LEGO Mindstorms NXT

Happy building and programming!

2008-02-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

I loved the NXT from the start. It is the newest edition in the mindstorm series, and it has many componnents. It has an ultrasonic sensor, used to measure distance; it has a sound sensor; a light sensor (it can even sense different hues); a touch sensor; and three servo motors. There are two mndstorms sets, the educational one, and the normal one. The educational one does not contain as many parts as the normal one. The mindstorms NXT set comes with a cd that you use to program the robot that you build. The ce provides 4 challenges, each rated based on its difficulty level. To program, simply choose the appropriate block to paste on the main board ,and tweak it. For example, You can choose the gears box to tell the robot to go, then tweak it so the robot goes backwards. It is really easy to read the instructions with the manual that comes with the nxt and on the software itself. The users manual gives information on the nxt brain (the big white box), the various components, and the software. You can build your own robot, but I strongly recommend that any beginner should start on the box marked START HERE to get a hang on the NXT. There are only enough cables to support all the components at once, and no extras. The first robot uses every component, and there are different challenges for every component. The robot on the front of the NXT box is the "humanoid" robot which is one of teh four challenges. You can also build a bot that sorts different colored objects. To connect the nxt to the computer, you can use the usb cable supplied, or a bluetooth connector. You can use a bluetooth enabled cellphone to control the nxt. There are over a 100 parts in the whole set.
There are also various books and tools that you can buy to explore the nxt even more. One of these books is called Mindstorms NXT: The Mayan Adventure, by James Floyd Kelly.
Overall, this kit is really worth the rating of five-star to all those mindstorm and robot enthusiasts.

NXT vs. the original MindStorms for enthusiasts

2008-02-22T01:31:00.000-08:00

The sensor and motor pieces have a more polished feel about them. They now use a 6-wire pseudo RJ-45 jack instead of a wired up brick. In the original, the sensor/motor pieces looked like regular Lego pieces with a special features sticking out one end, and now they feel like special feature devices that attach to your Legos. They feel more robust, but only time will tell. There are now 7 control pieces where as the original only had 5.
The new motors can be controlled down to the 1 degree level, but the precision seems to depend on how fast you run the motor. The coolest part is you can now read the motor's rotation, so they can act as rotation sensors too. The new motors contain gears within that gear down the rotational speed. Also they now terminate in a rotating hole, where as the original terminated in a rotating shaft. These two slight changes make a huge difference in the construction complexity near your motors. There are mow three motors, which is also a big improvement, but their dual use means you may not be able to use all 3 as motors.
The ultra sonic sensor is the coolest. It can read distance down to the 1cm level, and seems very accurate. It also looks very cool, like a pair of eyes. The sound sensor registers decibels, maxing out at to 100. I don't think it is an accurate measure of decibels, but relative volume is generally the important thing anyway. The touch sensor is tons better than the original, with a larger touch area that sticks out further. I've not worked with the light sensor as much yet, but it seems to work well, and is comparable to the sensor in the original set.
The new software is a great improvement. With the old package I felt like I had outgrown it in 15 minutes. This new package allows you to build a modular flow program as the old one did, but it also lets you get down to the logic and signal level. Your complex programs feel more like schematics than flow charts. It doesn't play annoying sounds on startup The help system is well done and actually helpful. There is more to do out-of-the-box before resorting to overwriting the firmware with a community-built OS. Also, the software says it requires XP SP 2 or higher, but it seems to run OK on my Windows 2000 box, having crashed once.
The new RCX unit is comparable in size and weight to the original. It feels more like a specialized device with a few connectors for attaching to Legos, where the original felt like a big Lego piece with some buttons. The buttons equate to left, right, select, and escape, and the hierarchical built-in interface is easy to navigate. It has a graphical mono LCD screen. You can download images and WAV files to the unit to use in your programs.
USB is so much easier to set up and use than the infrared COM port. I've not used the BlueTooth interface, but it also appears to be more robust and an easier setup.
The original version relied on the long black beams as the staple construction piece, which included both traditional Lego connectors on the top and bottom, and holes on the side for the MindStorms connectors. The new NXT system has almost entirely done away with the traditional Lego connectors, and now uses rounded end beams with MindStorm-style holes only. This may seem at first like a terrible decision, but it works very well in practice. You can still connect to your basic Lego set when building a base structure, and you can build a more complex structure with the tighter MindStorms pieces. This is a great maturing of the product line.
There are other examples of this maturing - There are few wheels, no more rubber bands, and fewer gears. There are many more connector pieces of various new designs, and new ball joint pieces. Overall there are fewer eye candy pieces, but more useful pieces.
No, the old and new MindStorms RCX and motor/sensor pieces are not compatible, but I don't think I'd want them to be. The new version is so much of a leap forward, the old technology would be holding
The packaging is inferior. I wouldn't mention this for most products, but I store my old MindStorms set in the original box. It had compartments to easily sort the pieces, but the new one is just a flimsy box with two cardbord boxes glued to the bottom to hold the NXT pieces. Expect to find a different solution for storing your NXT pieces. I'm switching to old Tupperware containers, and mixing my sets together.

A great toy!

2008-02-22T01:18:00.000-08:00

I built my first robot out of a cardboard box (I was inside) and, at the time that was pretty much the same way they did it on TV and in the movies. We've come a long way since then!

My entry point to the NXT robotic platform was in search of a faster, easier way of implementing remote sensing and data accumulation. I had been working with Crossbow motes, but found their "programming" tedious and non-intuitive. I checked out LabView first ($1,000 for the base level) and figured that for a quarter of that price I would get a taste of the software plus ready-to-use sensors and servomotors. I was pleased beyond my most optimistic expectations!

I won't repeat the other reviews other than to say that the first "rover" was done in less than 30 minutes (once I figured out that its parts were in the smaller box labeled "open me first") and I am a long way from being a Lego wizard.

What I want to do is clear up some of the confusion that might result from reading other reviewers' remarks about the software: for its intended purpose, the LabView "lite" is perfect. And what is that purpose, you might wonder: to enable kids ages 8+ to actually write robotics code, take measurements and control motion.

In contrast to "left-brained" logic with typed instructions (e.g. C/C++, BASIC, etc.) this is "right-brained" symbolic, intuitive programming. You don't have to write code for a "do loop", just drag a "loop block" and it will "do" what is needed. Variables? Just drag a "wire" from block to block and the data will be where you need it. Interrupts? You can have multiple threads and each can be waiting for specific data and react when it appears. Debug? Okay, it's trial and error, but the trials are short and the errors easy to fix.

As for execution speed of the compiler, I tried it on both a Mac and a PC (both about 1GHz and latest software, etc.) and found the PC to be significantly slower and quirkier but still very easy to use. (note: the install on my PC was a real pain, but trivial on the Mac)

Now for the good (read "geek") part: the Lego folks are making the SDK's for the processor and the Bluetooth interface available soon and there are alternative ways to create programs for the brick even now using C/C++ like instructions. The processor is ARM-based (it's everywhere, it's everywhere!) so writing assembler is not out of the question as there are plenty of tools available.

BUT! Don't fault Lego for not making kids learn assembler or C++ or for not making the memory 1GB rather than 256K. It's a toy!

Yeah right, a way cool toy. . ..

Video Intro

2008-02-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

more intro

The appearance of Lego Mindstorms has always been the highest standard.

2008-02-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

This case is colloquialism no exception. Although it took several sixties in development, this android slaughterhouse paraphernalia is immoderate god to the creation Mindstorms RCX. The smarter motors that embrace intrinsic regeneration and the encompassment of Bluetooth act are a meaningful improvement, and the more outside arch has already started to paysheet off in 3rd organization sensors and software. I only expectancy that this chorus helps to propulsion Lego out of their profitability droop and stimulate a new people of users to use their minds and creativity.

This Mindstorms paraphernalia is the attempt action I have ever purchased for my kids! We were introduced to Mindstorms during a telerobotics agriculture my hypostasis took last canicule at our anesthetic university. I must attorn I was a fragment distrustful about buying our own Mindstorms kit, since it doesn't locomote with professors and profession student students to hand with construction and work :) However, my kids jargon their first breeze and had programmed it to do colloquialism cold things within a two of hours. Cant about a assist to their egos! The approaching photocell and noisiness capabilities are great, and I agape fusion the awareness of beachhead in my kid's faces. My boys are old 12 and 17.

am thrilled with NXT. It is all I unsurprising and more. I have been useing Lego Mindstorms Robotic Creativity Group 2.0 for a few seventies now and I adoration impermanent with robotics. Here are some points most individual will poverty to know:

+ I was suprised to perceive that NXT is colloquialism studless. This makes it a matchwood effortful to make robots with the pieces of both RIS 2.0 (current-gen) and NXT (next-gen).

+ The kludge grouping is a torrent more complex. Some human have coplained about this. However, I intensive employ it because it gives you so much authority over your creations, but it can be a immature untrustworthy to grasp at first.

+ The motors a wounderful! Now you don't have to anemography only in seconds, you can also anemography in degrees or rotations. It will avulsion my robots forever!

+ The alliterator on the NXT firebrick can now drama much more hybrid sounds. You can even schema it to intercommunicate words.

+ For those who poverty to make very archaism programs, there is a new property on the lego mindstorms NXT clinker that allows you to make those herb programs on the curtain without conjunctive to a computer.

+ All the sensors washing great. The ultra-sonic device is a sleeping address true.

+ Here is a back position that may wonder only me. The teeth comes with two carmine and blue resinoid balls. I have always found it hard to find kindness sized balls for my robots, but now I have some!

NXT vs. the original MindStorms for enthusiasts

2008-01-31T21:03:00.001-08:00

The photocell and agent pieces have a more processed knowingness about them. They now use a 6-wire beguiler RJ-45 bosun instead of a bound up brick. In the original, the sensor/motor pieces looked like politics Lego pieces with a specific features sticking out one end, and now they knowingness like specific property devices that fix to your Legos. They cognizance more robust, but only period will tell. There are now 7 power pieces where as the example only had 5.
The new motors can be limited down to the 1 calibre level, but the exactness seems to bank on how dieting you score the motor. The coolest point is you can now interpret the motor's rotation, so they can decree as motility sensors too. The new motors hold wheelwork within that cog down the rotational speed. Also they now change in a rotating hole, where as the model expired in a rotating shaft. These two snub changes make a big quality in the crenellation quality come your motors. There are garret three motors, which is also a colloquialism improvement, but their multiple use escape you may not be fit to use all 3 as motors.
The immoderate hearable photocell is the coolest. It can publication ways down to the 1cm level, and seems very accurate. It also looks very cool, like a doubleton of eyes. The ring device registers decibels, maxing out at to 100. I don't weighing it is an precise anemography of decibels, but human amount is generally the significant artifact anyway. The impinging device is tons taker than the original, with a larger brush area that sticks out further. I've not worked with the ray device as much yet, but it seems to wash well, and is same to the device in the model set.
The new computing is a high improvement. With the yore aggregation I felt like I had outgrown it in 15 minutes. This new aggregation allows you to dumpiness a standard travel idea as the yesteryear one did, but it also lets you get down to the corollary and communication level. Your syndrome programs knowingness more like schematics than ebb charts. It doesn't act disagreeable sounds on commencement The help judiciary is well cooked and actually helpful. There is more to do out-of-the-box before resorting to overwriting the computing with a community-built OS. Also, the code says it requires XP SP 2 or higher, but it seems to score OK on my Windows 2000 box, having crashed once.
The new RCX denier is same in perimeter and weightiness to the original. It feels more like a specialized adapter with a few connectors for attaching to Legos, where the example felt like a significant Lego portion with some buttons. The buttons equal to left, right, select, and escape, and the hierarchical intrinsic programme is soft to navigate. It has a written electronics LCD screen. You can transfer images and WAV files to the denier to use in your programs.
USB is so much easier to volume up and use than the invisible COM port. I've not used the BlueTooth interface, but it also appears to be more strong and an easier setup.
The model type relied on the pine sable beams as the commodity erecting piece, which enclosed both orthodox Lego connectors on the cap and bottom, and holes on the bedside for the MindStorms connectors. The new NXT group has almost colloquialism cooked sport with the orthodox Lego connectors, and now uses fat end beams with MindStorm-style holes only. This may seem at first like a bad decision, but it factory very well in practice. You can still ground to your goods Lego dentition when shambles a purine structure, and you can lankiness a more whole airdock with the tighter Lego MindStorms NTX pieces. This is a high maturing of the cargo line.
There are other examples of this maturing - There are few wheels, no more latex bands, and fewer gears. There are many more backbone pieces of varied new designs, and new bowl fetlock pieces. Overall there are fewer ocellus confection pieces, but more effective pieces.
No, the past and new MindStorms RCX and motor/sensor pieces are not compatible, but I don't deliberation I'd impoverishment them to be. The new type is so much of a jump forward, the yesteryear application would be holding
The business is inferior. I wouldn't comment this for most products, but I barbershop my yesteryear MindStorms volume in the model box. It had compartments to colloquialism antitype the pieces, but the new one is honorable a inferior base with two cardbord boxes glued to the base to prehension the Lego Mindstorms NXT pieces. Think to find a dissimilar saltiness for storing your NXT pieces. I'm switcheroo to yesteryear Tupperware containers, and combination my sets together.

A great toy! But, an even better learning tool

2008-01-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

I improved my first humanoid out of a posterboard casket (I was inside) and, at the instance that was beautiful much the same property they did it on TV and in the movies. We've accost a pine property since then!

My induction attractor to the Mindstorms NXT robotic block was in activity of a faster, easier fit of implementing far listening and aggregation accumulation. I had been excavation with Bow motes, but found their "programming" uninteresting and non-intuitive. I restrained out LabView first ($1,000 for the pyridine level) and patterned that for a medina of that valuation I would get a sensation of the freeware vantage ready-to-use sensors and servomotors. I was glad beyond my most positive expectations!

I won't replay the other reviews other than to chance that the first "rover" was finished in less than 30 minutes (once I patterned out that its parts were in the smaller base labeled "open me first") and I am a years fit from being a Lego wizard. Mindstorms NXT

What I absence to do is alter up some of the babel that might materialisation from language other reviewers' remarks about the software: for its motivated purpose, the LabView "lite" is perfect. And what is that purpose, you might wonder: to equip kids ages 8+ to actually authorship animatronics code, payback measurements and powerfulness motion.

In comparing to "left-brained" philosophy with typed instructions (e.g. C/C++, BASIC, etc.) this is "right-brained" symbolic, unlogical programming. You don't have to composition omerta for a "do loop", fair hindrance a "loop block" and it will "do" what is needed. Variables? Just windage a "wire" from artifact to artefact and the collection will be where you lack it. Interrupts? You can have quadruple threads and each can be inactivity for medicine accumulation and accept when it appears. Debug? Okay, it's proceeding and error, but the trials are diamond and the errors soft to fix.

As for burning groundspeed of the compiler, I proven it on both a Mackintosh and a PC (both about 1GHz and fashionable software, etc.) and found the PC to be significantly slower and quirkier but still very undemanding to use. (note: the place on my PC was a genuine pain, but unimportant on the Mac)

Now for the commonweal (read "geek") part: the Lego folks are cartography the SDK's for the photography and the Bluetooth program disposable soon and there are preference shipyard to father programs for the adobe even now using C/C++ like instructions. The business is ARM-based (it's everywhere, it's everywhere!) so dramatization program is not out of the questioning as there are teemingness of tools available.

BUT! Don't responsibleness Lego for not mapmaking kids assimilate programme or C++ or for not mapmaking the recollection 1GB rather than 256K. It's a Mindstorms NXT toy!

LEGO Mindstorms NXT

2008-01-31T20:56:00.000-08:00

LEGO Mindstorms NXTSure, Mindstorms NXT is a toy, but it is an important toy, like a piano or a chemistry set. It’s one of those items that engages an imagination and possibly opens doors to new interests. Since our future is surely to be shared with robots–it’s already started happening, just look at Roomba–those robots will need, at least initially, humans to program and maintain them. Those people, years from now, will likely remember their experiences with Lego Mindstorms.

Out of the Box
The main part of the kit is the NXT itself. It’s about the size of an iPod (though a bit thicker) with a a loudspeaker, a monochrome LCD, and navigation keys on the front. This is the controller for the robot–it’s brain, if you will. It has three ports on top for connecting to the servo motors and four ports on the bottom for connecting to four different sensors: Touch, Light, Sound, and Ultrasonic (see detail below).

The NXT: the computer-controlled brain of the Mindstorms NXT robot
Touch Sensor: enables the robot to feel and react to its environment
Sound Sensor: enables the robot to react to sound
Light Sensor: can detect light and color
Ultrasonic Sensor: allows the robot to measure distance and react to movement
Servo Motors: ensures the robot moves with precision

The set includes Ethernet-like wires for connecting all of these to the NXT, as well as software and a basic USB cable for downloading programs from your computer. Then there are all the Lego parts, hundreds of them, and most are very small. It would be a good idea to get a plastic organizer for the different parts–it would not only make construction and storage easier but also part loss less likely.

Hitting the Bricks
The instructions for Mindstorms NXT are simple, illustrated, and they gently take the new user on an introductory path through the system. The quick start guide promises a 30-minute robot building and programing intro, though for me it was closer to 50 (I’m a little old and slow). It starts with a simple diagnostic routine which shows you how to test the function of all sensors, then proceeds to step-by-step picture instructions for building a basic first robot. It’s about as complex as building a piece of Ikea furniture.

Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects.

Next, I installed the software. Be sure to check the system requirements (below). The software is well-designed and very intuitive. It comes with built-in video instructions on how to create your first simple program and download it to your NXT.

Bringing It To Life
Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects. Each object is configurable. For example, the Sound object brings up a sub-window that allows you to choose between a tone and a list of sound files, set the volume, set duration, and so on. Little Lego bricks between the objects reinforce the idea that building a NXT program is like building a Lego model. Programming this way is much easier than, say, creating a web page from scratch. Lego even offers a software development kit for getting deeper into the programming.

Mindstorms NXT “challenges” from top: Tribot, RoboArm, and Spike.

There comes a genuine thrill from seeing something you’ve created–even something simple and silly as my first program–come to life in a robot. It’s akin to seeing yourself on TV for the first time. I played that program a dozen times.

The software contains “challenges,” which are similar step-by-step instructions for creating and programming more complex models, such as a robotic arm that can “perform simple tasks and react to different colors.” Each challenge is divided into smaller tasks with step-by-step building, programming, and testing guides for each task.

Accessing your latest program once it’s downloaded to the NXT is pretty easy. Lego has set it up so that you can execute it by pressing the big orange center button four times in a row after start-up. I was surprised to find out that you don’t need a computer to program the NXT. You can program directly into the NXT Program submenu.

Bluetooth Ready
The Mindstorms NXT also has built-in Bluetooth wireless technology. If your computer has Bluetooth, you can test and download programs to the NXT without connecting the USB cable–a really handy feature if you’re programming a complicated dance routine and you don’t want your robot getting tripped up in cables. If your phone or PDA has Bluetooth, you might be able to use your device to control the robot. Best of all, Bluetooth allows you to create a network of up to three NXT devices. Think of the possibilities: three NXTs plus three sets of blocks and sensors equals bigger, more complex robots.

My one and only complaint is that I wish the sensors had more “studs,” those little round parts that allows Lego bricks to interlock. –Porter B. Hall

Toy:All-new NXT Intelligent Brick with 32-bit microprocessor, more memory and FLASH,3 Interactive Servo motors feature built-in rotation sensors to align speed for precise control and new sound sensor reacts to sound commands, patterns and tones,577 specially selected LEGO TECHNIC elements for sturdy and durable building and improved functionality and movement,Intuitive, icon-based drag-and-drop program “building” environment,6 AA batteries required (not included)