Ancient Web: Matthias Wandel Made LEGO Into a Pager-Testing Laboratory

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

Most people use LEGO to build a model of a machine. Matthias Wandel used LEGO to solve actual engineering problems—and then made other machines whose purpose was to be interestingly ridiculous.

Visit Wandel's LEGO machines gallery.

The most surprising exhibit involves wireless communication. In 1998, Wandel wanted to measure a pager's reception under repeatable conditions. Simply holding the device still would produce unrepresentative readings because radio signals vary with orientation and location.

A toy motor becomes test equipment

He had already made a large wooden apparatus, but taking it on an airplane was inconvenient. So he built a portable battery-powered rig with LEGO motors and gears. The device turned the pager around both horizontal and vertical axes, completing a rotation every few minutes.

Combined with custom software on the BlackBerry, the mechanical motion helped him evaluate signal sensitivity and test calculations for radio-base-station coverage. It is a rare case where buying more LEGO could be entered, according to the author, as a business expense.

The page also includes a marble machine born from experiments with his brother Markus around Christmas 1996. Its mechanism pumps marbles up a vertical stack; gravity and a sequence of ramps and switching pieces distribute them on the way down. Wandel candidly says later additions sometimes made the system less reliable.

Other entries include an intentionally absurd ejector-seat vehicle and a machine for laying dominoes in rows. He dates his earliest domino-building experiment to 1985 and describes later reconstructing the device from memory.

Photographs with the failures left in

The charm is not just the machines' appearance. The accompanying text explains gears, loads, intermittent motion, the need to avoid jamming, and the shortcomings of each idea. The author reports that a spring-powered LEGO launcher had limited range, while his mock safety vehicle could eject its occupant in the wrong direction.

That is not a set of safety-tested construction instructions. These are old maker experiments, some involving projectiles or impacts; readers should treat them as engineering history and creative documentation.

Wandel's main old homepage is itself worth a separate article, but this gallery has a focused story: using familiar toy components to reason through real mechanical motion, with enough photos and explanations to understand what worked and what failed.

Explore the complete LEGO machines gallery.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.