Awesome Technic

We’ve seen time and time again that there are other ways to move around besides ordinary wheels. LEGO builder Dr. Engine put together vehicles that run on seven kinds of wheels to see how they performed against various obstacles, including a pile of tires, a staircase, and a hill covered with wood chips. It ends with a tug-of-war between the vehicles.

A while back, we checked out a complicated machine that used LEGO Technic parts to pull a chain around a bunch of gears. That one was built by Brick Technology. The Brick Machines took the idea and expanded on it with a ridiculously complicated machine driven by a continuous chain built from 1,184 LEGO chain links.

What’s better than a LEGO tank? A LEGO tank that can drive into the water, of course. Brick & Gear shows off the latest version of his Behemoth, a remote-controlled Technic vehicle powered by four motors – two for the tracks and two for water propulsion. After some bathtub testing, he drove it into a lake to see what it could do.

After building a crazy LEGO car with 100 wheels, the Brick Experiment Channel doubled down on the vehicular madness. Their latest build has twice as many wheels, and a simplified design which allows it to drive more smoothly and make tighter turns than the original. Measuring 21 feet long, it could easily drive into itself like players in the Snake game.

We’ve seen a machine designed to test the suspension on LEGO cars. Here’s a series of nine LEGO Technic vehicles, each rolling on a unique suspension setup. Dr. Engine built and tested each of the rides to see which design had the best shock absorption, load handling, and rock crawling abilities.

What’s the best design for a LEGO vehicle to conquer a difficult off-road obstacle course? LEGO Technic expert Dr. Engine created four very different vehicles and tested them on a tricky course with loose, uneven terrain and a steep slope to see which design was the most capable in challenging conditions.

Engineering geeks will get a kick out of this video from the Brick Experiment Channel. Using LEGO Technic components, they demonstrated various mechanical principles, including a Schmidt coupling, a Scotch yoke, and a Chebyshev lambda linkage. Even if you don’t know what any of that means, it’s fun to watch.

You know what your fridge needs alongside all those magnets? A creepy, 8-legged robot, that’s what. LEGO builder Sariel put together this crawling machine that uses Power Functions motors and magnets from LEGO train sets to trek up the steel side of a fridge. It stays on by lifting and moving no more than two legs simultaneously.

We’ve featured some really interesting mechanisms created with LEGO Technic parts. But the ones we’ve seen before are usually shown as separate, disconnected systems. Brick Machines built more than 40 different kinds of mechanisms and combined them into a single, compact machine.

Brick Technology has a keen interest in testing LEGO cars in all kinds of driving environments. This time they take a look at what it takes to give LEGO vehicles enough traction, mass, and stability to be able to traverse a sand-filled pit reliably. As you’ll see, it’s not just as simple as going with four-wheel drive.

Inspired by the official LEGO Mario kits, builder Brandon Jones wanted to build a display that looked like a full level from the Nintendo game. At BrickCon 2022, Beyond the Brick’s Joshua Hanlon got an up-close look at the impressive 12,000-piece mechanical diorama, which uses 14 motors to bring the Mushroom Kingdom to life.

You can build all kinds of interesting machines using LEGO Technic parts. In this video, Brick Technology shows off a series of progressively more complicated machines they built using a motor, a chain wound around gears, and barriers to guide its path. The higher-level machines are truly fascinating to watch in action.

Instead of regular wheels, Fred Flintstone’s car had cylinders like a steam roller. It was also powered by feet. Brick Technology built a LEGO Technic vehicle that preserves the cylindrical design but updated everything else, adding a powerful motor drive and the ability to corner and drift by flexing its front and rear sections.

GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines continues to impress us with their wild and inventive LEGO engineering. After showing off some unusual LEGO car designs, they took the same idea as their hubless car and applied it to tank treads. The vehicle has a truly unique look, is surprisingly agile, and capable of crawling over rough terrain.

GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines! continues to entertain with their LEGO Technic prowess. In this video, they pitted a powerful propeller-driven car against a train engine and a 4×4. Which vehicle will reign supreme in the LEGO tug-of-war?

While it can’t keep up with the Hydraulic Press Channel’s 150-ton industrial press, we’re still quite impressed with this LEGO Technic machine which has enough power to juice an orange or flatten a carrot. GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines built this press using Eight Powered Up L motors, 24 actuators, and two Smart Hubs.

While it’s not as powerful as a hydraulic press or an industrial shredder, this LEGO Technic mashing machine from GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines is still fun to watch. It uses a pair of rapidly-moving, angled belts to push objects towards a center bar that smashes things apart.

Nico71’s motorized LEGO Technic creation deftly maneuvers five spools of thread, carefully twisting, turning, and juggling each one to form a braided cord. Its hypnotic moves remind us of some kind of an amusement park ride. Full build instructions can be found here.

LEGO Technic expert The Brick Wall shows off a neat machine that uses motors, gears, magnets, and a turntable to allow tiny RC LEGO cars to drive around its surface. After rigging it up to drive with one vehicle, they upgraded it to become a two-player racing game. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s now a four-player version.

LEGO machine master Akiyuki shows some fascinating and unusual mechanisms. The designs were inspired by a “mangle rack,” which converts circular motion into rectilinear motion by moving a gear along the outside of a set of pins. He uses the method to smoothly move shapes around a track and to create a clock display.

GazR’s Extreme Brick Machines shows off another unique LEGO Technic vehicle. This tank-like machine features two wedge-shaped body segments connected by a retractable hinge mechanism. This design allows it to crawl easily over a variety of uneven terrain, climb stairs, and even negotiate soft objects like pillows.

The Brick Experiment Channel follows up its video of LEGO vehicles climbing over things with a series of more challenging obstacles. The new vehicle design includes a second adjustable joint, which allows it to climb objects and surfaces that look like they should be impossible to traverse.

Green Gecko shows off an impressive LEGO Technic build which replicates the functionality of a V8 engine. Running on compressed air, it even sounds like a real engine as it starts to pick up speed towards its 1500 RPM redline. Like what you see? Buy the complete kit on the Green Gecko Workshop website.