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I ran across a really wonderful LEGO Mindstorms creation featured at the Brothers-Brick the other day. It was so impressive that I just had to share it with you. Meet LEGONARDO, the LEGO Mindstorms humanoid that can draw pictures – all by itself! 😛

LEGONARDO - LEGO Mindstorms Robot by Danielle Benedettelli

LEGONARDO was created by Danielle Benedettelli, an Italian LEGO Mindstorms fan and robotics engineer. Danielle says the following about LEGONARDO on his website: “Ladies and gentlemen, here is LEGONARDO, a portrayer robot. It is my fourth generation drawing machine. It is inspired by the work of 18th Century Swiss watch and automata makers Pierre Jacquet-Droz and Henri Maillardet. After reading the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, I completely redesigned my portrayer into this shape. The name is a tribute to Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian artist and inventor. The drawings are generated by a custom software I wrote, similar to the one used for my first portrayer robot.”

LEGO Mindstorms Robot by Danielle Benedettelli

LEGONARDO himself is an impressive LEGO creation, but the fact that he can draw makes him totally awesome! Below is a video showing LEGOLARDO deeply absorbed in his artistic work. I can’t imagine the amount of designing and programming that went into this guy!

Cool, isn’t it? What do you think? How do you like LEGONARDO? And what do you think he should draw next? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉

LEGO Mindstorms Available Now

If you are interested in LEGO Mindstorms you can also check out the LEGO Mindstorms website for more info, and the current selection of LEGO Mindstorms products at the Online LEGO Shop. And you might also like to read about the next generation of LEGO Mindstorms kit coming out soon: A New Generation of LEGO Mindstorms!

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You might remember that a few months back we talked about the greatest LEGO contest for LEGO Castle fans called Colossal Castle Contest (also referred to as CCC by LEGO fans). You can read the original article here: The Ultimate LEGO Castle Contest to familiarize yourself with the contest if you never heard of it.

LEGO Classic Castle Logo

Recently the winners of the 2012 LEGO contest were announced (Colossal Castle Contest X), so I thought to give your a round-up of the winning entries. Even if you never plan to participate in this LEGO contest yourself, if you are a LEGO Castle fan I highly recommend to follow the contest (happens every year in November-December) as you will see some of the greatest LEGO Castle creations ever made. They are great resources for inspiration and ideas for your own LEGO Castle creations.

LEGO Contest Colossal Castle

There were 14 categories to enter including Medieval Life, Forest Life, Winter Scene, Medieval Architectural Detail, Castle, Tudor Castle, Castle Minifigures, Fantasy Minifigures, etc., and over 400 hundred entries!

The scores were very close, so besides announcing the winners, the top five entries also got honorable mention. Below I will show you the winning entries and also give you links where you can take a closer look at all of the LEGO Castle contest entries.

LEGO Castle Contest – Medieval Life: there were 42 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. This was one of my favorite categories in this contest. A lot of people build LEGO Castles but there are few who build details of everyday Medieval Life.

LEGO Castle Contest - Medieval Life

LEGO Castle Contest – An Ill Advised Journey: there were 27 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. A category full of great ideas and interesting building techniques!

LEGO Castle Contest - An Ill Advised Journey

LEGO Castle Contest – Daring Escape: there were 17 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Most contestants in this category also added a story to their LEGO creations.

LEGO Castle Contest - Daring Escape

LEGO Castle Contest – Trade & Tolls: there were 24 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Another very interesting category similar to Medieval Life, but more focused on trading. The entries are excellent!

LEGo Castle Contest - Trade & Tolls

LEGO Castle Contest – Forest Life: there were 34 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Landscaping is never easy with LEGO. Besides the beautiful winning entry featured below, there were some other great ideas worth bookmarking as future landscaping reference.

LEGO Castle Contest - Forest Life

LEGO Castle Contest – Winter Scene: there were 33 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Basically another landscaping category – this time making snow and ice. Some of the entries focused more on shaping the landscape and making it look very cold, while others highlighted the Castle-ness of the scene with a snowy background. 

LEGO Castle Contest - Winter Scene

LEGO Castle Contest – Medieval Architectural Detail: there were 23 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. This was a very interesting contest category full of unique building techniques we can learn from.

LEGO Castle Contest - Medieval Architectural Detail

LEGO Castle Contest – Center of Learning: there were 16 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Some of the entries here were whole medieval universities, while others focused on highlighting the details with smaller vignettes. Worth checking them out for great ideas!

LEGO Castle Contest - Center of Learning

LEGO Castle Contest – Classic Set Reimagined: there were 22 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. The entries here were mixed between adding new parts and building techniques to classic LEGO Castle sets, while others completely reimagined an old LEGO set. Very interesting!

LEGO Castle Contest - Classic Set Reimagined

LEGO Castle Contest – Realistic Castle Figure: there were 35 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. I’m a big fan of minifig customization so I of course followed this category with interest. The winning entry is just gorgeous!

LEGO Castle Contest - Realistic Castle Minifigure

LEGO Castle Contest – Fantasy Castle Figure: there were 44 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Another interesting category for minifigure fans.

LEGO Castle Contest - Fantasy Minifigures

LEGO Castle Contest – Miscellaneous: there were 57 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Here you see all kinds of interesting LEGO Castle creations – some of them could have easily fit in other categories while others are totally unique.

LEGO Castle Contest - Miscellaneous

LEGO Castle Contest – Tudor Castle: there were 13 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. For those interested in realistic LEGO Castle architecture this category is a must to check out. Really beautiful creations!

LEGO Castle Contest - Tudor Castle

LEGO Castle Contest – Castle: there were 23 entries in this category – you can see all the entries at LEGO Castle Contest Entries. Small castles, big castles, round castles, square castles. You will see them all! This was a great category with very strong entries. LEGO Castle at it’s best!

LEGO Castle Contest - Castle

This year’s Colossal Castle Contest was certainly exciting with lots of interesting entries. What do you think? Which of the categories did you like most? And what was your favorite entry? Also I know some of you have entered the contest – what are your thoughts? Feel free to share in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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