Creating a production system prototype in Legos Mindstorms

One of the last stages of our project was recreating the production system through a LEGO Mindstorms kit. The first step was figuring out how the LEGO pieces should be assembled in order to create machines that looked as close as possible like real ones do. A team of four was in charge of this task. It took a few hours to come up with different ideas of how the pieces would be put together. After all the machines that make part of our system were constructed, it was time to plan the way each one would move or sound, since there were limited motors and sensors.

While some team members were working on the program that makes the prototype come alive, others were adding the final details to the construction, such as placing all the machines and their accessories on top of a foundation, simulating the places of the machinery in what would be a real production system site for our company. After everything was ready, we put the whole system to the test to look for possible errors and things that could be improved. It was a slow and detailed process which we put a lot of effort into, so that it would be as realistic as possible. We’re grateful for the opportunity that we were given by the Production and Systems Department of the Engineering School - University of Minho of demonstrating our production system physically through the provided LEGO kits.