Lego Technic Mars Rover

Project Overview

This Mars Rover is the most ambitious Lego build I’ve undertaken. Over five months, I designed and assembled a 2.7 kg vehicle featuring 11 motors and more than four metres of pneumatic hose.

Check out the youtube video!

Everything is controlled via two remote‑control units: from the four‑wheel‑drive chassis and switchable steering modes (normal and crab) to unfolding solar panels, a telescoping crane and a cargo‑bay airlock. It was quite challenging squeezing so many functions into a small frame.

Key Features

• 4W Drive, Steering
• Switch between “crab” and 4-wheel steering via remote control
• “Solar Panel” unfold/fold
• Crane up/down, left/right, extension/retraction, “pincer”
• Cargo bay door open/close
• Pneumatic airlock
• Fully RC

Other small stuff:

• Rotating satelite dish
• Detailed cabin
• Independent suspension on all wheels
• Two servos each control two pneumatic functions

I used a few clever tricks to give motors more than one function. For example, each pneumatic pump is also a switch, depending on the direction it spins, using a design I borrowed from youtube. Each servo motor controls two switches each, because by design it was possible to make functions opposites of each other. The pneumatics engage in order of easiest to most difficult, so there are some rubber bands to set the order of activation. E.g. the up/down motion of the crane is paired with the storage lid.

Inspiration

The idea and inspiration came from Eurobricks mars mission contest (ZeroBricks, Samolot, Kubic5), Simon stallenhag’s artwork, and image searches for mars rover concept art