Doug Moran and I (Will Gorman) built a LEGO MINDSTORMS model of the Mars Curiosity Rover for the Build the Future in Space event at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The rover contains 1000's of LEGO Technic and MINDSTORMS bricks, and is 100% pure LEGO with no glue. Four of the six wheels are powered, and the rover can make 360 degree turns. The arm and mast are controlled via a separate NXT via bluetooth, and the rover is driven via a separate NXT Joystick designed by Philo Hurbain. Special thanks to LEGO for providing all the plastic, and NASA for hosting a great event where we got to display the rover and build with the many families visiting the Kennedy Space Center! You can learn more about the LEGO and NASA partnership at LEGOspace.com.



Curiosity


The Curiosity Rover was created with 7 NXT Bricks, 13 NXT Motors, 2 Power Function Motors, and over 1000+ LEGO Bricks. The software was developed using leJOS NXJ.

Rover Drive Control


The Rover Drive Control is a direct decendant of Philo's NXT Joystick. Thanks Philo!

Rover Arm Control


The arm control is a simple mechanism that makes it easy for us to manage the arm remotely via bluetooth.

Early Version
We presented our first version of the rover during the Curiosity Launch at the Kennedy Space Center in November, 2011. We made major changes to the robot, including building a more robust chassis and wheels. Here is a video, filmed by Ryan Wooldridge:

Here is an additional video of the first version:

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