Here are some examples that caught my attention in the last years: Cambridge scientists are using LEGO Mindstorms in their lab instead of a professional robot, saving them large amounts of money.; The Kno tablet development team is using a LEGO rig to perform automated stress tests on their devices.; University of Southhampton is using LEGO bricks as the structural frame for a cheaper Antikythera Device Design and construction by Andrew Carrol. Model instructions by Sean Turner 3715 Pieces Lego model of the astronomical device found off the coast of the island of Antikythera over 100 years ago. "Left" legs - 20 required x3 2 9L 1 1x 3x 3x5 1x 2x 1x x2 1 7L 3 4 2x 1x x2 2 5 1x 2x 6 1x 2x x2 x2 3 3L 8 7 2x 2x4 1x 9L 1x 1x x2 4 Antikythera Mechanism 127, 47 and 19 tooth gears LEGO®-compatible One 127 tooth gear, one 47 tooth gear and two 19 tooth gears. REVISION: AKM_gears_v6 These are part of the Sidereal and Synodic month's gearing. Note: The all colors that are currently available. For the Basic Antikythera Mechanism You will also need the: Antikythera Mechanism Academics from University College London and The Cyprus Institute assert that they've built the most accurate model of the Antikythera Mechanism, the one-of-a-kind ancient Greek machine made of meshed gears. After 12 years of research, archaeologists decipher instructions for the 2,000-year-old Antikythera Mechanism. Here are 15 facts about the strange object, sometimes called "the world's first computer.". 1. The Antikythera mechanism was found in a Roman-era shipwreck and named after a Greek island The Antikythera Mechanism calculated the position of the moon by employing five gear trains to take into account the Saros, Metonic, Callipic, and Exeligmos cycles. Thus, it was able to predict the dates of solar and lunar eclipses. The Antikythera mechanism is a really impressive artefact, combining astronomy, mathematics, and fine mechanics. How far mankind could be today … Aqua4U says: It is a clockwork mechanism that was used to keep track of Olympiads and the movements of the celestial bodies. The wreck the device was recovered from dates to between c. 70 and c. 60 BC. The Antikythera mechanism itself was most likely originally created sometime in around the late second or early first century BC. In popular science writ The Antikythera mechanism was lost to the world for centuries. The device was salvaged in 1900 from a ship that sank en route to Rome, in the 1st century BC, between Crete and the island of Old and new models of the Antikythera Mechanism. The latest model of the Antikythera Mechanism was published in Nature in November 2006. The evolution of models of the Mechanism has followed a long historical struggle to reconcile the evidence from the fragments with a coherent design based on a rational structure and function. Known as the Antikythera mechanism and called a "clockwork computer," this small bronze instrument is unique because it precedes any machine of comparable complexity by more than a millennium Old and new models of the Antikythera Mechanism. The latest model of the Antikythera Mechanism was published in Nature in November 2006. The evolution of models of the Mechanism has followed a long historical struggle to reconcile the evidence from the fragments with a coherent design based on a rational structure and function. Known as the Antikythera mechanism and called a "clockwork c