This is version of the classic marble labyrinth, where the pan and tilt are controlled by hobby servos. With the servos, you can work the maze with an R/C controller or a PC etc.
We built this one to be used with TeleToyland, and you can try it out live at the TeleToyland Marble Maze, and a second bigger one, the TeleToyland Marble Maze 2.
To make setting up and changing the maze easy, we used a Lego plate and bricks.
We built this one to be used with TeleToyland, and you can try it out live at the TeleToyland Marble Maze, and a second bigger one, the TeleToyland Marble Maze 2.
To make setting up and changing the maze easy, we used a Lego plate and bricks.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials
The materials for this one are pretty easy - should all be available at your local home store (except the servos).
Metal - for the following, we used about 5 feet of each:
1" wide x 1/8" thick aluminum bar for the X axis
1 1/2" wide 1/8" thick aluminum bar for the Y axis
1 1/2" wide by 1/16" Aluminum angle
Wood
1x4 pine for the base - need about 34"
Hardware
#6 nuts/bolts - a few lengths, a couple 1" ones, and the rest 3/4 and 0.5 inches long
#6 washers and #6 split lock washers
Servos
We used Hitec HS-625MG servos. Even though the mechanism is well balanced, standard hobby servos tended to jitter a bit. Note that for TeleToyland, we also turn the servos off when they are not moving.
Metal - for the following, we used about 5 feet of each:
1" wide x 1/8" thick aluminum bar for the X axis
1 1/2" wide 1/8" thick aluminum bar for the Y axis
1 1/2" wide by 1/16" Aluminum angle
Wood
1x4 pine for the base - need about 34"
Hardware
#6 nuts/bolts - a few lengths, a couple 1" ones, and the rest 3/4 and 0.5 inches long
#6 washers and #6 split lock washers
Servos
We used Hitec HS-625MG servos. Even though the mechanism is well balanced, standard hobby servos tended to jitter a bit. Note that for TeleToyland, we also turn the servos off when they are not moving.
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Good luck!
I'm curious how difficult it would be to fully automate it. If the base (that the marble rolls around on) was grounded metal, connectors could be placed on the walls of the corners (2 makeshift "switches" per corner). If you used a known layout of the maze, would it be feasible to have an arduino solve it (by changing the slope based on the switches closed)?
Since this one has no holes, it would be fairly easy to solve it with an Arduino. You'd want to know the starting position, or with one sensor switch it may be possible to have a series of moves that guarantees it will get to one location. For TeleToyland, I removed extra maze pieces that were not needed to catch the ball to make it seem less obvious from looking at it, but adding those back may make the automatic solution easier. This one is web controlled, but it's just two servos, so an Arduino can easily manage that.
FYI, RoboRealm did a solution using vision, and demoed that at the MakerFaire a few years ago: http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/Marble_Maze/slide010.php
for making this.....