Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on an ambitious project – to build a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 machine that can scan an image and then print out a LEGO mosaic of it. Here’s a video of the final model printing out the LEGO logo.
It is built entirely using LEGO parts. It first uses the EV3 colour sensor to scan the source image and save the data on the Mindstorms unit. It can then print multiple copies from the saved image data. The 1×1 plates used for ‘printing’ the mosaic are supplied using a gravity feed system and the printing head is simply a 1×1 round plate that can pick up and place the 1×1 plates.
I created a series of videos documenting my progress as I built it, so if you are interested in seeing how this project evolved be sure to check them out here. I also explain and demonstrate in more detail how many of the components of it work in these videos.
I had originally hoped to be able to scan any type of image and have the program pixelate it based on the colours of the plates in the supply. Unfortunately the EV3 colour sensor is no where near precise enough to be able to do this. I resigned myself to require pre-pixelated images to be scanned.
Perhaps in the future I will expand this project into the realm of 3D LEGO printing. Stay tuned!
I would like to know if we could get the code and The instructions or like a time laps of you building it/destroying it (backwards) Because I love this idea and would like to know how you do it. I am very interested please email me.
I really want to build this and i think i have the parts.
Bom dia! Meu nome é Alex. Trabalho em uma escola pública com Lego. Gostaria de saber se você poderia me enviar um manual de montagem desta impressora 3D.
Gratidão!
can you please post some building instructions on how to make this model as i really would like to make it.
Can we you post the instructions on how to build this? I have most of the mindstorm stuff and I have almost all of the Lego, so I’m pretty set, but I just need instructions.
Can you give us instructions , because I think I have all the parts for this really cool mosiac printer
Can u give instructions
this is an absolute thing of beauty. well done.
could I ask what you used to program the ev3?
I used RobotC.
thanks for letting me know. ☺️
Can we get the code? Because I have wanted to do this for a year now and cant figure out how to build it correctly and program it.
I took this model apart years ago, and there is no build information available other than the videos I made for it. The code was written in robotc, so I’m not sure how useful it would be, especially without instructions for the model.
Well, I could look through the videos and look closely but I really just need the code on how to do it.
You can find all the code files here: https://bricksafe.com/files/JKBrickworks/programs/bricassoCode.zip