text:
Is this a real Duplo Train Base or fake?
I'm new to LEGO, so forgive me if this is a simple question. I purchased a lot of 30 Duplo Train Base from eBay.
Below is the picture that accompanied the listing. There is a disclaimer stating: (Stock Pictures colors of trains may be different)

What I received aside from the 20 that fit the Duplo Train Base plus 10 of these train bases:

The LEGO DUPLO Creative Suitcase 10565 shows the train base with a pincher tip and not a closed loop:

Not sure, what the other 10 train bases I received are. The 10 cars do seem to say DUPLO inside the circle if I look closely.

These 10 are Duplo Vehicle Car Base 2 x 6 with Hitches and Red Wheels (Old)' (4883cx2) and came in Red, Blue and Yellow

+1 for Lego floor :) Yes, it sounds like they are the vehicle car base and not train base?

As far as I can see they are same parts, where 10 are old version (till 1992) and the other 20 Duplo Chassis 2X6 the updated version (from 1993 - now)

There is a simmilar looking part that can run on corresponding duplo tracks Duplo Train Base 2 x 6 with Red Wheels and Swiveling Coupling' (4559cx1). I don't know if Lego released different types of track over the years, and if they are all compatable with each other.

The car base w/ hitch fits, but it more loose than the train base.

A legitimate duplo train part will have the word Duplo imprinted inside each round stud, like you see in the image here, sorry for the fuzzy pic.

-Brian from brickablocks.

... or sometimes LEGO. http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/6115/what-logos-appear-on-duplo-brick-studs


text:
What logos appear on Duplo brick studs?
Do all regular Duplo bricks have the word "Duplo" written on their studs? If not, what variations are there?

There really isn't a "on" for the Duplo studs.  All Duplo studs are hollow studs.  In the interior of the stud, depending on set and the year of the piece, the stud will read:

DUPLO

or

LEGO

Before 2002 LEGO used "Duplo" inside studs. In 2002 they tried to drop the Duplo brand and possibly for this reason all new Duplo moulds have "LEGO" in the studs. Rare pieces like the 2x10 brick still use an older mould, so still have "Duplo" in the stud. Also from 2012 some sets at least in Europe have 2x4 bricks with "Duplo" in the studs. It's possible these are repaired old molds.

An example of 2 different moulds:

The inside (or underside) of the parts differ as well:

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
Where are the electric pieces for 42029?
I was building LEGO 42029 Customized Pickup Truck, when I got to a page where I needed electrical parts, such as the battery box and the wires. I checked and these pieces were NOT included. Should they have been included? If not, where can I buy them?

These pieces are not included in the set. Motorizing this set requires the addition of a Power Functions motor as shown here:

You'll need the Power Functions Motor Set (8293) if you'd like to motorize your truck. This can be ordered from shop.lego.com or other online retailers. It's usually hard to find in stores, but if you have a LEGO store nearby, they will likely carry it.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
What does "No Friction" mean in Parts "Gear with 8 Teeth Wide, Notched and No Friction"
http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-gear-with-8-teeth-wide-notched-and-no-friction-11955
As title, what does "No Friction" mean in the part "Gear with 8 Teeth Wide, Notched and No Friction" ?

In the case of this item, it means that the gear will slide freely along the axle it rotates around.


text:
Issues with set 10234 book 3 pg 43
The white wing-like piece continues to pop off when placed. Has anyone figured out a fix for this or am I doing something wrong
Instructions 3 & 4:

src: http://lego.brickinstructions.com/10000/10234/163.jpg

Do you have a photo of your build. Looking at the instructions the whole assembly looks stable, especially from sub step 5, when the large curved piece is placed.

Sometimes, the piece connecting your two white plates in Step 2 might be bent or not completely flat. An rounded LEGO piece can have other pieces that it connects falling off because it can't hold on to the studs as usual. This could happen to the white wing piece itself.
Two, they can be a hassle. Normal pieces can sometimes just be a pain in the back. I got a set with pieces in perfect condition and they still come off. Make sure you squeeze those pieces really tight to each other to prevent and pieces from falling off.


text:
How can I use bluetooth on my phone to run a program on the EV3 brick?
I tried the Commander app but it seems to just let you control individual motors.
I would like to run the various programs I have made using an input on the phone through Bluetooth
Is this possible and if so, how?

Hi Emily, which phone are you using?

There is an Android app called EV3 mailbox that can send messages to the EV3 brick. You can trigger your program to run in different ways by sending out different mailbox messages.


text:
How can I rotate an EV3 motor an exact number of degrees using RobotC?
I'm trying to rotate the motor of an EV3 by an angle of 50°. I can't.
How I can rotate a NXT/EV3 motor by a given angle using RobotC?

Is this a duplicate of your previous question - or have you switched from NXC to RobotC? Are you using the interactive servo motors or the medium/large servo motors?

Also - can you post an example of what you have tried - RobotC should support sending specific angles to servos assuming you've configured them correctly...

You can also look at LeJOS - its API for sure allows a motor to turn a specific amount of degrees through the rotate() method. On an instance of a regulated motor this should give you a very accurate rotation.

The command that you are looking for is setMotorTarget as shown in the documentation here.
Essentially, you need to set the target rotation for the motor in degrees and then wait for the movement to take place:
//Sets motorA target to 50 degrees at a speed of 100
setMotorTarget(motorA, 50, 100);
// Waits for movement to complete
waitUntilMotorStop(motorA);


text:
What does 191767 mean in "Paper, Cardboard for Set 4336 #1, Scala Cat (191767)"
In BL http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4336cdb01
This cardboard's name is "Paper, Cardboard for Set 4336 #1, Scala Cat (191767)"
What does "(191767)" mean here in the description?

It's an number printed on the piece of paper, so it's easy to identify and to search (if you look at the picture of the "part" you will see it).
If you were asking about the actual (internal) meeaning of the number then I don't know for sure, sorry. I assume it's just an identification code.

Thank you for your answer. Normally (like on brick parts) the number on it represents the parts' lego item ID. But the paper's item ID is not the number print on it, so its kind of strange.

My guess would be that it is the LEGO element ID (6-7 digits as far as my observation goes). This is different from the item number which is shown on the bricks or on BrickLink. The item number usually contains (or is equal to) the design number.
Example: I have a 2x6 plate in tan. This shows the number 3795. As this is a common piece I looked it up on the LEGO website (search by design number) and this reveals that the element ID (which also contains color information) is 4113993. Some element IDs contain the design number as well, e.g. 379501 is the very same plate in white.
Unfortunately the piece in question seems to be rather old, so I could not find any information about it online. (And to find element IDs is a challange by itself as they seem to be "LEGO internal".)

Thanks for sharing, and welcome to Bricks.SE!


text:
Why doesn't lego make many 2x2x4 Pieces?
I'm just wondering if anybody here knows where I can get some 2x2x4 pieces ... It seems that Lego doesn't make many just standard bricks that are 4 high ... I've found a few singles here and there on Ebay, but these don't exit in the pick a brick store and they are reeeally hard to find. Looking for about 16 Dark Stone Gray 2x2x4 pieces ... any leads? Or any idea why they don't make standard bricks that are 4 high? I assume it's because you can easily stack to 2 highs, but for cosmetic reasons I can't do this in my build. Thanks!

Thanks for all the responses ... very interesting about using Duplo blocks ... never thought of that. My only concern is that I need the sharp edges of Lego blocks for this build ... if I'm remembering correctly from my childhood, do Duplo blocks have more rounded edges? I've found a bunch of what are being advertised as 2x2x4 blocks on ebay ... try searching "2x2x4 lego brick" are these people simply incorrect and they are actually 2x2x3, or are these just rare pieces from specific kits? Thanks!

The pictures I see on ebay are 2x2x3 bricks being advertised as 2x2x4. Not sure if the "x4" is perhaps marketing speak for the fact that there are 4 studs on the top, but they are clearly (also visible on the picture) only 3 bricks high.

Oh and note that some use the deceiving perspective of putting a brick flat to show that it covers 4 studs on a base-plate, but that doesn't mean that they are also 4 bricks high as the width to height ratio for a LEGO brick is not 1:1.

What's wrong with stacking up 2x2x1 bricks to make the column?

I can't find any evidence that a 2x2x4 piece has ever existed. Bricklink identifies a 2x2x3 brick, and there are many sellers around the world that will happily sell you 16 dark stone grey pieces for pennies/piece.

Another option you might want to consider is looking at 1x2x2 DUPLO pieces. They correspond to 4x2x4 lego pieces (slightly bigger than you are asking for, but not knowing the details of your build you might be able to incorporate these) and they interconnect (a 2x2 lego piece fits on a single DUPLO stud.) If you mount them sideways you get a 2x4 surface (but it would be 4 deep, not 2 deep as you requested).
EDIT: This post shows how DUPLO and LEGO play together :)

As odd Todd mentioned LEGO never made 2x2x4 pieces. The largest brick of similar size is 2x2x3 and 2x4x3. For larger smooth surfaces LEGO usually uses panels. You can find all the panels LEGO ever made here: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=91

Just note that there is no 2x4 panel either .... 2x3 is the biggest.


text:
How to find out which set contains a higher plate percentage?
I want to gather various types/colors of plates to do some mini model MOCs. How can I find out which set has the best plate percentage or price per plate pieces?
I know there are a lot of ways to find out which set has what kind of parts, and brickset.com also has a statistic for each kind of part including plate percentage of every single set. For a single type of plate there are also a lot of ways (bricklink, rebrickable, brickset, etc.) to find out how many of them are available in which sets.
But I wonder if there is there a quick way to get a list of the plate number/percentage for all the recent years' sets? To check out each set for this information is really painful.
Or if there is no quick way, which sets could be the best candidate to gather various plates? I know a few sets have many plates (e.g. 10230), but their current prices are also very expensive thus potentially making them poor candidates.

Almost any set I can think of will have many many non-plate parts, even if it also has lots of plates in it. Plus you run into the problem of determining what constitutes a "plate". Does this count? or this? or this? If I were you I'd just go down the list of sets you can purchase on shop.lego.com, visually inspect the set to see if it looks like it has lots of plates, then check the inventory on rebrickable.com or bricklink.com. The architecture, Minecraft, and creator sets are probably your best bet.
You might be better off buying plates individually from Bricklink or the Lego website. You can also visit a Lego retail store that has a pick-a-brick wall; they usually have plates available in a few sizes and colours and you can get as many as you want. Otherwise, most sets will have lots of pieces you won't need.

Oh come on, that third part you listed is clearly a tile, not a plate. :)

@gev I included it because some people don't use the terminology as strictly as others do :)

Crazy non-standards-following people! Ah, chaos, sweet chaos.

So, as I guessed before, there wasn't a quick way to get the info I need by just one click... need some effort to dig them out with existing website features. Thanks.

The best set from 2014 is Furry Creatures (31021) at $0.20 per plate.

Here's one possible way to do this:

Download the listing of all parts in all sets from Rebrickable.
Join this data up with pricing data (perhaps from the Brickset API) to get yourself some pricing information for each set.
Define which parts count as plates.
Write yourself a little program to count the number of plates in each set and divide by the price.

If I use the plates in the plates service pack from 1999 as my plate list, here's what I get for the best price per plate for sets containing at least 150 parts released in 2014:
 id          price_per_plate  plates           us_price
 31021-1     0.201919         99               19.99
 21020-1     0.235802         212              49.99
 31020-1     0.246438         73               17.99
 40182-1     0.249875         80               19.99
 40090-1     0.262895         38               9.99
 40183-1     0.277639         72               19.99
 21107-1     0.286803         122              34.99
 31025-1     0.302955         132              39.99
 40180-1     0.307538         65               19.99
 31024-1     0.319043         94               29.99
 10243-1     0.323866         494              159.99
 31023-1     0.336966         89               29.99
 10242-1     0.352077         284              99.99
 31026-1     0.354291         254              89.99
 60058-1     0.356964         56               19.99
 31019-1     0.356964         56               19.99
 79116-1     0.372287         188              69.99
 75038-1     0.384462         65               24.99
 21117-1     0.402241         174              69.99
 41056-1     0.403065         62               24.99

This is quite expensive if you aren't interested in the other parts as well. You'd be better off buying these on a secondary market like Bricklink or perhaps even directly from Pick-a-Brick.


text:
Bluetooth communication between computer and nxt using RobotC
I'm thinking  starting a project involving controlling the movement of a NXT robot from the PC using RobotC.
Is it possible? Does anyone have a simple code solution?

It's possible. simply make a BT connection and then use the control interface from your computer

Are there any other steps to this? Ideally we're looking for substantial answers that provide a bit of detail - possibly mention libraries or API calls?


text:
Bluetooth Conection PC-NXT1-NXT2
I want to connect, via Bluetooth, one PC with a NXT brick and then have that NXT communicate with another NXT.
So I send a message from the PC to NXT1 and have NXT1 send a message to NXT2.
Is this possible?

https://bitbucket.org/Thad_Hughes/cortex/src
Here's something in NXC and python that routes from NXT1 to NXT2 through the PC; emulating a non-master/slave config between all three devices. Has the added benefit of a seamless pairing method.
It could be helpful to give a little more detail (what languages you are using, what direction(s) of communication you desire)...

Yes it is possible. You just need to write a program for NXT1 that forwards the messages from the PC to NXT2.


text:
The most amount of pieces [ever] per set
Which set number had the most

Standard LEGO elements to date?
Technic LEGO elements to date?

Related: What is the largest Lego kit commercially available

@ambo100 I saw this, but my question is not the largest by dimension, but the largest by the number of pieces in a lego and a lego technic set.

Well the question Ambo mentioned talks about the set with most pieces, Taj Mahal. The most pieces for an actual Technic set is 42009: Mobile Crane MK II.

The largest LEGO set by piece count is :
31203: World Map (2021)
Piece count : 11695
Second:
10294: RMS Titanic
Piece count : 9090
Followed by :
10276-1: Colosseum (2020)
Piece count : 9035

Largest Techic set :
42100-1: Liebherr R 9800 (2019)
Piece count : 4108
Second :
42082-1: Rough Terrain Crane (2018)
Piece count : 4057


text:
What electrical contact material is used for PF Connectors?

I'm designing my own PF electrical connector and I want to have the same functional characteristics as the original Lego brick.
Could you please let me know which electrical contact material is used in the original brick?

I don't know the specific material, but it's likely nickle or aluminum.  You can't go wrong with those.  If you want to the best material, you would probably want to look into plating.

Or buy an extension cable and cut it in half.

How is your design going? I'd be very interested in purchasing a large quantity of a PCB (SMD or thru-hole) version of this connector. Philbot.

I hope to have a tested samples in 5-6 weeks. Will let you know when I have it.

how are the samples doing?

The material is most likely aluminum or tinned copper, here is why:
Most LEGOs are made in Denmark, the country of origin, with other various quantities made in mexico, Taiwan, and other factories around the world. Denmark is a huge exporter of electrical generators (see wikipedia). Making generators requires a good amount of aluminum and copper to make, especially if the generator has a build in power transmission. I would be willing to bet that the same materials that are available to make generators would also be available to make LEGOs, copper and aluminum. I'm leaning towards tinned copper because of the luster in the pictures, but I couldn't tell you for sure, and LEGO doesn't provide a datasheet.


text:
Remove decals from LEGO Friends mini-dolls
I am trying to remove the decals from my LEGO Friends mini-dolls. Does anyone have any suggestions for doing this? I tried rubbing alcohol on a minifigure once, and it made it all gross looking, so I know that probably won't work.
A rubber eraser is working, but it takes an awful lot of work, and is very difficult to get the sides of the torso done. (And I am dreading the feet and skirt...)
Thanks!

Pure eucalyptus oil works excellent, won't damage your minifigs, (and it smells good too!). You can get it in small bottles at health-food stores, pharmacies, and Asian stores. You don't need much, so a small bottle can last you a long time.
Just pour a little of the oil on a piece of cotton or soft towel, and rub over the printed area you want to remove. It gets wiped off almost right away. If it is a small area you want to remove, use a Q-tip. Just be careful not to touch areas you want to leave intact as the oil works pretty fast. Wash off the minifigs with pure water afterwards.
You can also use Brasso (the metal polish), but it takes a bit more rubbing and it smells really bad. But it does a good job in general and won't damage your minifig. It is also easier to control than the oil on small surfaces as it is more like a paste and won't run like the oil could. Make sure you rinse the minifigs off really well once you are done.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
EV3 motor TACHO signal connection. Hardware schematic questions
I'm trying to understand EV3 motor TACHO signals circuit on the EV3 hardware schematic.
Please look at the image below.
There are two things I can't understand:

On the left side, the TACHOA0 input is connected to the ADC and Schmitt trigger inputs via RC circuit. I can understand that the 4.7K resistors and 100pF, 47pF capacitors are used to filter the signal. But I can't understand why those two 100K resistors are used.
On the right side, TACHOA1 input is connected to the ADC and Schmitt trigger inputs via RC filter. Here I don't understand the role of MA1 signal.

I would think that both 100k resistors connected to the VCC5V are pull-ups, and that the 100k connected to ground is a pull-down resistor. For the MotorA diagram this would make sense - it would keep the tacho line high if there is no signal on TACHOA1. My electronics knowledge is not (yet!) high enough to understand the combined pull-up/pull-down in the TACHO/INT diagram (perhaps there is a MOSFET somewhere that switches between pull-up/pull-down?). Regarding MA1 - are you sure this is an input? Perhaps it is an output powered by VCC5V? Curious to learn more.

Oh - and you might get a better answer by cross-posting this to electronics.stackexchange.com

The EV3 detects when motors are connected and disconnected using the ADC (and gpios). The two 100k resistors are basically a voltage divider, so when the motor is disconnected, the ADC will read 2.5V. If a motor is connected, the motor encoder will either pull the signal high (above 3.7V) or low (between 0.1 and 0.65V). The detection algorithm is actually a bit more involved than this, but this is the general idea.
For the full details, see the Device Connection Manager Driver and the actual source code. The documentation is not quite exactly correct, so when in doubt, trust the actual source code and not the comments (documentation is generated from comments).
And even though you didn't ask about it, I should point out that the transistor (Q10A) is also used as part of the detection.
You don't show it, but MA1 is connected to pin 2 on the output port, which is one of the motor driver signals, so MA1 could either be battery voltage, floating or ground depending on the state of the motor driver chip (via 1OUTB2). Additionally, the voltage could be steady or PWM depending on the speed and direction the motor is running. Or, MA1 could also be something else if there is no motor plugged in (or something besides a motor is plugged in).
On NXT sensors, pin 2 is connected to ground (pin 3). In the source code, it looks like this is just used to detect if a NXT sensor is plugged into the output port.

1.I'm completely agree with the first answer.  Indeed the voltage divider is   used to detect the TACHO0 pin connection status.
2. Yes MA1 is connected to the one of the motor driver signals. I can guess that this is also used to detect the motor pin status. For example if a 2 wire motor (which doesn't have TACHO signals) is connected to the port then the TACHO input voltage divider (left schematic) will show 2.5v but TACHO1 input will show 0 or 1.
This allows to detect 3 situations. Motor with TACHO interface is connected, motor witout TACHO is conected, nothing is connected.
This make sens.


text:
How to switch an NXT sensor port by a motor port?
Me and my partner are finishing up our robot for the RobotCup and we desperately need one more motor port. We will only use 3 sensor ports, so my question was if there was even the slight chance that we could switch one for the other.

That's not possible - sensor ports don't have the hardware to drive motors. That said, you can buy a motor multiplexer like this one to do the job for you, if competition rules allow this.


text:
What's the circle piece in this MOC?
I saw a moc from here.

But have no idea what the piece it use on the arms of the robot, and on the guns.

It is a Tile 1 x 1 Round, with groove

Edit after clarification in the question:
The arms have something that looks like a bit of Hose, Ribbed cut to the required size.
The gun is, as gev pointed out, based on a standalone ray gun piece that has the ribbed section molded in originally.

Sorry I didn't make it clear first. Maybe new picture will help?

I am not so sure about it, but could it be flex hose cut to size? http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=78c02 You should probably ask the creator directly :)

You can see the cut hose technique in other MOCs in the series, especially here and here

The bit held in the mech hand is a Ray gun.
The bit on the forearms is almost certainly a short bit of Hose, Ribbed 7mm D. 2L like zovits said.


text:
Can I share/download a wishlist on Bricklink?
I have a whole set in a wishlist in BrickLink and I would like to share it with some friends.
Can I either:

Share the list via BrickLink so they can use it directly.
Download it in XML so they can upload it to their wishlist.

If I can do them, how? If I can't, any alternatives?

Time have passed and things got changed on Bricklink. You can now open you wanted list on Bricklink and hit "Download" button as pictured below to get XML file that you can share.

There is no built-in way to download the Bricklink wanted lists. However, there is a userscript that should work for this.
DISCLAIMER:  Use at your own risk. YMMV.
http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/167618
Firefox with Greasemonkey is the way I use other user scripts, but I wasn't able to get this working with Firefox.  I was able to get it working with Chrome and Tampermonkey.
You'll want to make sure you read the description in the link above, and pay attention to the tips they recommend like increasing the number of items per page so you capture everything.


text:
Programming NXT color sensor with NXC?
Currently I am working Lego robot that solves 2x2x2 Rubik's cube. I am programming Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 color sensor in BricxCC.
I already have RGB data with the command ReadSensorColorRaw. I heard that it is easier to get the colour from HSL format. I've tried a lot of algorithms, but none succeeded. How I can fix it to work?'
Also I heard that I need to calibrate white balance. How can I do this??

Since you are trying to solve a Rubik's cube, check out the source code for the MindCuber. The solution there is that the values are not actually converted into colors. Rather the raw values are converted to HSV and then sorted by hue. The actual value does not matter, just how close it is to the other values.
The Mindcuber also has a white calibration. This is used to identify the white values and removed them from the list before sorting which is useful since white doesn't have a meaningful hue value.

I'm not entirely sure if you need the raw data, but if you're just looking to read the different colour values, there is a much easier way.
To turn on and set up the sensor, use SetSensorColorFull(S3);. Then to retrieve the value just use Sensor(S3). The value returned will be an integer from 1 to 6, corresponding to the following colour values:
1 = black
2 = blue
3 = green
4 = yellow
5 = red
6 = white

Here is a sample program that will read the current value from the colour sensor and print the colour name on the NXT screen:
task main() {
    string sColor;
    int nColor;

    // Turn on the sensor
    SetSensorColorFull(S3);

    while (1) {

        // Read the numerical color value from the sensor
        nColor = Sensor(S3);

        // Determine the color name from its number
        switch(nColor) {
            case 1: sColor = "Black";
            case 2: sColor = "Blue";
            case 3: sColor = "Green";
            case 4: sColor = "Yellow";
            case 5: sColor = "Red";
            case 6: sColor = "White";
            default: sColor = "???";
        }

        // Print the color name to the LCD screen
        ClearScreen();
        TextOut(0, 56, NumToStr(nColor) + ". " + sColor);

        // Wait until the color changes
        while( Sensor(S3) == nColor );
    }
}

How can i get orange color??

The following works if you just want the builtin six/seven colors, without any calibration.
task main() {
  SetColorSensorFull(S3);
  while(true){
    int value=Sensor(S3);
    // value now contains 1 for black, 2 for blue, 3 for green, 4 for yello, 5 for red, 6 for white, and something else for an unknown color.
  }

However, if you want to do proportional control, want more colors, or aren't satisfied with the builtin thresholds, you'll need to use the RGB or HSL values. Here's RGB (Threshold is of course, my own defined struct and my solution to this problem):
struct Threshold{
  int minR, minG, minB;
  unsigned int maxR, maxG, maxB;
};

bool InRange(ColorSensorReadType &csr, Threshold &thresh){
  bool in=true;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[0]<=thresh.maxR;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[1]<=thresh.maxG;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[2]<=thresh.maxB;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[0]>=thresh.minR;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[1]>=thresh.minG;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[2]>=thresh.minB;
  return in;
}

Threshold Red={180,20,20,250,130,130},
Green={90,160,90,160,255,160},
Blue={40,100,160,80,150,200},
White={210,210,210,300,300,300},
GroundBlack={0,0,0,150,150,150},
GroundGreen={120,180,120,170,220,160};

task main(){
  SetSensorColorFull(S2);
  ColorSensorReadType csr;
  csr.Port=S2;

  while(true){
    SysColorSensorRead(csr);
    ClearScreen();
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE1,csr.NormalizedArray[0]);
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE2,csr.NormalizedArray[1]);
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE3,csr.NormalizedArray[2]);

    if(InRange(csr,Blue)){
      TextOut(0,LCD_LINE5,"BLUE!");
    }else if(InRange(csr,Green)){
      TextOut(0,LCD_LINE5,"GREEN!");
    }else if(InRange(csr,White)){
      TextOut(0,LCD_LINE5,"WHITE!");
    }

    Wait(10);
  }
}

If you want to transform into HSV values, try this:
struct Threshold{
  int minR, minG, minB;
  unsigned int maxR, maxG, maxB;
};

struct HSVThreshold{
  int minH, minS, minV;
  unsigned int maxH, maxS, maxV;
};

struct HSVColor{
  int hue, sat, val;
}
void RGBToHSV(ColorSensorReadType &csr, HSVColor &color){
  int maxColor=csr.NormalizedArray[0], minColor=csr.NormalizedArray[0];
  for (int i=1;i<3;i++) {
    if (maxColor<csr.NormalizedArray[i]) maxColor = csr.NormalizedArray[i];
    if (minColor>csr.NormalizedArray[i]) minColor = csr.NormalizedArray[i];
  }
  if (minColor==maxColor) {
    color.val=minColor;
    color.sat=0;
    color.hue=0;
  } else {
    int d = (r==minColor) ? g-b : ((b==minColor) ? r-g : b-r);
    int h = (r==minColor) ? 3 : ((b==minColor) ? 1 : 5);
    color.hue=60*(h-d/(maxColor-minColor));
    color.sat=(maxColor-minColor)/maxColor;
    color.val=maxColor;
  }
}

bool InRange(ColorSensorReadType &csr, Threshold &thresh){
  bool in=true;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[0]<=thresh.maxR;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[1]<=thresh.maxG;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[2]<=thresh.maxB;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[0]>=thresh.minR;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[1]>=thresh.minG;
  in&=csr.NormalizedArray[2]>=thresh.minB;
  return in;
}
bool InRange(HSVColor color, HSVThreshold &thresh){
  bool in=true;
  in&=color.hue<=thresh.maxH;
  in&=color.sat<=thresh.maxS;
  in&=color.val<=thresh.maxV;
  in&=color.hue>=thresh.minH;
  in&=color.sat>=thresh.minS;
  in&=color.val>=thresh.minV;
  return in;
}

Threshold Red={180,20,20,250,130,130},
Green={90,160,90,160,255,160},
Blue={40,100,160,80,150,200},
White={210,210,210,300,300,300},
GroundBlack={0,0,0,150,150,150},
GroundGreen={120,180,120,170,220,160};

// Define your own HSVThresholds here

task main(){
  SetSensorColorFull(S2);
  ColorSensorReadType csr;
  csr.Port=S2;

  while(true){
    SysColorSensorRead(csr);
    HSVColor color;
    RGBToHSV(csr,color);

    ClearScreen();
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE1,color.hue);
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE2,color.sat);
    NumOut(0,LCD_LINE3,color.val);

    Wait(10);
  }
}

Currently I am working Lego robot that solves 2x2x2 Rubik's cube, Thanks!

You can add more thresholds and tweak them in order to get even more colors.


text:
Identifying Lego set from 1980's

Can someone please help me identify this Lego set from the 1980's?
I remember building a house, work shed/garage and some type of vehicle. The base plate is light gray. It came with 2 minifigures, male and female, a broom and shovel, and slanted windows that were used for a skylight.

My closest bet would be the Car Repair Shop. However, there are lots of other sets that could match the description.
Edit #1:
The other potential candidates:

Weekend Home
Auto Workshop
Holiday Home
Houses
House with Roof Windows
Holiday Villa

In case none on these is what you are looking for, you could take a look at Bricklink and browse the results.
Edit #2:
Based on the picture you added, the 730-2 BASIC Building Set seems the most likely choice (it has both minifigs, the broom, the shovel, the faucet, the slanted windows). There are also many pieces from other sets: both the blue and the red-yellow propeller, the yellow spaceship engine besides the male figure, etc.

Funny - bricklink doesn't show the faucet as belong to any other set than a few airplane sets - it was the component I went to search for and it didn't find the 730-2 set.

Yes, I found that Brickset doesnt show it too, that's why I turned to Peeron, where I found this set.

Figured it out - the same tap has 2 entries in Bricklink, here is the other one. 69c01 is the old 'light gray' and 69c03 is the new 'light bluish gray', hence the difference


text:
Raw RGB data to Color?
I'm trying to convert the raw RGB values from a Colour Sensor into HSL but it doesn't seem to be working:
R = rgbn[INPUT_RED];
G = rgbn[INPUT_GREEN];
B = rgbn[INPUT_BLUE];

var_R = ( R/255 );
var_G = ( G/255 );
var_B = ( B/255 );

float H = 0;
float S = 0;
float V = 0;

float var_Max = var_R;
if (var_G > var_Max) var_Max = var_G;
if (var_B > var_Max) var_Max = var_B;

float var_Min = var_R;
if (var_G > var_Min) var_Min = var_G;
if (var_B > var_Min) var_Min = var_B;

del_Max = var_Max - var_Min;

// Calculating H
if (del_Max == 0) {H=0;}
else if (var_Max = var_R) {H=(60*((var_G-var_B)/del_Max))%6;}
else if (var_Max = var_G) {H=(60*((var_B-var_R)/del_Max))+2;}
else if (var_Max = var_B) {H=(60*((var_R-var_G)/del_Max))+4;}

// Calculating S
if (var_Max == 0) {S=0;}
else if (var_Max != 0) {S=del_Max/var_Max;}

// Calculating V
V=var_Max;

NumOut(0,LCD_LINE6, H);
NumOut(0,LCD_LINE7, S);
NumOut(0,LCD_LINE8, V);

And once I've converted it to HSL how can I recognize the colour?
Here is my code that gets raw RGB data:
#define       COLORSENSOR SENSOR_3
#define       S_CLR     IN_3
#define       FLT_MAX
#define       FLT_MIN

unsigned int rgbn[4];

void color_sensor_on() {
  SetSensorColorFull(S_CLR);
  ResetSensor(S_CLR);
}

task main(){
  color_sensor_on();

  while(true)
  {
    ReadSensorColorRaw(S_CLR, rgbn);       //Raw data
    RGBToHSL();
  }
}

While I think Thaddeus Hughes has the answer it might help if you could also post some sample inputs and outputs (i.e. "for R255, G128, B0 I'm getting H0, S0, V0", etc.) - are you getting an HSV of 0? or some wildly different values

Also, note that HSV and HSL are not quite the same, and instead of calculating V (as var_Max) you should calculate L (as 0.5(var_Max + var_Min))

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this belongs on http://codereview.stackexchange.com/

@Nick2253 - I think this would be off topic at Code Review: They explicitly don't want questions about "Troubleshooting, debugging, or understanding code snippets." - they go on to require that code samples in questions "work as intended" (but need improvement). It's more on-topic at StackOverflow (I have some code and it doesn't work), but we should be able to answer this here ;)

Not sure what language you are using, or calls you are making before this, but:
float var_Min = var_R; if (var_G > var_Min) var_Min = var_G; if (var_B > var_Min) var_Min = var_B;

Should be (note the use of < rather than >)
float var_Min = var_R; if (var_G < var_Min) var_Min = var_G; if (var_B < var_Min) var_Min = var_B;

Your posted code is putting the maximum value into the minimum variable, messing up things down the line...
Another thing that will help is to not use the RawColorSensor call. Change your main task to this:
ColorSensorReadType csr;

task main(){
   csr.Port=S3;
   SetSensorColorFull(csr.Port);
   while(true){
       SysColorSensorRead(csr);
       RGBToHSL();
   }
}

And the first few lines of your RGBToHSL call to this:
R = csr.NormalizedArray[0];
G = csr.NormalizedArray[1];
B = csr.NormalizedArray[2];

This will normalize the values between the values of 0,255 (or at least roughly). I've had more luck with this call since it also tries to calibrate the values.
After this, you'll need to find the color values you're using with a tool like http://www.colorpicker.com/ . For example, orange would have HSV (HSB on that site) of (40,100,100). (The scaling on these values may differ). So, to detect orange, check if:
Hue>30 AND Hue<50 AND saturation>90 AND value>90.
Make sure there is play with your thresholds, otherwise the check will work once in a hundred tries.

I am using NXC language. Thanks for searched bug in my code. I forgot to mention that the raw value is greater than 255, maybe I had to divided it with 1024, because I read somewhere that these values increase in 1024.

Should my variables to be float?

When I cross the red color my values are: H35 S0.04 L0.80. Whats wrong??

Hue looks good. Varianles should be float.

Verify that the coloe sensor is in the right spot (about 1.5 studs away) and nothing like direct sunlight is hitting it.

Still nothing !

Please post the code that gets the raw data from the color sensor.

I've post my code down.

Check my most recent edits dealing with how to get better color sensor values.

My S and L values are less then 1, H is going to 60

Your code produces s and l values scaled from 0 to 1, that is what it should do.

Yes I now that but how can I get it from 0 to 100(%)??

My H and L values are wrong! S is good!

Just multiply each by 100.

Can you sand me HSV range for red and orange color that sensor can't mix.

No; it's hardware specific. Make a program that prints out the HSV value that the sensor sees, scan the cube by hand, take note of the color, and make thresholds based on that.

values of red and orange are almost the same!!

Yes; they aren't too far apart. If you find that problematic, use RGB.


text:
LEGO RCX hardware schematic
Where can I find the hardware schematic for the LEGO RCX brick?
I spend a lot of time but unfortunately didn't find any useful information.

There are partial reverse engineered schematics done by Mark Bellis here


text:
What Lego set does this belong to?
I want to find which LEGO set this unusual piece belongs to. I have 10? I have a few sets from the late 1980's and the rest are from the 1990's.  I have looked and looked. Hope you can help!

It looks like a 1 x 1 square brick with six studs extended 1/4". The studs have a square lip around it. The brick base has two studs and then there is a square with four studs that fits around it to make six!
The color seems to be closest to Medium Blue or Medium Azure

That looks very unusual for a LEGO piece. Are you able to locate the LEGO logo or a number?

I don't recognize this as LEGO either - looked at Clikits and Znap and none of it matches what you have. Also, the 1/4" and 1" sizes you mention are very unlike LEGO. Do you have any examples of pieces that fit with this piece? Pictures would be great.

That isn't Lego, it's Construx by Fisher-Price. I had some of those :)
http://www.thisoldtoy.com/fisher-price/dept-7-playsets/f-construx/nuts.html

Thank you SirRobin. You have solved my mystery! Now I can let go of it! I have been on so many sites trying to find what set it is from. I really didn't even consider that it wasn't a Lego.


text:
RCX + java + usb-to-serial
I am trying to get an old RCX working with leJOS. I already have it working with NQC and BricxCC.
While NCQ/BricxCC seems to recognize my usb-to-serial (which appears as "COM5" to the OS), the leJOS I downloaded does not. I believe that it uses Java rxtx on Windows to access the serial port.
There seems to be a number of pieces I will need to get into place to make it work.
I am running Windows 7 professional Version 6.1 (Build 7601:Service Pack 1) on my work laptop (I have OS X on the desktop at home - I suppose I could boot to Linux from a USB or CD on my work machine if I really needed to.)
If I stick with Windows 7 I will need a version of the RXTX DLL which works with:

this version of Windows
my COM5 port (which is really usb-to-serial).

I also need a version of Java which works with the leJOS java source code, (found some references that not all JVM versions work) and that version of RXTX/DLL and the RCX (not the NXT...I don't own one).
Alternatively I figure I can upload the leJOS firmware with NQC, but after an hour of trying different searches on the internet I can not find the location/name of the firmware file, or build instructions.
The leJOS forum looks like no-one has posted to the RCX section since 2014, so I thought I might try here.
I'd prefer a Windows 7 solution (as that is where BricxCC and NCQ live now), but I would be willing to consider alternatives if no Windows 7 solution exists.

I can't really help, since you've done everything I would have done. The RXTX Java stuff is famous for being very version sensitive across deployments. My only advice is, assuming the DLL you have works for Windows 7, make sure you pass the full, quoted path of the RXTX DLL to Java via "-Djava.library.path". Also: architecture counts! If you are using the 32-bit VM on 64-bit WIndows, you need to be 32-clean with all libs.

To follow-up on my comment, the "official" RXTX 2.1.7 Windows binary package seems to be 32-bit only. So, if you are using that, make sure you are using a 32-bit Java runtimes when running stuff that needs gnu.io.*


text:
Why are there only four elemental artefacts?
What I mean by this is that there are only 4 golden weapons (Fire, lightning, earth and ice), 4 elemental weapons (the same elements), 4 elemental forges (the same ones) 4 obsidian weapons (again!).
Why are there only fire, lightning, earth and ice artefacts and not for example gravity, mind, smoke things? Why were the Fire, Lightning, Earth and Ice elemental warriors chosen to be ninjas and not for example Shadow or Nature?

Without a statement from TLG it is impossible to say. The inspiration behind the elements could be the classical elements of earth, air (lightning), fire and water (ice), but this is pure speculation without an answer from LEGO themselves.


text:
Trains overview image
I'm looking for an overview image of all trains ever released by LEGO. With trains I mean train sets containing locomotives and wagons that run on train tracks.
There is a beautiful image from Jeroen de Haan, which shows all trains from 1981 to 2003, but it's a little outdated.

As a starting point we've listed out the all the trains since 2003 here

There is a new project called Train Poster v2 which is making a new poster with all trains from the 1960's until today. It is still a work in progress as of 2016.

If you are looking for a direct continuation of the poster, your best bet would be to contact the author on his website.
It wouldn't be too hard to remake the models yourself as all the software is available out there for free. The author has used LDraw to view the models and POV-Ray to render them. You can find the details here.
Fortunately Eurobricks has a database of official sets designed by fans in LDraw.
However, there are only 1927 sets available (as of April 2015) and most of the train sets released after 2003 are not available.
There are 4748 sets designed using the LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) software. If you open a LDD file in LDD, you can export the file as an LDraw file.  (File -> Export Model / Ctrl + E). Even with the most up-to-date LDraw parts library, you may find that not every LDD brick will be available in your LDraw model.
If you cannot find all the models in LDraw or LDD, you may be able to find the files created in other LEGO CAD software or you can recreate the models yourself using your favourite LEGO CAD software using the instructions (which should be available on the LEGO site).
LDD would probably be the best choice, as you can render the files using LDD2PovRay.

Thank you for your answer, very useful information. If and when I find the time I'll try to do it myself. Hopefully to be continued...


text:
Tufts MAZE LabView Program Will Not Run on EV3
Through the 2012 LabVIEW for LEGO software package, I found an example of a maze from Tufts.  I cannot get it to run on an EV3.  It appears to just constantly execute the initialization.
How can I attach the vi to a question?

Can you share the initialization code and show where it seems to be looping? Most of us will not have the example code you refer to.

Phil, I would like to send the vi., but how? I don't see an "attach file." Tony

You can add an image file (if you have made a screenshot - assuming this is what you mean with "vi"- visual) by clicking on the little picture icon above the editor when you click "edit" on your post. Or you can upload the image somewhere and then include it as a link like so: Screenshot

LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 was not releases until 2013, so I think it is safe to say that the software in question was designed for the NXT only and will not run on the EV3.


text:
Have Multiple Inputs to Programming Block
Originally, I had a simple program to move until the robot hit a wall, then it reversed and turned and moved again, repeated to infinity. It works by turning the motors on, waiting for input from the touch sensor, then reversing, turning, and continuing. Now I want to add a second wait on the touch sensor to trigger the reverse and turn sequence, but I can't add two different ports to wait from, or have two different triggers to start the reverse and turn. Is there any way to have a trigger from two different wait inputs?

This question about NXT could maybe help you: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/3027/how-to-use-two-nxt-bricks-for-3-motors-and-4-sensors

That would work, but I'm aiming for a solution with the software so I don't have rely of external implants.

You can do this with parallel programs and a logic variable. You will need 3 loops, one for each sensor and one for the motor. In the sensor loops, wait for the touch sensor to be pressed and then set a logic variable to true. In the motor loop, have a switch block that tests the logic variable. If it is true, reverse and turn around and then set the logic variable to false. If the logic variable is already false, just go forward.

Thanks a lot. I considered using a variable to track it, but I wanted to know if there was a simpler, more intuitive way. Your script is probably better than what I could have come up with.

Here is another pattern that watches more than one sensor.  Instead of parallel code blocks setting a variable value, this code combines sensor outputs to feed a logic block which feeds a switch.  No variable is used.
Note that only the touched side of the switch statement is used.  Not an important difference, I just find it easier to follow.
The other pattern might be described as event driven, which is used widely in programming.


text:
NXT Motors curving to the right
The NXT motors have been curving to the right by about 10-20 degrees. We have checked the program, no curves. We have checked the wiring, but it is also plugged in fine.

Have you tried switching the motors? I assume you have separate motor for the left and right wheels. If you switch the motors, does it still curve and if it does, is it curving to the right (indicating a problem with the timing of your program) or to the left (indicating a problem with the rotation speed of one of your motors)?

Have you tried running the motors on different surfaces such as carpet/wood to see if they react differently?

It could be that one wheel slips more than the other. This happens when the tires get dirty. Also, you can adjust your center of balance so that more weight is on the drive wheels and they will slip less.
You can also use the gyro sensor to compensate for any slippage of the wheels.

Check your motors.
I had the same problem due to one motor being older than the other.
Try to match motors which have a similar age or usage.
If this is not possible, use a gyro sensor.
Also, check the center of gravity. This can cause wheel slippages.


text:
How large is the face of a 2x2 45º brick?
I am attempting to make a decal for a roof tile, sort of like the computer face on certain bricks of the type. However, as there appears to be no template, how large is the face of a 2x2 45º brick?

The sloped face of the 2x2 brick is 16mm across by about 11.3mm tall.


text:
How would I make a decal for a 2x2 dome brick or a 2x2 round slope brick?
I am looking to make a decal for a custom droid using either the R5-series head or the regular dome R2/R3/R6/R7/R8 head. However, I do not know the process for creating droids. Does anybody know how?

The problem of creating a flat sheet that could be fitted onto a (semi)spherical surface (a dome head) is known to be impossible to solve perfectly, but there are viable approximations of varying precision. This matehmatical paper details one such approximation (for spheres, but the process can be modified for domes) using petal shaped pieces. By varying the number (and so the width) of the petals the approximation gets closer to ideal, but even with three petals a reasonable quality can be reached. Of course, much trial-and-error can be expected.
AFAIK The LEGO Group uses pad printing, this can be quite expensive to set up but produces the best quality prints.
For the R5 heads the process is much easier since the surface of this head piece can be flattened into a shape called an Annular Sector. With some measuring and calculation (and maybe some trial-and-error) it should be possible to design a sticker that fits this kind of head.


text:
Custom EV3 Block: "Unable to compile..." ("string subsection")
I am attempting to make a custom block according to the EV3 Block Developer kit (found here). I was able to create a simple block that returns the length of a string. This is what it looks like:

(The above program would correctly display a value of "2" on the screen.)
However, I am running into problems when I try to use the "string subset" block in the dev kit. The following program will not even compile (the text says "GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD"):

I've hunted down the problem as residing in the "string subsection" block: Whenever this block is left out, the code will compile. Is this block not supported in EV3-G?

Edit: Here's the program along with the error:

Interesting. I got the same result as you. I guess LEGO has missed to map this VI palette function to the corresponding brick primitive. I don't see a way to fix this. To learn that you can't use the full VI Palette for your own blocks is quite disappointing, I'm sure you are not the only one trying to enhance the existing function library. Especially string operations like find, split, etc. are really missing. I hope LEGO is going to fix this problem, since I really like the concept of EV3-G, but the possibility to enhance the function library will be quite essential.

Why do not you lay out your block?

These are custom VI blocks, not the custom blocks that you can lay out. I was looking for missing functionality that wasn't possible with the traditional "custom blocks".

Because I was trying to access functionality not baked into any existing blcoks. (Also I'm a C++ programmer by trade, so I like to do as much stuff at compile-time as possible.)

A temporary fix I found that works: using the provided "gray blobs", there is one named "PBRStringAtIndex" (or something like that) which will indeed compile (EV3 only). This does not address the similar "write at index" issue, and the output is a "byte" (presumably ASCII), not text.
(I will update this answer as I find out more.)


text:
How to import an unofficial parts archive into LDraw?
I recently created a basic EV3 robot in Lego Digital Designer and exported it as a LDraw file. When I opened the LDView file, the EV3 elements were missing. I then proceeded to download an unofficial parts archive from here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85317
The ZIP contains the folders "parts" and "p".  How do I import this into LDraw?

You have no need to use these unofficial parts, all EV3 parts (except for the stickers) are now LDraw official parts, and should already be in your library if it is up to date (otherwise, download and install complete.zip from here). The problem you most probably have is that the file LDraw.xml that directs conversion between LDD and LDraw doesn't support EV3 parts. For more details on this file, see here.


text:
Need help identifying extra large Lego figure from 2003
I came across these LEGO figures at an estate sale and have had no luck trying to find out what they are called.
They are much larger than a regular minifig but have a shaped foot plate to attach to regular sized Legos. They can be squeezed down and compressed and then pop back up.
Top and bottom are two different pieces and inside there are screws visible. Only markings are "LEGO" on front shirt and "48379" and "2003" on bottom of foot plate. Thinking they were not part of a set but a promo item or accessory.

48379 is the part number for the torso piece. 2003 would be the copyright date for the LEGO trademark.
They are both promotional items which were distributed with McDonald's Happy Meals.

Bricklink: 7923-1 (White Soccer Player #4)

Bricklink: 7917-1 (Blue Basketball Player #22)


text:
How to get good color readings from the color sensor?
What type of setup is needed to get good color readings from the Mindstorms EV3 color sensor:

Shape of object?
Size of object?
Distance to object?
Color of background?

The color sensor works pretty well as long as the object is about 1 1/2- 2 modules from the object.
The sensing is best when the object is flat.
The object is large enough to be fully contained within the "spotlight" that the sensor emits. As long as this is true, it doesn't really matter what the background color is.
Another thing to consider is that the color sensor has different modes (active vs. passive). In "active" mode the sensing is affected much less by the ambient lighting conditions.
Pro tip: if you are using EV3-G or RobotC without Xander's drivers, the color detection works best on LEGO's colors (the color the bricks are in). This is especially noticeable for the "green" color.


text:
What is this Lego piece - Yellow with handles and an octagonal section?
It clearly says Lego on it, but I have no idea what it is.  The only number inside is 4-01.

This is a "Underwater Scooter". It's a handheld device to propel a diver forward.
Similar devices can be seen in the James Bond movie "Thunderball".

This is part is commonly found in the Divers theme back in the late 90's (http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Town/subtheme-Divers)  The part in question is a minifigure accessory:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30092

For what it's worth, the "underwater"-themed AlphaTeam sets also had this piece, but in black.


text:
Block Platform parameter is not instantiated in Simulink
I used Simulink to write a program for LEGO Midstorms NXT. I can post the design if needed. The problem is that when I want to run it on hardware, it gives the following error:
Lego mindstorms NXT motor block (mask) doesn't have a parameter named blockPlatform
When I dig into the motor mask, there are 3 parameters, but the 3rd, which is blockParameter is not visible.
What should I do to overcome this?
I looks like a bug.

And this is the details of the mask:


text:
Can I identify the colour of objects 5mm in diamater with an EV3 Colour sensor?
My plan was to make a simple robot to sort beads like this:. Its the Hama Medium size beads, they have a diameter of 5mm so they are fairly small. After some testing, reading and asking here I figured out that it would be impossible for me to get any color reading at all from objects that small with the default sensor setup (8 distinct colors).
Is there some trick I can use to get the sensor to see the beads and get at least some of the color?

I have no experience with this, but have you tried putting a magnifying glass in front of the sensor?

You may try to use the color sensor in RGB mode using a 3rd party block found here: http://mindcuber.com/mindcub3r/mindcub3r.html#ColorSensorRGBBlock
With this block you get a set of three 0-255 values, one for each R G B color. It will still be tricky to correctly classify the color of your objects as the readings are noisy - you can try to set ranges to each RGB value with or w/o normalization - but at least you have some data to work with.


text:
Do you use the plastic buckets for purposes other than organizing your bricks?
We have several bucket sets like #5560.
Now that our collection is growing, it's becoming harder to find what we need in the buckets even though we have them sorted by color. Plus they are in a rather tall, wobbly stack in a corner and they keep getting knocked over.
So I'm thinking of organizing the bricks into small drawers and getting rid of the buckets entirely. But that leaves me with a million ugly pink and blue buckets that have no purpose.
I'm big on repurposing items rather than throwing them away. So tell me: what can I use these buckets for rather than storing LEGO bricks?

"What can I use these buckets for rather than storing LEGO bricks?" Do you want to use these buckets for uses other than storing LEGO or storing stuff in general?

anything!  I just don't want to throw them in the landfill/ocean or have them sitting around taking up space.  They no longer work for storing/organizing lego bricks so I want to give them another purpose.

Theoretically you could use them as an inner support structure for large scale buildings like mountains or warehouses. I have no experience with it but it would technically keep such a large build 100% LEGO, while reducing its cost and weight.

I wish I had enough Lego to justify something like this

Well the buckets themselves have value.
If you can't use them you could sell them to people who want them.
Your example set #5560 has an original box only listing on BrickLink, as do many other of the brick boxes, run a search for "brick box" you'll find lots.
The prices vary from a few dollars, to ~$20 for you example. They don't seem to be big sellers, but there are some sales.
If you have a lot of them and/or you want them gone quicker set up an eBay listing for all of them.

If you can't sell them making sand castles with them is an option I suppose. I would stick them in the loft for the future though if it were me. Simply because if you ever sell your LEGO boxed sets are always better and command a higher price.

I don't find them very useful for storing bricks, but have used them as interim storage during a massive sorting project.  Also used 2 to grow tomatoes last year, but they tipped over frequently.  Best use I've found is as a small wastepaper basket.  (I recycle most paper, but I don't know what else to call a small trash receptacle.)


text:
Is there a list of giveaway sets from Toys R Us or other events?
Toys R Us frequently has giveaway sets called "Make and Take", where kids are invited to come in, build a set and then take it home for free. This is similar to the Lego Brand Retail store Monthly Mini Model Build events. The MMMB kits are typically very similar to Lego polybag sets: they come in plastic bags, they have a set number, they have high-quality instructions. (Some months one of those things might not be true, but in general all three are true). The MaT kits, however, seem to be a little more ad-hoc, but at the end you still end up with a build that has a full instruction sheet and a decent handful of parts.
An example of a MMMB set is 40127, a space shuttle., which was February 2015's MMMB.
An example of a MaT is Emmet's Car which was available at Toys R Us at different times depending on your country (the events are not coordinated like the Lego Store events are).
As you may surmise from my use of Rebrickable links, I like to keep a detailed list of all the kits I and my kids own. However, Emmet's car is the only example of a MaT kit I've found. Is there a detailed list of the kits that have been given away, with instructions, inventory, etc?
I'm primarily interested in finding the MaT kits on Rebrickable, but if they're not there I'll accept info from other sources. I'm mostly interested in MaT kits given away at Toys R Us in Canada, but for other people's benefit would like to know about kits like this from other retailers, or in other countries.

Try Brickset.com (I'm the founder of the site). We list all that we are told about.
You can also record your collection there, and keep it in sync at Rebrickable.

Is there an easy way to find the make-and-take kits there?

Since I started working there (this past year) on the days I was there we had a sponge Bob one and LEGO Ninjago. If you're interested in getting future ones let me know and I'll grab a few for you. At the end of the event we usually have at least a box full that they put in the break room for employees to take.


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What is NXT-G number format?
We've been following this tutorial to connect a NXT 1.0 brick to a PC via Bluetooth.
We've been able to set up the communication, send and receive data in ASCII format.
However, whenever we try to send an integer and use it for calculations, it returns the wrong result.
For example, sending 60000:
TX: 00 09 00 05 60 EA 00 00 00

RX: 02 09 00

After adding 1, it returns the following:
TX: 00 13 0A 00 01

RX: 02 13 00 00 05 00 00 80 3F 00 ... (zeroes)

We've tried sending different numbers, but they all return the same value.
The NXT-G software is identical to that in the tutorial.
How does NXT-G handle the integer data type?

The NXT actually uses IEEE 794 32-bit floating point number format in little endian byte order. I like using this site for conversions.
So, to decode your messages:

TX: 00 09 00 05 60 EA 00 00 00

Byte 0: 0x00 - response required
Byte 1: 0x09 - write message command
Byte 2: 0x00 - Mailbox 1
Byte 3: 0x05 - Message size of 5 bytes
Bytes 4-7: 0x60 0xEA 0x00 0x00 - since this is little endian, reverse the bytes, 0x0000EA60, which plugged into the conversion site gives us 8.4078E-41
Byte 8: 0x00 - null terminator
Then you add 1.0 on the NXT and return the result.

RX: 02 13 00 00 05 00 00 80 3F 00 ... (zeroes)

Byte 0: 0x02 - return packet
Byte 1: 0x13 - message read command
Byte 2: 0x00 - success
Byte 3: 0x00 - Mailbox 1
Byte 4: 0x05 - message size of 5 bytes
Bytes 5-8: 0x00 0x00 0x80 0x3F - again, little endian, so reversing bytes gives 0x3F800000 and plugging in to the calculator gives 1.0
Bytes 9-63: 0x00... - padding

So, it looks like the NXT is doing exactly what you actually told it (8.4078E-41 + 1.0 = 1.0) rather than what you thought you told it (60000 + 1 = 60001).

Plugging 60000.0 into the calculator, it looks like your message should be
TX: 00 09 00 05 00 60 6a 47 00

Thanks! Hours after submitting this question, we searched for "08 3F" and we've found the answer. Anyway, thank you, this specification could be somewhere in the LEGO NXT documentation (at least we didn't find it)


text:
Could I do datalogging in Mindstorms EV3 Home edition?
Apparently datalogging is an integrated part of the educational EV3 software. But I got the Home edition. Is there some module or thing I can use to get datalogging functionality in my Home edition?
Or do I need to build it myself?

Seems like this could be a solution: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/2815/5687

I believe the data logging component is actually a feature of the Firmware for the EV3 brick, in conjunction with some additional capabilities of the main software to load additional modules.

Data logging is one of the things you are paying extra for when you purchase the Education software. Data logging is turned off in the Home version frimware and there is no means to configure data logging using the Home version software.
The firmware is open source, so technically, you could download it, figure out how to build it and turn on the data logging in the firmware, but then you would still need to reverse engineer a way to configure it.
If you don't need a very high sample rate (10-15 samples per second or less, probably), you could come up with something using an existing remote control library to log the data via USB or Bluetooth. For example, LeJOS and MonoBrick both have remote control libraries that would make it easy to write your own data logging program.
For a higher sample rate, you could write a program that runs on the brick using a 3rd party firmware/SD card image.

Actually yes, you can do data logging on your home edition. The firmware is capable to run programs that have been created on the education edition and contain the block "Data logging". In this block you define which sensor is logged etc. When the program runs it creates a log file on the brick. This file contains the logged data. The file contains some binary data for each log value, you have to figure out the format of it to change it to readable data.
Once you open a program containing the "Data logging" block on your home edition, you will be able to copy and change this block in any way.
Here is a Project containing the "Data logging" block: http://1drv.ms/1EcmjGD

Yes you could. If you can get your hands on the education software, you can upload the EV3 education firmware onto the home edition brick. Here are the steps:

Shut off brick
Hold down right and middle buttons
When it says updating..
Then plug into computer with the educational version of software
Open up Tools
Firmware update
Click on firmware update….choose recent version
Click download

Tried it on my home EV3 and converted it to education.. Now data logging is present and works.


text:
Does knolling help or is it just part of the fun?
When building a new set, many people knoll their LEGO bricks before beginning the assembly.
My question is: Is there a actual advantage to knolling all the pieces or is it only a way to stretch the fun?
It seems to me that if the main advantage is to save time when looking for the pieces, knolling nullifies this by demanding an enormous amount of time to pre-organize all the pieces.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to arrange everything perfectly, but I have been known to sort into piles of size and colour - once I know it's a pile of dark green 1x2's that's enough, they don't all have to line up perfectly.

My wife knolls but I don't.  The guys on Tested.com sometimes do it it too (ex: https://youtu.be/785pkNzwIQw?t=12m16s)

Knolling is organizing objects by type, at right angles.
If you enjoy spending your time doing that, then by all means, do it.
However, logically, it is obvious that precisely organizing objects provides no benefit to anyone whose mind doesn't require strictly rectilinear organization of objects.

First, you have to sort all the objects (in our case, lego pieces) by type and colour.
You have to precisely arrange them.
Then, you build something, using up those pieces you just placed so precisely. Presumably you'll knock some askew: do you re-knoll? Do you have to move slowly and more carefully to avoid accidentally knocking them around?
By the time you're done, you're left with a creation, and a small number of knolled spare parts, now no longer in any kind of suitable arrangement (due to most of the parts being put on the model.

Or, consider the other scenario:
 1. You just open the bags of parts and pick from the bags (or, as I do, you dump the bags into shallow containers, so that it's easier to see and grab parts, but you don't mix all the bags together.
 2. When you're done you have a bunch of empty containers.
The advantage to the 2nd way is that you don't have to spend any time categorizing and sorting parts. You just grab what you need.
The only practical advantage to knolling is that you can easily see where parts are, and grab the appropriate ones. You can even count them and compare against the set's inventory to see if any are missing. However, you can achieve the sorting goal without knolling, but rather just by separating the parts by type and colour. This is faster, because you don't waste time fastidiously placing things at right angles.
For most Lego kits, I'd argue that even sorting the parts is a waste of time, because the parts are generally not randomly placed in bags. Even if the kit doesn't have numbered bags for different stages of the build, the pieces are not randomly distributed between bags and so you can still easily find things. (If someone else is sorting for you as you build, THAT can save time, but it requires two people, and thus doesn't really save time overall).
When building from your collection, if your collection is sorted (as mine is), knolling or otherwise arranging parts is a big waste of time. It's fastest if each bin of your collection has one type and colour of part and the bin is large enough to hold the pieces loosely. If (as I do) you run out of space for loose parts, you can save space by attaching the pieces together, or fitting them in tightly like a puzzle. This takes an enormous amount of time and, furthermore, wastes time later when you take the parts out to build. The only reason I put up with it is that I don't have unlimited budget and storage space to buy the bins I use for storage.
TL,DR: knolling is organization taken to extremes. It's based on aesthetic principles and not efficiency. What efficiency it gains can be had for lower cost by simpler organization methods. If you enjoy knolling, go ahead, but it certainly isn't really helping. If you can't stop knolling, you might be OCD.

I would say it's helpful and part of the fun.
I don't do it very often, but I know I did it for the diorama Death Star 10188.
Most sets aren't big enough for me to want to do it though.

One advantage to knolling is you can find out if there are pieces missing BEFORE you start building.

I generally only build sets of 1000+ pieces and I find knolling incredibly useful (as well as somewhat relaxing but YMMV on that). Where I find that it helps the most is familiarizing myself with all of the pieces that will be used in the next set of instructions.  Sometimes it is easy to misidentify a piece from the images in the instruction book. So for example if I know ahead of time that there will be 1x2's in 3 different shades of gray, when I see one in the instructions I now know to carefully choose which one is intended.


text:
How much does an average LEGO brick cost to produce?
I know that LEGO bricks approximately sell for 10 cents per piece but what does it cost to make an average brick?

Here is a reference for the 10 cents per brick claim: http://www.wired.com/2014/08/lego-cost/

I found that looking to the website http://www.custompartnet.com/estimate/injection-molding/ is a great help to figuring out how much stuff costs.

I started with a quantity of 1 million, as Lego would make bricks in huge quantities.
Small envelope of around an inch for the standard brick,
.1 in thickness on the top is the most,
looked up the volume online, and
chose the other options logically.
Material and Production is all we care about, so...
2 cents + 3.3 Cents = ~5 cents per brick!
It might even be a little cheaper assuming they produce in China.

There is no official production cost information that I'm aware of.
There's cost related to research, set design, mold making, the actual plastic pellets, packaging, shipping, marketing. Then there's money coming in from video games, and they might actually lose money on the theme parks. Some of the inventory is sold at discounted prices, some might be stuck on shelves or warehouses for years.

In 2012, 45.7 billion LEGO bricks were produced at a rate of 5.2
  million per hour.

http://education.lego.com/nl-be/about-us/lego-education-worldwide/lego-facts

The year's operating profit increased to GBP 866 million. The year's
  net profit increased to GBP 611 million The revenue increased to GBP
  2,549 million.

https://wwwsecure.lego.com/en-GB/aboutus/news-room/2013/february/annual-result-2012
Now that's 2549/45700 = 0.055 GBP = 0.088 USD per sold piece. Profit is a third of that, expenses 2 thirds.
Assume my math is correct so an average brick production cost at 6 cents for 2012 ? Should be interesting to check this for more that 1 year.

I was also wondering that and searching internet about it and I found a detailed research about the LEGO prices in http://www.realityprose.com/what-happened-with-lego/
It is seen that price per brick is variable but e.g. in 2011 it is said that it was like 12 cents.
However, there is more detailed and interesting information at the link above.

That article is really informative, but he was analyzing retail prices, not cost of production.  It does provide a nice sanity check for Mason's answer.

You can buy a bag of 1.000 LEGO bricks for 50€.
If you do the maths, they must produce under 5 cents/unit in order to sell those bags on profit.

But those bricks might be smaller than average.


text:
Which wheels are suitable for Power Functions M-Motor
I'm attempting to build a small self-propelled LEGO robot. Initially I was attempting to use some cheap DC hobby motors but I spent a lot of time trying to attach LEGO wheels to the motor's 3mm spindle and could never get enough torque to make the robot move.
I have now purchased two official Lego M-Motors. Unfortunately I don't have any wheels with a large enough diameter so I'm now looking around to get some matching wheels for the motors. The wheels will need to have a diameter of at least 40mm (the motor's height is 24mm).
I have had a look around but am a bit bamboozled by all the options. Has anyone use one of these motors in a robot and have any suggestions for a wheel type?

Sariel has a comprehensive list here: http://wheels.sariel.pl/
Your can also use his gear calculator to determine the output drive parameters (Torque Speed etc).

The M-motor is directly compatible with almost all the wheels that LEGO has produced, and, with a little building, compatible with every wheel imaginable, even brick-built wheels.
If your problem is that the wheel is smaller than the diameter of the M motor, perhaps you want to attach the wheels to an axle, and then drive the axle with the motor.  There are many different gearing solutions variations that would accomplish this.
If you need to purchase one or more wheels, Bricklink is a great site to buy individual bricks.


text:
Access WeDo on OS X from a real programming language
I'm trying to talk to the WeDo USB interface from Python or really any real programming language.
I tried the clever WeDoMore library, but can't get it to bind the WeDo. I think this is because the WeDo is a HID device and the built in Mac OS HID driver binds to it before libusb, a dependency of WeDoMore, get's a chance to. But, my understanding is a little shaky.
The developers of WeDoMore are quite helpful, but don't use Macs themselves.
Any hints that would get me talking to the WeDo would be greatly appreciated. Scratch works, but I'm looking for a more standard programming environment.

Here's what I found researching your issue:

It seems that the issue with Mac OS X's kernel claiming HID USB devices before libusb does is a known issue since OSX 10.5 (see here).
Libusb has no functionality to alter this behavior, so it would be up to the WeDoMore developers to use an alternative way to utilize USB on the Mac if they want to build in this compatability. From the post in my bullet #1 it sounds like utilizing HIDAPI is a good way to do this.
There might be a way to blacklist the WeDo USB interface under Mac OS X, but since I am not a Mac owner nor programmer, I cannot help you with the feasibility of this option. Details here. It seems to require the development of a 'KEXT' which requires an Apple Developer license to do.

I'm marking this as the "accepted" answer 'cause I don't think there's a better one available.

It is possible to drive the WeDo from Python on a Mac, without a kext.  I've only tested motors since I don't (yet) have the other sensors.  You need to access the USB HID device directly.  There are a couple of prerequisites to install:

cython-hidapi, which itself depends on
hidapi; homebrew can install that for you.
cython likewise

You'll likely want XCode and friends installed to be on the safe side.
There are a number of forks of cython-hidapi available so your mileage may vary depending on which version you use. I don't remember installation being problematic.
Once those are installed and your WeDo is plugged in you can do something, at a minimum, like:
import hid
import time

# vendor id, product id:
dev = hid.device(1684, 3)

# turn both motors on
# HID format is reportID, message type, data1, data2, ...
dev.write([0x0, 0x40, 127, 127, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0])

time.sleep(1)

# turn them both off
dev.write([0x0, 0x40, 0, 0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0])

The changes to get WeDoMore to use hidapi instead of generic usb on a Mac don't look to be too onerous.  If I manage to get something committed I'll update my answer with a link.
[Edit: I've committed a fork of WeDoMore that adds support for motors on the Mac here.  Again, I'll update if the pull request gets accepted]
Small side-note: The WeDo can also drive 9v motors with the correct converter cable.  I think it's possible to read the RCX sensors as well, but mild soldering may be required (see, e.g. here for a proof of concept).  But if the WeDo can be fooled into reading the devices then Python can be used with those other sensors.

I just created a Node.js library that supports reading and writing to the Lego WeDo kit: https://www.npmjs.com/package/wedo-support
Install
> npm install --save wedo-support
Use
const WeDo = require('wedo-support');
const wd = new WeDo.WeDo();

// Activating the first motor full forward:
wd.motorA = 100;

// Activating the second motor half speed/force backward:
wd.motorB = -50;

// Current value of the tilt sensor:
const theTilt = wd.tilt;

// Current distance value in meters of the distance sensor:
const theDistance = wd.distance;

This library uses the https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-hid library for USB support, which works on Mac OS X.
I'm on El Capitan and it works well. I haven't tested on Windows or Linux, so if someone wants to try it out and provide feedback / submit a pull request, I'd be happy to accept them.
I also determined that the motorA and motorB work with lights as well.
Happy WeDo-ing!


text:
Software to help inventory set
Are there any software applications to help check the inventory of a lego set?
Currently I load the set-up as a bricklink wanted list and then delete each part one by one until I have only the missing parts left. This works okay but can be a bit cumbersome when checking about a hundred sets.

I have had the same problem there are 2 ways you could do it.
Way One is to use rebrickable

Go to http://rebrickable.com/home Create an account.
Then go MYREBRICKABLE and select My Sets.
Then click Add set to this set list and search for the set you want.
Now you can add all the sets you have.
IF you like you can go to the My Parts section and add any parts you
might have bought.
Now if you want to find out how many red 2 x 2 bricks you have you
can simply go to My Parts. Then tick the tick box where it says 'Set
Parts' and click update. All your parts from your MY Sets and My
Parts will now be shown below. You can see and example of this below.

Way two is to use  brickstock .

So what I do is open brick stock.
Then Click Import and chose Bricklink Inventory.
Search for the set I want and then click ok. It
    then will create a file listing all the parts that make up the
set(You will see a small hard hat icon at the top right as it
download all the part images).
Do this for all your sets and combine the files and you will have
one master file.


text:
How do you eliminate the gap between castle doors?
I'm building a MOC castle and want to use a pair of 1x5x7 and 1/2 stockade doors.  My problem: I can't get the doors to fit flush.  Either there's a 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap between them, or they overlap.  Are there published instructions from a castle Set which show how to set them flush?  Or, can someone please explain how to solve my problem?  Thanks so much.

I'm assuming that you are referring to this door:

These doors are designed for the hinge to attach from the back of the door and not the side, which might be what is tripping you up. There are ways to get these to line up with the hinge on the side, but the easiest fix is to just have them hinge from the back.
This part is used in many sets including 7036-1 Dwarves' Mine. Here's an example of this part in use from the instructions for that set:


text:
Is my Lego Star Wars "Jabba's Sail Barge" set a one of a kind?
Back in 2006 or 2007 I bought a Lego Star Wars "Jabba's Sail Barge" set. When I opened it and took out the instructions, it had an additional piece of paper. It showed that the piece 4299023  had been replaced with a normal solid piece. I am writing to ask if this makes the set I own worth more, as it is rarer, and is it desirable ?

The short answer is no, this does not make your set more valuable.
You have recieved a set that contains what Bricklink calls an "Alternate Item".  These are alternate pieces/stickers/colors/etc. that are packaged into normal sets by LEGO in order to ship out the sets in the event of a part shortage.  They are perfectly normal.  And, usually, they are more common pieces than the pieces they replace, so there is no added value for the part.


text:
Absolute Turning Motor in NXC
How can I turn my motor to 123 degrees, not for 123 degrees?
I tried the PosRegSetAngle("output", "angle") command and didn't work.
Documentation for PosRegSetAngle

PosRegSetAngle should set the position of the motor relative to the position the motor was in when regulation was enabled. In what way didn't it work when you tried this?
It sounds like you may be asking how to wait for the rotation to finish. I'm not sure if there is a built-in way to do this in NXC or not, but I think that something along these lines should get you there:
# Enable regulation
PosRegEnable(OUT_A);

# Set target angle
PosRegSetAngle(OUT_A, 123);

# Busy loop while the motor turns
while (GetOutput(OUT_A, ActualSpeedField) != 0) {}


text:
What RGB-values do I get from the colorsensor
I have the extra colorsensorblock used by mindcuber - ColorSensorRGB - installed. Now I'm trying to use it in my own projct. But what values does it produce?
It seems like it has a min-value of 0 (as expected), but some testing gave me a max-value of 395 (I was expecting 255).
What is the range of values delivered?

The returned values are the reflected light intensities for each of the three LED colors (red/green/blue).
The scale is actually 0-1023. Basically, this is the raw value returned by a 10-bit analog to digital converter in the color sensor (2 ^ 10 = 1024).
The LEDs themselves may not put out enough light that you could ever reach the maximum value, so you will have to calibrate the sensor accordingly. For example, your calibration could consist of holding the sensor close to a white sheet of paper and finding the maximum value for each color, then use those maximum values to normalize the actual sensor values to a scale of 0 to 100%.


text:
How to Download my orders from Bricklink
I know you can log in to Bricklink and download my orders as Excel or many other formats, but I am trying to do it programmatically. Does any one know how to do this though Powershell perhaps?

Can I ask why you would want to use Powershell to download your Bricklink orders, when you can already download them in  XML/CSV?

Well I want a programmatic way of doing it, so I can download my orders automatically once a month and consolidate them because every now and again bricklink removes the order details from the site. I also want to sync it with an online note taking app so I can keep track of what orders I have revived and what I am waiting for because of where I stay postage can take up to 2 months.

So I will upload the outstanding orders to a webpage like evernote and add a few custom columns to make it easy for my wife or me to go to a website see hay these orders are outstanding look for the tracking webiste (cause they vary from shipping location) click the link and see where it is.

Check the Bricklink API feature. I personally have not tried it, but it looks like it should have all the features you need, namely downloading the order list and orders themselves.

I have seen that , but you have to be a seller to use it . I am only a buyer .


text:
Brick labels to be printed
I am new to the LEGO "business". But I am building up my inventory, getting close to 100.000 pieces now, and before shooting off, I want to have my "system" organized. That also includes print off labels for every small part, to glue on the separate box/draw for item. This makes it easier, and more safe for proper work by several people, assuring that the right part is picked.
But, where do I find info about this? My wish is to print a few, important key words about the part - part.no., picture...
Any suggestions?

Tom Alphin has a template of labels you can download and print with the appropriate label printer.
Sample:

You can try to use www.bricklabels.com
It allows you to select which parts you want to print and allows you to print the labels in your custom size, fitting the drawers perfectly.

Full disclosure: I made the app :-/, but it's free and open-source: https://github.com/Gottwik/legolabels

This looks great! Thanks for building this and sharing it here!

Wow, thanks for the encouragement. Let me know if something doesn't work or you would like more features.

Since you're already using the Rebrickable API, it would be cool if this imported a users parts so that they don't have to manually enter everything. If you include filtering, this could make it trivial to do something like print a label for every gear element that a user owns.

That's a good idea. I will sure implement this. I would often reprint labels when the container got too small as the amount of bricks increased or as I got some new parts, so it was always easy to just input the part id from the previous label and reprint it.

@MartinGottweis Just to point out, when I click on the link you pasted (http://www.bricklabels.com/), I end up at a GoDaddy landing page. Maybe you forgot to renew the domain??

I would start with looking at the way Bricklink has their catalog organized, or look at LDraw's catalog. They have a fairly basic system segmenting LEGO into bricks, plates, tiles, beams, rods, minifigs etc. Should get you going.
EDIT: And if you really want to ID each part, just use the Bricklink part numbers (same as LDraw's numbers) to print on the bins. The Catalog feature should help you getting those, once you are familiar with the Bricklink naming schedule.

Hi;  I dont' want to ID mark every part, I want to ID mark every box where I put the certain item.

Ok - then never mind my edit.


text:
Strongest LEGO structure - (2) Floor
What is the strongest LEGO box structure?
I am going to build a LEGO computer case. Different from Mike Schropp and greenyouse, I am planing to build an upright case.
(This is a general "strongest LEGO structure" question. Using the structures in building the computer case is just an example of applications.)
To make it more challenging (and more perfect), the case will have handles (like this type) for carrying the whole thing around, and it will have "legs" (like this bar type) to lift the whole case up for ventilation.
For better reference, here is the coordinate notation:

There are 4 parts (for now I can think of) in the case which has to encounter different types of strength challenges:

The pillars (Red)
The floor (dark grey)
The joints (purple)
The handles (yellow)

For the white bricks, they do not require special strengths, do they?
FYI, here are the LEGO dimensions:
Horizontal pitch, or distance between knobs:  8mm.
Vertical pitch / Brick thickness:  9.6mm.
The horizontal tolerance:  0.1mm.
Plate thickness: 3.2mm.

Above is the common information across the 4 questions.
Below is the question for this specific part.

(2) The floor (dark grey)
Someone has done some experiences against the effect of weight on LEGO bricks (results at slide 11). From his experiments, the Flemish structure is a clear winner.
Like the pillar problem, I wonder why not stack plates/bricks up along the X/Y axis, instead of the Z axis?
My suggestion is basically the structure of the pillar rotated clockwise along the Y axis, and extending it along the Y axis.

For those who have not read the pillar section yet, this is simply stacking up plates along the Y axis.
Same as the pillar, there is a risk of the plates separating due to the weight. So I make a "doughnut" to secure the plates.

Here is how they look like together.

I assume using longer plates will be better than short plates, because fewer connecting points, lower risk to separate, isn't it? However, in the presentation mentioned above, the result suggests that a mix of long and short plates has the most strength. Does this theory apply to my "Y axis structure"? And how long and how short combinations will be the best?
In addition, in my "Y axis structure", will using bricks instead of plates be stronger?
However, thing is more difficult here than the pillar. It is because the tension is not only pulled along the X axis. Instead, the weight is applied down the Z axis, and tension is all along the X and Y axis. So I assume this structure, when used as floor, will be a lot weaker than used in the pillar.
Please suggest any of your structure ideas which will be the strongest.

This seems very broad, and also a near-duplicate of your other question. Perhaps split them into shorter, simpler questions that describe exactly what you want to do like "how do I make a strong box", "how to I add handles to my box". Or combine them into one "how do I make a computer case". The extremely general "what's the strongest structure" is impossible to answer unless you define "strongest". Using mechanical engineering terms there would be best so we don't have to explain those to you.

Just like in the other question, I would recommend a Technic frame with more depth than your original idea and some plating on top of it. This project nicely illustrates how to build stable Technic structures using beams in triangle configurations.

This question is amazing and well-thought-out, but it also made me laugh.
Building a LEGO floor? The problems with the structural integrity of any floor are simple, as follows:

The integrity of the walls above; how well they "grip" the floor.
The integrity, if applicable, of the walls below, how well they hold the floor up.
The integrity, or more specifically torque resistance, of the floor.

The structural engineer can now see why this brought out a chuckle.
For a LEGO build, the floor will be placed, inherently, on another floor. Thus, except in multi-story skyscraper builds, neither issue 2 nor issue 3 apply.
The real floor supports your LEGO floor with ease; otherwise it wouldn't be holding you very well.
The only thing to worry about is how good your connections to the upper pieces, (walls,) of the build are. Thus, neither your floor nor your ceiling, (You shouldn't put anything on top anyway, at least not something heavy, will be any trouble. However! Your connection to the sides of the case is very important. If the bottom falls out when you pick the unit up, it's no longer a good day.
TL;DR
The floor itself, provided you don't use a single plate, or aren't holding up real actual cement bricks, will be perfectly fine, you should worry about keeping the walls connected to the base , i.e a dovetail.


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Best way to match minifigs and tell what set they are from?
What is the best way to match minifig torsos, legs, heads? Is there a listing of all LEGO minifigures? I have a lot of minifigs with torsos and legs but have no idea which head goes with it.
Sometimes I can't even match torsos with legs :).
Is there an easy way to do this?

One way to do this would be to look through the Bricklink categories for minifig torso assemblies and minifig leg assemblies. There are a lot of them, but once you find the part you are looking for, you can then learn what set it came from which should lead you to a couple of complete minifigs (click the part id then click the "View" link under "This Part Appears In" on the right).
You could also search through the Minifig category on Bricklink.
You can go through those categories by year if you know approximately how old the parts that you have are.
If you get stuck on something, feel free to post the picture in a new question here. I'm sure that someone will recognize it. :)

Another useful tool is goatleg.com which allows you to select torso and face characteristics to identify a minifigure e.g. torso color and print.  Face: glasses, facial hair, lipstick etc.

I almost left a comment like "why hasn't someone written an app for that?"

But then I googled and found there is an app for that (Android, iOS) and the folks who put it together have books and they developed a decent taxonomy for sifting minifigs. The app, lets you search by part and then find the minifigs that include that part.  If you're not happy poking around BrickLink give this app a try.

I also tried the Minifigs Collector for LEGO®   app. If your goal was to get all of the minifigs in the various Series, Simpsons, etc. this would be great.  But it doesn't seem to let you search by parts and find which minifig that belongs to.


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How can I remove fast glue (Cyanoacrylate) from LEGO bricks?
I recently bought some second-hand LEGO bricks. Some of these bricks have quick glue on them.
How can I get rid of the glue?

According to Wikipedia acetone can help soften cyanoacrylate, but it also dissolves ABS, so you might want to avoid that.
Another website advises for using soap and water, although it seems dubious to me whether it would make any difference, this method certainly won't damage your parts (unless they are electronic or have stickers), so you might as well give it a try.
Heating the CA can also soften it to ease removal, but beware that ABS is also susceptible to melting.
There are also commercial products designed to soften and remove CA glue from various surfaces, but you should always check whether they play nicely with the ABS or would they also soften your bricks.
As a last resort, however time consuming it might be, shaving the glue off using precision blades is a surefire way if you can work with such precision and have the required time. Using sandpaper and polishing after the process can save a bit of time though.


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Basic bricks in Ninjago Spinners sets
Every Ninjago spinner set contains basic bricks of the same color: two 1X2 bricks and a 2x2 flat.
See:
http://brickset.com/sets?query=spinners
What is the purpose for these bricks?

These parts are used to hold the cards upright as shown in the instructions:


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LEGO Mindstorms NXT - NXC compiler for OS X
I need an IDE for LEGO Mindstorms on my Mac, but I only found a few for Linux and Windows but not for Mac. I found NeXT Tools, but the newest version isn't compatible with Yosemite. If I execute it, it will throw an error, so I need some compiler for Yosemite.
Thanks

It is possible to use XCode. You need to download the NXC compiler (the linked page says NBC, but it included NXC as well). Then, write a Makefile that calls the NXC compiler.
If the compiler does not work on Yosemite, the source code is available from that link as well.
A detailed tutorial on using XCode with NXC can be found here.


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Does the value of LEGO increase over a period of time?
I have a couple of exclusive LEGO sets such as the 50th Anniversary set, 10184 Town Plan, as well as the LEGO Harry Potter 10217 Diagon Alley set. I was wondering if these will increase in value into the future, and if certain LEGO sets increase in value more than others?

Generally speaking, yes. But there are many factors that determine how a given set will be priced over the years. Sets that have rare, more sought after pieces tend to cost more (think monorails), so if you'd happen to have a MISB monorail set you'd be rich. On the other hand, TLG can inadvertently mess with any investment plan by launching sets with similar themes or pieces, making your collection worth just as much as new sets.
Condition is also a key factor, MISB sets are on an entirely different level than opened, used, scratched, faded sets with missing pieces.
For more information i'd suggest looking at BrickPicker. There you can see that while the Diagon Alley has been slowly but steadily gaining value, the Town plan has basically stagnated. This could be caused by the value of a Harry Potter set for collectors, the unique pieces in that set, or any other factors.
There are also other questions in this topic here:

How can I find the value of a LEGO set over several years?
Historically, what types of sets have proven to be a great investment?
How can you estimate the value of a LEGO collection?

I think anything in excellent condition that is Harry Potter related will go up in value. My cousin has the entire original Lego Harry Potter set, and he's been offered quite a bit for it. Legos are expensive to begin with, and he was offered ten times what he paid.

If sets are popular amongst collectors and AFOLs and not very easy to substitute by other newer sets then yes, generally speaking they increase in value.
The increase in value depends on multiple factors as this Lego investment guide points out:

Theme and licence: these sets can not be replicated by different brick companies. The theme and licence enlarges the target group of the set significantly. Especially for Star Wars and Harry Potter.
Minifigures: There are many minifigure collectors which will pay a lot to just get the minifigure from the set.
Sets from films: fans of specific films are willing to spend more money on sets from a particular film because they associate the film with emotions.

As for both of your sets they increased a lot in value. The 10217 Diagon Alley is now worth around 560€ and the 10184 Town Plan around 360€

Generally a sets price will be a certain amount, say £60, at its release, and will then drop down over a couple of years to about £45. Then, when Lego stops making that set and it "retires", its price will shoot up within the next year, maybe to about £70, and then gradually increase from then onwards. Of course, this is not always the case, as explained in other answers, it depends on certain things, however it is a general trend that is often followed.
If you are looking for the price change or estimated price change in a certain set, I recommend using the website 'Brick Economy'.
https://www.brickeconomy.com/