Using a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit, a pair of awesome engineers put together this fully functional replica of the Curiosity Mars rover. Not only is it built completely out of LEGOs, it's motorized, programmable, and ready to explore the far reaches of your living room.
Korean MOC Pages user Kyoung-bae Na, aka edulyoung, constructed this beautiful LEGO automaton of a winged Pegasus. Maneuvered with a series of mechanical LEGO gears and cranks, watch below as Pegasus "hovers", flapping her wings.
So very pointless, yet unquestionably spectacular. The best kind of "art" performs no other function than to delight the viewer, and Japanese YouTube user Denha's complex marble machines do just that. But are marble machines art? You can call them that—or toys, scientific contraptions, engineering feats—but however you choose to label them, the best marble machines are complicated, skillfully crafted, and driven by the principles of potential energy, kinetic energy and gravity.
Here at WonderHowTo, we know a good ideogram when we see one! That's why we're so fond of the these LEGO sculptures by Flickr user Empress of Blandings:
Mike Doyle's latest LEGO house (perhaps even more hauntingly beautiful than the last) is a Victorian mansion that transcends the material so effectively, the plastic reads like real rotting bricks and mortar. Beautiful house-devouring trees, created with LEGO hinge cylinders to mimic the texture of tree bark, and ridged 3 mm hose, droid arms and other technic connectors for the creepy, spindly branches.
Paul Yperman, you've got some competition (see previous entry, Star Wars LEGO Droid Ship). 15-year old Sven Junga's LEGO Stargate diorama (including a Daedalus from Stargate Atlantis) is nothing to shrug about. Incredibly impressive.
Kickass collection of Angry Birds LEGO art by Tsang Yiu Keung. Note: Catapult them and they will assuredly shatter into a pile of tiny LEGO bricks, just like the fate of the pigs they're aiming for.
The Stilzkin Indrik is a mighty, mini LEGO Russian crawler, capable of lugging heavy loads over snowy terrain: "It has a large contact surface, which prevents it from sinking into the snow. It offers great traction on almost any surface, and loads of torque to get out of tight spots."
Apple software engineer Andrew Carol built a fully-functional replica of the Antikythera Mechanism, the world's oldest known scientific computer. The 2000-year-old analog device was used by the ancient Greeks to predict the year, date, and time of future solar and lunar eclipses accurately to within two hours. Carol put together the 110 gears (made with 1,500 LEGO Technic parts) in just 30 days. See how it works below.
It took him a year to build and about $30,000 in parts, but Steve Hassenplug has created a truly magnificent robotic chess set, inspired by the magical chessboard in the first Harry Potter movie.
You can almost feel the pain of Dave Kaleta's outstretched, dissected frog (which is pretty incredible, considering it was constructed with those tiny, plastic bricks we call LEGOs). Kaleta's work of LEGO art was built for the MOCPages MOC Olympics.
You can learn how to fold a t-shirt perfectly with your own human hands. OR you can be like changyunhsu and teach your LEGO mindstorms robot to do it. Seriously impressive.
There's a lot going on with this Star Wars LEGO fast food snack. Angus MacLane turned the Millennium Falcon into a Corellian Cheeseburger for the FBTB MOC Madness 2010 Building Tournament.
I suppose it depends how you define dangerous. It must have taken Flippy Cat a good amount of effort and planning to design and construct this giant Operation game made from Dominos. And then he lets a cat loose?
LEGO Technic builder Peer (Mahjqa) Kreuger has constructed the incredible Stilzkin Bridge Launcher, a vehicle modeled after real life ALVBs (Armoured vehicle-launched bridge).
Sheepo HL'sLEGO replica of the Bugatti Veyron is more than just a perfect facsimile, it also runs! It has a fully functional seven-speed gearbox, retracting spoiler, independent suspension, and more. DO NOT miss the videos below. Amazing.
LEGO technic builder Sariel presents a mighty impressive weekend project: a motorized LEGO hand that emulates actual human movement. This feat of plastic engineering runs on a combination of electric motors and pneumatic valves.
Another amazing LEGO feat (+more Avatar mania). Check out this elaborately constructed helicopter, with blades powered by an actual LEGO motor! Scroll down to see it in action.
Paul Yperman's Droid Control Ship has been two years in the making, and required a whopping 30,000 LEGO bricks to build. Says Brothers Brick, "Paul's build differs in the surface textures of the model. He uses tiles and greebling elements in shades of gray to add realistic-looking details, which really enhances the appearance of this amazing creation."
Jim Moyer builds tiny engines, with as much attention to detail and craftsmanship as some of our other favorite hobbyists (check out obsessive model airplanes and teeny tiny weapons). The engine demonstrated in the first video below is supposedly the smallest V-8 engine in the world, a 1/6 scale model of the 327 cubic inch motor in a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette. More images and info at Jim's site.
To Mario enthusiasts everywhere: Mario mania has been lovingly expressed all over the web for some time now (including How-To). The most recent accomplishment brings together two classic favorites: Mario plus LEGOs.
Stretta considered investing in a foosball table for his son, and ultimately decided to go the (much more fun) DIY route: a LEGO foosball table. Very nice work:
Crazy! Real working v8 32 valve engine, made completely from LEGOs. Not made from a set, and apparently took about 300 hours to construct. Click through to YouTube description for link to parts list (PDF).
YouTube user Talapz has built a LEGO Pop-up Buddhist temple. Jaw dropping construction. Made from 4500 bricks, the structure is a representation of actual temple Kinkaku-ji (video below):
Skip Conversions = guerilla art + recycling + creative urban upcycling. My three favorites below (particularly the pool, which literally interprets the term "dumpster diving").
We've featured Temporary Services before, but we thought they deserved a full spread. In this post, we've included some of their How-To drawings and examples of recreated prison art.
With many internet/Lego nerds anxiously awaiting the completion of the world's first full size Lego House, Barnaby Gunning Architects and British TV personality, James May, finally unveiled the finished product this past Friday. The house (was) 100% Lego, "including a working toilet, hot shower and a very uncomfortable bed".
Pachinko originated in Japan as large casino machines that were similar to video slot machines. Players gambled on them for prizes. They were then adapted and became popular in the US as handheld kids' toys made of cardboard, a couple of BBs, some plastic and a rubber band.
