Hasta La Gadget!

I think that most of us probably wanted to live in a tree house at some point when we were growing up. I know when I was a kid I wanted to live in a giant redwood like an Ewok so badly that I could barely stand it. A couple LEGO builders named Sean and Steph Mayo (aka Siercon and Coral) have designed what they called the Faerie Forest out of LEGO, and it reminds me of that forest on Endor that I dreamt of years ago.

The tall, thin trees with the LEGO homes around their trunks are very cool. When you look at the first image of the entire scene from a distance, it’s very hard to tell all the intricate work that went into the design.

Once you look at the close-up images and see how much work was put into each of the tree houses and the river, it’s even more impressive.

The scene is filled with tiny fruit trees, gardens, and lots of little people living out their Minifig lives. I wonder how long it took the duo to build this enormous LEGO diorama.

[via The Brothers Brick]

Being confined to a wheelchair is a bummer. But while this LEGO wheelchair won’t necessarily take the frustration at having to use one away, it will make the entire thing a bit more bearable.

They say a positive attitude helps a lot with the healing process, so maybe this wheelchair is what most people need. At least, the ones who love LEGO, anyway.

This chair was built by master builder Simon “Burf” Burfield. It weighs 44 pounds, which isn’t heavy compared to most standard wheelchairs, and is downright lightweight compared to most motorized chairs. To build it, Burf used six Mindstorms NXTs, 12 Mindstorms motors, 12 Mindstorms touch sensors, 12 Rotacaster multi-directional wheels, and ‘a whole load’ of LEGO Technic.

See the chair in action in the video below:

Sure, it doesn’t move quickly, but it’s still impressive that it’s entirely built out of LEGO components.

[via TecheBlog]

Once in a while, we end up looking at a particular piece of Lego art that will definitely turn heads. This is one of those times, especially when you are sick and tired of doing this particular activity known as “walking”. If you think that this activity of walking is a chore, perhaps you might want to pull some help from the Lego Motorized Wheelchair. Obviously, you are unable to purchase this from any off the shelf Lego set, but rather, you will need to purchase your fair bit of Lego Mindstorm parts to end up with such a creation.

According to Lego robot builder Simon “Burf” Burfield, this particular Lego Motorized Wheelchair is what he deems as the first motorized wheelchair of its kind in the world. The entire system tips the scales at 44 pounds, where it relied on half a dozen Lego Mindstorms NXTs, 12 Mindstorms motors, an equal number of Lego Mindstorms touch sensors, as well as 12 Rotacaster mult-directional wheels in addition to an entire bunch of Lego Technic. Not the fastest motorized wheelchair on the market, but while it does not measure up in speed, it does have its fair share of carrying capacity, capable of carrying someone up to 90kg.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Domaster and Tetrawing: The ultimate LEGO Game Boy creation?, Death Star made from 30,000 LEGO pieces,

I’ve seen plenty of LEGO cars and trucks over the years. I always appreciate attention to detail when it comes to building a vehicle out of LEGO blocks. A guy named Alex Jones (aka OrionPax) has created an awesome LEGO low rider that looks like it’s straight out of a Cheech and Chong movie. The car is called “The Hob” and has tons of features that you can’t see in the photograph.

The car has fully functional (simulated) hydraulics, working lights, RC hardware, chrome, and has an integrated MP3 player with a speaker. That means you can play Low Rider by War as you cruise The Hob around your living room on three wheels.

You have to check out the video of The Hob to see what it can do for yourself. I wonder how the builder designed the motion system to make the car move around. It appears to be constructed completely out of LEGO down to the frame rails.

Check out more images of The Hob over on OrionPax’s website.

[via Brothers-Brick]

We’ve seen Star Wars chess sets before and we’ve seen some LEGO chess sets as well, but this one combines both and is a real work of art. It’s the third in a series of LEGO chess sets designed by Brandon Griffith. Each commemorates the three original Star Wars movies. You know, the good ones. At least two of them.

For the Return of the Jedi chess set, you can play as either the Imperials or the Rebels. Of course, the bad guys are always more fun. Brandon really did a great job of thinking out of the detail and building some clever pieces, with lots of detail.

The Endor theme of the board is really nice, especially the Ewok and Scout Stormtroopers as pawns. Though you’ve got to wonder about the Emperor as King and Darth Vader as Queen on the Empire side of the board.

If all chess sets were this cool, I might be bothered to actually play the game. Great work Brandon.

[flickr via The Brothers Brick via Nerd Approved]