With Easter just around the corner I thought it would be a great time to dust off my EV3 and build an egg decorating robot. These machines, commonly referred to as Egg Bots, have been around for a while. In fact, an early version dates all the way back to 1990! Since then, many versions have been created, some scratch built and some others using LEGO Mindstorms. I really enjoy the challenge of designing my own models, so here is my version, the EV Egg Bot! Instructions, program file, and notes for building your own can be found below. Other than the eggs and marker, all the pieces you need to build this model come in the EV3 Home Edition kit 31313.
The motors should be connected to the ports as follows:
Port A – the large motor that turns the egg
Port B – the medium motor that raises and lowers the marker
Port C – the large motor that moves the arm from side to side
Operating the EV Egg Bot is pretty straight forward. Once the program is running, you can use the left and right buttons on the EV3 unit to scroll through the available patterns and select the center button to ‘print’ it. Before decorating you’ll want to make sure the marker is about .5 cm/.25 in above the surface of the egg. I’m using standard Sharpie markers, but I think any felt tip marker that can draw on an egg will do.
The video should give you a pretty good idea of how it all works. Feel free to delve into the program file to design your own patterns!
Tks a lot for this tutorial!
Made my easter time really cooler! I recently bought the ev3 and this was the 1st project!
Thanks!
That’s cool. Glad you liked it!
Hello! My son and I have been long time followers and fans of JK Brickworks – and the inspiring enthusiasm for your LEGO creations has always flowed over into the classroom. Through the years, I have taken various projects with me to work as exemplars for hands-on STEM learning experiences, provocation for temporal spatial learning, and/or any other way I can leverage the automagical ways unexpected learning opportunities can be discovered from so many diverse perspectives from each and every model you and your partner, Kristal, have created!
QUESTION:
We have many of the LEGO Mindstorm Ev3 Core Set 45544 – Educational version – I would LOVE to do this as a STEAM project with students for Easter – would the PDFs that you’ve designed for the 31313 Home version be the same steps/pieces if we used the 4544 Educational set?
I would LOVE to do ALL the projects in this LEGO EV3 Section but want to be proactive as to whether the directions would need to be remixed for the educational core set.
Thank you so much for the time to review my comment and your feedback!
Jenn
That’s really cool to hear! Unfortunately, the pieces in the educational version are quite a bit different than those in the retail kit. So, no, the instructions I provided will not work for you.
Would we be able to build this with the EV3 Education set?