CardShark is a LEGO MINDSTORMS invention of amazing size and functionality. Not only can it shuffle and deal cards, the whole "head" can turn on a large turntable in order to actually face the person it is dealing. Does all this sound impossible? Is it impossible? Not so. Very possible.
CardShark has 2 RCXs (one is on the other side) that communicate to each other via IR messages, about enough feet of electrical wiring to run around the perimeter of the room it was built in, and more motors, sensors, and pieces than you would like to think about. It has all sorts of amazing little secrets about it: tank treads that have rubber bands around it that serve a special purpose, a pneumatic switch and yet there are no pneumatics, and wheels that spit out the cards (I learned that one from LEGO MINDSTORMS:)!. Also amazing is the ease of transportation (the wires aren�t so easy to carry around though)!, one can just stick his arm under the robot and lift the whole thing up and move it! Bracing is the key to this and other parts of the robot.
The concept of the robot is to first shuffle the cards, then carry them through the robot to where the "card spitting" wheels are. The large wheels are run in opposite directions and therefore shoot out the cards once they come in contact. Also, the pneumatic switch mentioned earlier is actually used as a sort of locking mechanism for the top! And it's a good thing that the there is some long wire included in the mars expansion pack-I needed it! |
