To celebrate the release of the new Lego MINDSTORMS® Robot Inventor set, robotics genius Simone Giertz unveiled yesterday a robot-powered dog selfie booth.
The inventor, known for her handy robotic creations – like a machine that chops vegetables, a robot that feeds you soup, and a drone that can cut hair – puts her creative energy into building robots that can be helpful day-to-day around the house.
Now she’s come up with the invention we all need in 2020: a puppy-powered selfie booth, made from LEGO. Created for her pooch pal (and workshop “advisor”) Scraps, the machine works by pressing a paw on the floor of the booth, which triggers a camera to capture a photo. Meanwhile, the robot also dispenses a treat for the pup, ensuring the ultimate big-doggy-grin happy-snaps.
Powered entirely by parts from the new LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Robot Inventor set, Giertz explained how this project put her creative building and coding skills to the test:
“‘Build something cool with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor set’ is both one of the most fun and trickiest briefs I’ve ever received. So. Many. Possibilities…” she said.
But after realising her camera roll is almost exclusively photos of Scraps, the inventor knew what she had to do.
“I still want more dog photos, especially during 2020. So what if I cut out the middle-man and found a way for her to take photos of herself instead? And that’s how I came up with the dog selfie booth.”
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Giertz’s paw-powered photo booth is the first in the world to be powered by a pooch. “She’s always with me in the workshop,” said Giertz, and now she has a robot of her own.
Lena Dixen, Head of Product and Marketing Development at the LEGO Group, said “LEGO MINDSTORMS is designed to help young inventors raise their coding and building confidence and give them the tools to create anything they can imagine.”
The new LEGO MINDSTORMS offers the ultimate play-and-learn experience for anyone over the age of 10, and if Giertz’s ingenious dog selfie booth is anything to go by, the inventing opportunities are endless.
Check out the full video by Giertz:
