Building Beyond Boundaries

For many of us, life consists of 2 worlds. The world of work and the world of play (Often with Family). For some Work takes more out of life, with play as the escape. For others just the act of getting through the day with their family is a significant accomplishment. My oldest son is severely disabled, his siblings LOVE Lego (probably because Dad loves Lego). This solution would hope to share this love with my Oldest Son, but also provide a way to share Lego with all of my children as work forces me to travel.

The ability to build from anywhere in the World would allow me to be with my children in the spirit of play as work takes me away. The ability to build without the use of his hands would be a gift I would give almost anything for my Son to experience.

It would consist of a cabinet sorted by type, a robotic Arm with grabber hand to select each brick and a board. It would be arranged with feeders so that a single brick is prepared for selection based on verbal commands. Bricks could be programmed to be “brick 1 x 2 blue” or “plate 4 x 6 grey” for those seeking precision. But other customized, less complex terms associated with the grid assignment of each brick type programmed during initial set-up. The intention would be to make it both precise and flexible to work with less developed language. This grid based programming allows for the parent of a special needs child to learn each location to their ability and enhance the potential for play for those of all skill levels.

The robot hand would have 3 fingers arranged for grabbing and aligning pieces, and a 4th “finger” in the center that would apply pressure to snap the Lego’s together. It would follow one of 2 programs. Alignment in the build area can be in the same location (For a parent to rotate the end product to receive the part) or to take commands on a 20 x 20 pad aligned in the build area. This 2nd method would follow commands like “place at 2 right and 6 down”, or “left 2 more, up 1 more, snap in”