-cyborg relations, and I am at your servi-

[stridermt2k Posted Jul 10th 2010 11:43AM]

@SeeThreepio

What about that blue one?

[SeeThreepio Posted Jul 10th 2010 12:53PM]

I'm quite sure you'll be pleased with that one, sir. He really is in first class condition. I've worked with him before. Here he comes, the malfunctioning little twerp. What did I say? What I meant was that R2 unit is in prime condition. A real bargain.

[rafette Posted Jul 10th 2010 2:49PM]

@SeeThreepio C'mon, guys! We all know these aren't the droids we're looking for. Move along!

[satn Posted Jul 10th 2010 7:45AM]

Now that's a good DIY, unlike the 'i taped my ipad/iphone to something' crap you usually showcase.

[drkow19 Posted Jul 10th 2010 3:03PM]

@the bandit Yeah as you scream "Am I holding it right now, Mr. Jobs?"

[Ignoramus Posted Jul 10th 2010 5:41PM]

@drkow19 send me 1000USD and ill do it

[Makali Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:08AM]

Droid does !!!

[jsuh Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:19AM]

Is this what the it would look like if R2-D2 and Wall-E were to have a child?

[imikedaman Posted Jul 10th 2010 9:01AM]

Is it just a coincidence that both this and the slot car remote controller use the phone for nothing more than data input to a PC that does all the actual work? Surely someone out there has made a cool hack that is controlled entirely by the phone.

[kent99 Posted Jul 10th 2010 9:12AM]

What is the fascination with legos?

[fanboy Posted Jul 10th 2010 9:35AM]

Anyone else notice the Warcraft III bible in the back?

[hstewart Posted Jul 10th 2010 12:49PM]

I have an NXT kit and it been talking to phone via Bluetooth since the begining. So if you can control the camera via Bluetooth than it is possible.

[ppratik96 Posted Jul 10th 2010 8:40PM]

We used these robots in my science class this year. It was kind of fun but I dodnt have the patience to get it to actually do something good.

[ntlam Posted Jul 10th 2010 10:32PM]

a remote controlled robot using a remote controller?

[LordThree Posted Jul 11th 2010 11:28AM]

And how is this news?