A Robotic Elevator using Lego & Arduino – Part2

• Part 1: Mechanical Design Basics.
• Part 2 (current): Balancing the Elevator.
• Part 3: Electronics (optocoupler, H-Bridge, and more).
• Part 4: Software to control the Arduino.

In the first part of this series, we introduced the core structure of our elevator. But, we aren’t done yet with the mechanics. As shown in Video 1, our initial design was unbalanced. It isn’t usable at all to lift any weight, such as a smartphone. The solution is to lower and move back the center of gravity by adding extra weight at the rear (See Pictures 1 and 2).

This ends the mechanical structure of our elevator. In the next part, we’ll be discussing the electronics. We’ll show how to drive lego motors using an Arduino board.

Video 1: Balancing the Lego Elevator

Picture 1: Elevator Mechanical Structure V4 – Front View

Picture 2: Elevator Mechanical Structure V4 – Rear View