Physiology

Star Dragon walks on two feet, connected by an axle and powered by one motor. Using the lego design cliche for a Lego Walker, we made each foot's gear reduction 3-to-1.

His wings, made of cardboard and pleated tissue paper, open and close by two gears placed side by side in his mouth. The gears turn in opposite directions because of their juxtaposition, causing the fans on each side to open in the same direction with only one motor. Each fan has a piece of string attached at the top of the fans and the string is looped around a wheel connected to the gear.

The mouth operates in a hinge-like motion with a string and motor attached behind the hinge.

When the switch on the snout of the dragon is pressed, the dragon opens his mouth and blows out smoke. The "smoke" is produced by dropping water into liquid nitrogen. In the body of the dragon, a small container filled with water is attached to a beam that is rotated by a motor. Below the container of water, on a ledge of Legos, is a covered styrofoam cup containing liquid nitrogen. When the motor is turned on, the container tips and the water spills into a hole on top of the cup. The steam generated is directed out of Star's mouth by a piece of tubing. The container of water is refilled using a funnel-like device inserted on the side of the dragon.

The feet, fans, mouth, and container of water are all powered by the motor ports on a Handy Board. The eyes are controlled by a separate Cricket. To see the Handy Board code, click here. For Cricket code, click here.

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Star Dragon walks on two feet, connected by an axle and powered by one motor. Using the lego design cliche for a Lego Walker, we made each foot's gear reduction 3-to-1.
	His wings, made of cardboard and pleated tissue paper, open and close by two gears placed side by side in his mouth. The gears turn in opposite directions because of their juxtaposition, causing the fans on each side to open in the same direction with only one motor. Each fan has a piece of string attached at the top of the fans and the string is looped around a wheel connected to the gear.
The mouth operates in a hinge-like motion with a string and motor attached behind the hinge.
	When the switch on the snout of the dragon is pressed, the dragon opens his mouth and blows out smoke. The "smoke" is produced by dropping water into liquid nitrogen. In the body of the dragon, a small container filled with water is attached to a beam that is rotated by a motor. Below the container of water, on a ledge of Legos, is a covered styrofoam cup containing liquid nitrogen. When the motor is turned on, the container tips and the water spills into a hole on top of the cup. The steam generated is directed out of Star's mouth by a piece of tubing. The container of water is refilled using a funnel-like device inserted on the side of the dragon.