Starfish drive - Seastars can "walk" almost anywhere, over the roughest and most uneven terrain. They accomplish this by moving very slowly with thousands of little "legs" on the underside of of their flexible arms. I am trying to create a simplified drive based on this principle to move LegoŽ devices over uneven courses.

Coin comparator - Vending machines and subway gates use a device called a comparator to determine if the coin or token deposited in the machine is genuine. The newer devices measure the electrical resistance of the coin and compare it to reference coin kept inside the machine. I have built a prototype comparator that will compare the weight of a coin against a reference coin and either accept it or reject it. It needs refining, as it is very complex and prone to breakdowns.

Working helicoptor - Something of a "Holy Grail" among a certain set of LegoŽ users, I have to admit I've been caught up in the chase. The idea is to create a helicoptor that will actually fly. Generating lift is not as hard as solviong the problem of controlling the flight. Real helicoptors have a second, vertical rotor at the back to keep the craft from simply spinning in one place from the torque of the engine. Adding this feature to a LEGOŽ model rapidly increases the weight beyond the amount of lift I've been able to generate so far. This is one I'll have to come back to later...