Bricks, plates, and beams are not as glamorous as the RCX brick, motors, and sensors. But they are the fundamental components that are used to build the frame that supports the RCX, counter acts the motor is forces, and holds the sensors precisely in place. Master
LEGO building fundamentals first, and you r team will have success. Ignore them, and you will spend more time rep airing your robot than you did building it.
Bricks
This is a LEGO building brick. Little has changed since its introduction in 1949. According to LEGO, they have produced 320 billion bricks since that time. That is:
1. Approximately 52 bricks per person living today. LEGO bricks are made out of ABS p lastic. They are injection molded to very exacting tolerances (0.002mm).
2. The top of the brick is covered with cylindrical plastic bumps called studs. The bottom of the brick has cylindrical holes or tubes. When you snap two bricks together, the tubes deform slightly around the studs, locking the two firmly together.
Dimensions
The common practice is to refer to bricks using their dimensions: width, length, and
Height (though height is often left off when referring to standard sized bricks). When
doing this, the width and length dimensions are given in studs. The piece below is a 2 x 4
brick.
LEGO bricks are based on the metric system. The 2 x 4 brick above is 16mm wide, 32
mm long, and 9.6mm high (ignoring the studs on top). That works out to 1 stud = 8mm.
It also means that bricks are 1.2 studs high. The is asymmetry can lead to design and
building difficulties as will be discussed later.
Plates
Plates are essentially short bricks. They are 1/3 the height of standard bricks--3.2mm or
0.4 studs. Plates use the same naming convention as bricks. Some plates have through holes aligned with the backside tubes. They are referred to as
Technic plates, or less obscurely, plates with holes. The holes accept axles and connector
pins an d make the Technic plates much more useful.
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