What is the Mindstorms NXT?

Now that the holidays are right around the corner you may be wondering, what exactly is the Mindstorms NXT, and is it the right gift for my child/grandchild/other kid who loves LEGO?

First, what is the Mindstorms NXT?
The Mindstorms NXT is a set of robotic parts made especially with children (recommended ages 10+) in mind. With easy to assemble parts that "snap" together similar to how classic LEGO bricks do, building is fun and easy.

I was inspired to write this post after a trip to a LEGO store. I was walking around the store admiring the cool sets and I overheard a couple talking about the Mindstorms NXT. After examining the box, the man said, "Hey look, you can build any of these three robots out of this set." Yes, the man was correct, but he wasn't realizing that not only could you build the three sets, but you could build anything you could think of. That is the beauty of LEGO- they sell sets and give you instructions, but nowhere does it say that you must follow those instructions. Containing over 600 pieces including sensors and an "intelligent NXT LEGO® brick [which] features 32-bit microprocessor, a large matrix display, 4 input and 3 output ports, and Bluetooth and USB communication link", the Mindstorms NXT set truly gives kids the opportunity to be exercise their creativity and ingenuity. With Mindstorms NXT- despite the fact that there are only three robots displayed on the box- the possibilities are virtually endless.

The next question you may have is what are some of the other things that have been done with the NXT?

Santa Claus
by mouratoclaudio

The Mindstorms website has a section called the NXTLOG where anyone can document their Mindstorms creations for free. After going through moderation to keep the NXTLOG a safe environment for kids, the projects are published and can be easy shared with grandparents, other family, or friends by simply sending a link. The NXTLOG is an excellent place to see what interesting robots can be made with the NXT.

The Mindstorms NXT is also used by teams in a robotics competition called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League. In FIRST LEGO League, teams "Design, build, test and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology", then come together and compete. FLL is a really awesome program constantly inspiring young ones to pursue careers in engineering and mathematics. If you would like to learn more about FIRST and their leagues for different age groups, please go here.

What are some of the cool things that come with the set (NXT 2.0)?

• 3 servo motors (I've had my set for over 3 years and have never had a problem with them breaking or dying out)
• Intelligent brick (acts as the robot's "brain")
• Sensors including the Ultrasonic sensor (acts as the robot's "eyes"), the colour sensor (detects different colors), and two touch sensors (detects touch)
• Easy to use programming platform created by National Instruments and based on the LabVIEW programming language
• Additional sensors can be purchased as perhaps feature holiday/birthday gifts if your child is ready for something more challenging

What is the maximum age that a child would be interested in this?

Personally, I don't think there is a maximum age. The age group for the FIRST LEGO League is 9-14, so maybe around that age group is best. However, I know people who used the set all the way through their teens (like myself). And because the set's possibilities are virtually endless (especially with all the high-tech sensors you can add on, it is hard to become no longer interested. The only difference is that as your child gets older, the projects become cooler. If you would like to see something very amazing that was created by multiple sets and extra parts (including using a non-LEGO device to calculate the solution), check out this pretty popular Rubik's Cube solver called CubeStormer II.

Are there different versions of Mindstorms NXT? If so, which one should I buy?


When you are shopping for Mindstorms NXT, you might see search results including NXT 1.0. This was the first version of NXT and as far as I know it is no longer sold. The Mindstorms NXT sets that they sell at the LEGO store nowadays are all Mindstorms 2.0. However, on the LEGO Education website you can also find the LEGO Mindstorms Education NXT set. So that is your choice- Mindstorms 2.0 or Education. The price is almost the same, and if you don't feel like doing the research I suggest the Mindstorms NXT 2.0. Simply because it is easy to pick up at the LEGO store, the LEGO online store, or pretty much any other toy store that has LEGO. The only way I know of getting the Education set is buying it on the LEGO Education website. But just to let you know, I bought the LEGO Education version. Here are the pros and cons:

Mindstorms NXT 2.0
Pros
Comes with nearly 200 extra pieces
Comes with the newer colour sensor
Comes with software
Cons
Does not include batteries
Does not include sound sensor
Does not include light sensor (although colour sensor pretty much takes the place of that too)


Mindstorms Education NXT
Pros
Comes with rechargeable battery and charger (check out this post to see how much money you'd save) 
Comes with sound sensor and light sensor
Comes with 3 little LED lights
Cons
Is short almost 200 pieces
You must buy software separately
Does not have colour sensor

If you would like my suggestion, I would recommend (and this is what I would do if I could go back in time) buying the Mindstorms NXT 2.0. Then, depending on how often you plan on using your NXT, deciding whether or not to also buy the rechargeable battery. Or, because that is so expensive, just find non-LEGO rechargeable AA (requires 6 AA batteries). 

Want to read more reviews? Go here and scroll down to see what users said about it on the LEGO website.

Important links for this post
Additional questions? Ask me here.
Buy Mindstorms NXT 2.0 online
Buy Mindstorms Education NXT online
Learn more about FIRST LEGO League
Learn more about FIRST
A post I wrote, What is FIRST?
Buy LEGO rechargeable battery
See what others are doing with their sets on the NXTLOG
Read Mindstorms NXT 2.0 reviews
See what other sensors you can buy for the NXT
Mindstorms Home

Still have questions about the Mindstorms NXT? Please ask me by leaving a comment or filling out this form.

<<View a few of the Mindstorms projects I have made>>

NXTLOG Explorer Bot Challenge Winners!

The winners have been posted for the NXTLOG Explorer Bot Challenge! NXTLOG post:

"We challenged NXTLOGgers to create the NXT generation of MINDSTORMS NXT explorer robots. There were so many cool entries to this challenge which included all-terrain rovers that were vehicles and animals, robots that collect soil and rock samples, bots that can map the environment, and bots designed to interact with new species. There were so many exceptional entries, it made it tough to just pick a few to feature!"

 Here are the winners:

ALL TERRAIN EXPLORER
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that can shift modes to tackle all types of tough terrain.

Amphibious Explorerbot
Created by: NatoNX 

THE SPECIALIST
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that is the best in its field at exploring its specialty.

Mars Environment Explorer (ME2)
Created by: CyberStranger

THE STEALTH BOT
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that does its observations and explorations without being detected.

The Silent Cartographer
Created by: NXTesla

DATA MINE
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that best collects data.

Voyager Rover
Created by: Dinoguy7719 

Great job everyone! I was really impressed by a good number of the entries this month. The challenge seemed to be a fun one, and I wish I had time to enter. Go here to read more about the winners, and view the honorable mentions. Check back soon for details on the next contest, which will be posted here very soon after it is posted on the NXTLOG. 

Catching Up

So as you may have guessed from my surprising lack of posts in the past couple of months, I have been extremely busy. With what? Well for those of you who are thinking I devoted my whole summer to the NXT, that is a very good guess... but you're incorrect. I actually spent it mostly getting ahead in my studies, but I shouldn't go on about that- what you actually want to hear about is the time I did get in for LEGO. After the Ultimate LEGO Launcher I have been dreaming of incorporating physics into another project. Unfortunately I still haven't come up with something physics related to build yet. It might be better that I didn't think of something though, because they most likely would have taken up more time than I could have afforded during summer. Instead, I build two simple projects. Even though they aren't extremely awesome, I make it a goal of mine for all of my projects to be unique. They need to have some special feature or meaning about them, and that puts them on the list with all the others. Here they are:

Chlorine

Chlorine- a table cleaning robot, Chlorine was built for a nonofficial contest on the NXTLOG, and takes advantage of the fact that the entries require a limited starting dimension, yet can expand to any size during the round. Chlorine unfolds long arms at the beginning of the round, and they stretch all the way across the table. If you are interested in reading more about Chlorine and watching a video, please go here.

Tower of Terror

Tower of Terror- this project was special to me because I love going on/building amusement park rides, and I have been on this one quite a few times. I have great memories of the ride, and very much enjoyed recreating it and adding effects to the video. You can find more description and the video here.

NI LabVIEW for LEGO Mindstorms
I have also been busy learning how to program on NI LabVIEW for LEGO Mindstorms. The post below describes my experience so far, and I suggest reading it if you haven't already. 


News from the news section of the NXTLOG
Due to my lack of activity here, I have not posted a few of the most recent news articles. Please go here to catch up, if you feel like it.

NI LabVIEW for LEGO Mindstorms

I purchased LabVIEW- Education Edition half a year ago, but was unable to get it working property due to a few glitches, which I determined were partly my fault, partly my computer's fault, and partly the program's fault. Last week, to my surprised, I received an improved copy titled LabVIEW for LEGO Mindstorms. Inclosed was a note from LEGO Education calling me a "valued customer" and saying I get this new program free for having purchased the education edition a while back. I was thrilled, and immediately installed it. The installation was smooth and easy compared to the struggle I had with the education edition, and before I knew it I was updating the firmware on my NXT brick, watching extremely helpful videos for beginners, and completing my first challenge (all provided free with the program). So far it has been extremely fun. Would you like a review? Ok...

Would you recommend LabVIEW to a friend?
Very likely

Difficulty?
Any high school student (ages 14-18), should be able to successfully use it after some practice. Watching the informative videos and/or having a teacher with LabVIEW experience would be very helpful. It is a great step-up for teens who want to do something more complex with their NXT.

Do you think it is a good program for teachers to use with their students?
Yes, but the teacher should already have experience with the LabVIEW programming language. If you are a teacher and you are trying to decide whether or not to buy it, I suggest watching this video, this video, and checking this out.

How often do you think you will use LabVIEW in the future?
At least once a week. All of my NXT projects will use LabVIEW except those I am entering in NXTLOG contests (NXTLOG contests require you use NXT-G, the basic programming language that comes with the Mindstorms NXT).

What is you favorite feature so far?
I find it very helpful that they included trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent, arctangent, Atan2), although I am yet to use them.

What feature have you used the most?
Well, so far it is the help button. :D I am only two days into the program though.

Is it worth the price?
That depends... I hear that professional programming languages are in the thousands, and this one is cheap compared. There are tons of features, and the possibilities are seemingly unlimited. For me it was worth it.

Any other questions? Ask me by clicking the comment button below this post. I will attempt to answer them, although I have only started to use the program so I'm not an expert. :-) And again, here is a link to the product.

Robot Ducks and Rats

This was posted in the news second of the Mindstorms website:

"We get to see many great LEGO MINDSTORMS models out in the world, and at the FIRST® LEGO League Open European Championship in Delft, the Netherlands we got to meet Anika, together with many other LEGO MINDSTORMS users, especially MCP members (MINDSTORMS Community Partners) and FLL teams from the whole world. It was some very exciting models that Anika had brought to show."

You may recognize the ducks and rat because they have been uploaded to the NXTLOG. In fact, they were even entered in the robotic pet competition that was held during summer of last year. The duck won the creative pet award! It was beautifully built, and is full scale. Here they are on the NXTLOG:

Duck
Rat

And don't forget to read more about Anika and her creations here(link)! :-)

My Entry

I recently finished my final entry for the Sensor Overload Challenge. Taking nearly a month and a half to complete, this project was complex. I call it the "Ultimate LEGO Launcher". As the name implies, it launches LEGO Bricks; however, this is a very smart LEGO Launcher, as it is programmed to calculate what angle it needs to launch the LEGO Brick in order to have it land in a LEGO box. It does this using a physics equation which I incorporated into the programming. I won't write a long description here because I already did in my entry... here is a link if you would like to read more about my Ultimate LEGO Launcher. There is also a video that you can watch there, so I highly recommend opening the link... Enjoy! :D

Join us for Testing in North Carolina

"If you own a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robot, if you live in the area of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, and if you are willing to help us with some product testing, please join us!"

Read more here. I wish I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA...

The 15 global Google Science Fair finalists have now been announced

Posted in the news section of the Mindstorms website:

"The 15 finalist for the Google Science Fair have now been announced.

The finalists will be going to the Google Head Quarter on July 11 2011 for the finalist judging round and celebratory finalist event – learn more about the 15 finalists here.

The People's Choice Award Winner has also been announced, this was selected by public vote. The prize for the People's Choice Awards is a $10,000 scholarship.

Read more about the Google Science Fair, the finalist and the People’s Choice Award Winner on The Google Science Fair Blog.

Stay tuned for more news from the Google Science Fair final in July – the LEGO MINDSTORMS team will be there to give you exciting news and updates.

Play well,
The LEGO MINDSTORMS team"

Can you put a robot on the moon?

It is time to get a robotics team together to build a robot! The MOONBOTS challenge is back, and you no longer need to build your design in CAD to enter the first phase. Mindstorms is advertising this in the news section on their website:

"Now you have the chance to use your best skills for designing, building and programming a LEGO MINDSTORMS robot to be part of a global competition to simulate the Google Lunar X PRIZE Challenge, called MoonBots 2.0."

Read more about it here. Also, would love to hear about it if you are entering.

How to Create a LEGO Account

For many years now, lego.com has offered LEGO Accounts. They are free, and with an account you have access to many awesome games. Most importantly (in my opinion), you have access to the NXTLOG. If you've been reading my posts, you'll know that on the NXTLOG you can post your Mindstorms projects, comment and rate other users' projects, and enter awesome challenges. Entering these challenges has been an amazing experience for me...
 First, you are challenged to build something that completes a certain task or fits into a category. This provides you with inspiration for a project, and the fact that you are entering it into a contest gives you a reason to do your best when building. When you are done building, you must learn how to document your project. This involves thinking of a title for your project, taking many pictures and sometimes a video, and writing an understandable and informative description for your project (which will reinforce everything you learned while you were building). Once you are done documenting, your project is submitted for judges to moderate. Once moderated, you can receive comments from other Mindstorms fans, giving praise or suggestions (and sometimes criticism, but you can always learn from them too). Finally, you await for the contest to be over and see the winner; and even if you don't win or get honorable mention, it was still a great learning experience and there's always next time. :-)
If you're not the type that likes entering contests, you can still post on the NXTLOG and learn through documenting your projects! The NXTLOG is an awesome place, and I hope you will check it out. Posting on the NXTLOG is free, and all you need is a LEGO account (which is also free). To create a LEGO Account, follow the following steps:

1. If you are a minor, ask an adult to help you. There is no age limit, as parents can also use them for shopping online.
2. Go here(link), and look to the top right of your screen. Click "Sign Up". See picture below:

    3. Follow the instructions to sign up (make sure to pick a meaningful username, as you cannot change it)
    4. After you have created your account, you will click "Sign In" whenever you want to log in.
    5. (not required) Check out the NXTLOG! :-)

When your Program gets too Large...

I was working on my programming for my Sensor Overload entry (using the basic NXT-G), when suddenly my program froze up. I attempted to save the file, but it unfortunately didn't work. I had to exit the program and it resulted in me losing a good chunk of programming (I hadn't saved in about 15 minutes). Frustrated, I worried that my program would never work. After all, I wasn't even close to finishing it, and it was already freezing up. I decided to try and find tips on the internet. The first page I went to was extremely helpful. It had many tips, and since then I haven't had such terrible problems. A few of the tips are obvious, but most of them are very helpful. Go here(link) to check it out for yourself. A special thanks to the person(s) who was thoughtful enough to share the tips with us! :-)

My Entries

Valentine's Day Project

I've decided to enter my "Valentine's Day Project (2011)" into the NXTLog's Sensor Overload challenge. I figured that the project was, indeed, a good use of the Touch Sensor, and since it was already on the NXTLog I might as well enter it into the contest. :)

Now, of course, I want to enter another project. I have two ideas, but it will be a very long time before they're ready...

My first idea is pretty cool (this is my main entry). I don't want to give away what I'm building, but I will give you a few hints: It uses the Ultrasonic Sensor, and the programming is taking forever. :-)

My other idea is my "other" idea because I'm having a problem finding two of my Touch Sensors... I know where one of them is, but I need two more to complete my project and I can't find them anywhere. I'm starting to get the feeling that I left them at someone's house... that couldn't of happened though (I've only brought my Touch Sensors to one person's house, and they would have returned them if they turned up), they must be around here somewhere. I even had a dream last night that I found them. In my dream, I found them hidden in one of my old projects (that can't be possible though because I only have one project built right now). Oh well, they'll turn up eventually (I just hope they turn up before the contest ends). :)

So... is anyone here entering the Sensor Overload Challenge? :-)

Lots of News

The Mindstorms website just posted three things in their news section. I had already posted about the Sensor Overload challenge which was something they just posted about, so I'll just move on to the other two...

Body Forward Challenge Winners

NXTLOGgers were encouraged to find innovative ways robots can be used to repair injuries, help people overcome illnesses and disabilities, and build healthier, stronger bodies. Entries included bionic limbs, heart sensors, nanobots that can detect bad blood cells, and innovative machines that can be used in a medical lab or hospital.

LABORATORY DEVICE AWARD

Centrifuge
Created by: PHIL7340 

BIONICS AWARD

RHS- The Ultimate Replacement Hand
Created by: kineticenergy 

INTERNAL MEDICINE AWARD

nanobot 1090
Created by: snowboarder1090 

EXTERNAL DEVICE AWARD

MEDIAT-SYS
Created by: Photronic

Congrats too all four of the winners! All the projects were quite amazing. I was really impressed 

by them. And here are the honorable mentions: 

The Hand
Created by: zkid6

Artificial Forearm and Hand
Created by: IFitzGibbon

M.V.S.M (BODYFORWARD)
Created by: NXTein1996

5 DoF utility arm V2 With JOYSTICK!
Created by: 1nxtmonster

E.X.O - S.U.I.T
Created by: richman999

Florence Nightingale [ first nurse ]
Created by: xxextremexx01

Prosthetic Arm
Created by: minifig2222

Heart Rate Calculator
Created by: benoz21

Great job everyone! I hope you all enter the next contest too (Sensor Overload). Now here is some more news:

The 60 global Google Science Fair finalist have now been announced

On January 11th 2011 the Google Science Fair was launched with the participation of the LEGO MINDSTORMS team and several other interesting partners. Many cool and very interesting projects have been entered to the Google Science Fair, including some fantastic LEGO MINDSTORMS projects. 

Read more about the Sensor Overload contest here, the Body Forward contest winners here, and the Google Science Fair 60 finalists here.

LEGO Education Newsletter

I recently signed up for LEGO Education newsletters because I wanted "occasional updates on product news, special offers, and more.". And I thought it would be fun. :) Well, I got my first issue a few days ago...

Join Us For The Fifth Annual LEGO^® Engineering Symposium at Tufts University! 

Time is running out and space is limited!  

Make your reservation today!

The Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) invites you to the annual LEGO^® Engineering Symposium, May 24-26, at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

The LEGO Engineering Symposium aims to bring together educators who want to explore using the LEGO MINDSTORMS^® robotics system to teach STEM concepts. This year's symposium theme is "Pushing the envelope of STEM Learning."

Speakers will include researchers in science education, leading K-12 teachers, maverick MINDSTORMS users, and other folks pushing the boundaries of technologies for supporting STEM education.

We will be offering six development labs this year, including:

• Seeing the Science/Engineering in Children's Thinking
• Integrating Engineering & Literacy
• SAM (Stop Action Movie Making)- Tools for Children to Create Representation of their Ideas
• LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS- The Next Generation of Programming
• Supporting the Development of Engineering Design Skills K-12
• Physics Glasses: Augmented Reality and Other Fun Things with Image Analysis

Development labs are an opportuntiy for participants to learn, discuss, and generate ideas. They differ from traditional workshops in the fact that participants spend time discussing and developing ideas that can facilitate classroom practice as well as product development.

This year we are asking participants to preselect the development labs they wish to participate in so that we can better plan materials and resources. All development labs will share an overview of their activities and findings on the final day of the conference.

Registration is now open! Space is limited to 100 participants and is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Deadline to register is Friday, May 13.

Visit http://legoengineering.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167 for more information and to register.

Hope to see you there!

Faculty, Staff and Students of CEEO

So if receiving information such as this interests you, I suggest you sign up (ask your parent to help you if you're under 18). :)

Lamp Brick

In my last project, the Sky Wheel, I used the "lamp" brick for the first time. Before then I couldn't find a use for it, and I didn't have any room for it anyway because it takes up a whole motor port. I even considered making a project simply devoted to trying out the lamp block, but then I found a way to incorporate it into the Sky Wheel.

What is the lamp brick?
The lamp brick is a small, white 1 x 2 stud brick with a tiny light bulb sticking out one of the larger sides. The LEGO Mindstorms Education set comes with three of them. Also, here are all (I think) the sets it comes with:

4 in 9701-1 - Control Lab Building Set (1995)
4 in 9723-1 - Cities and Transportation (2000)
3 in 9797-1 - LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Base Set (2006)
3 in 9848-1 - Lamps and Fittings
1 in 7898-1 - Cargo Train Deluxe (2006)
1 in 9702-1 - Control System Building Set (1993)
1 in 9707-1 - Intelligent House Building Set (1996)
1 in 9785-1 - Robo Technology Set, with serial cable (2003)
1 in 4534-1 - LEGO Express (2002)
1 in 9794-1 - Team Challenge Set {updated}, with USB cable (2003)
1 in 9786-1 - Robo Technology Set, with USB cable (2003)
1 in 9685-1 - Green Car Set (2003)
1 in 3748-1 - Light Unit for Train (2001)
1 in 7897-1 - Passenger Train (2006)
1 in 65801-1 - Trains Value Pack (2005)
1 in 3801-1 - Ultimate Accessory Set (2000)
1 in 4511-1 - High Speed Train (2003)
1 in 4535-1 - LEGO Express Deluxe (2002)
1 in 4512-1 - Cargo Train (2003)
1 in 9684-1 - Renewable Energy Set II (2003)
1 in 4560-1 - Railway Express (1999)
1 in 5310-1 - Lighting Brick (1996)
1 in 4561-1 - Railway Express (1999)
1 in 5308-1 - Head Light Brick (1994)
1 in 4565-1 - Freight & Crane Railway (1996)
1 in 5307-1 - Head Light Brick (1992)
1 in 10001-1 - Metroliner (2001)
1 in 4558-1 - Metroliner (1992)

The above list was copied from an awesome website that I found recently. The site is called Peeron, and I definitely recommend checking it out if you're every wondering which sets come with which parts. I thought for a while that only the Mindstorms Education set has the Lamp brick, but Peeron proved me wrong! It truly is an awesome site. :) Check out this page, where I copied the list from.

How to program the Lamp Brick
Programming the Lamp Brick is extremely simple. In fact, I had tested out the Lamp Brick (about a month before I used it in the Sky Wheel) and didn't program it at all. I had a program on my Intelligent brick already which would just run the motor at 50 power. It was late at night, my computer was already off so I couldn't create a new program right then, and I was dying to see how it worked. Sadly, I did what I never thought I would do (and I don't recommend it!); I plugged the lamp into a port and ran the motor block. Thankfully, the lamp didn't burn out (I'm wondering how much power exactly would burn it out), but I won't be doing that again anytime soon. :)

Ok, now here is the very simple way of programming it... first, click and drag the lamp block onto your program. The default setting will have you plug it into port A. Change the setting by clicking the block and selecting a different port. The action setting will be set to "On". That simply means that you will be turning the light on (you'll need a block later on to turn it off). Next, select the intensity (brightness) you want. Before you add a block to turn the light off, you'll want a wait block so the light doesn't turn off instantly. Then add a block to turn the light off. Your setup should look something like this:

A more random way of programming the Lamp
As you get more experienced with programming, you'll discover that there are many different ways of performing operations. In fact, there are probably thousands of different ways to program your lamp. Here is another one that I just made up:

For this program, your lamp will turn on to a random intensity, stay on for 5 seconds, then turn off. The only difference in this program from the last is the random block, and the wire connecting it to the lamp block:

Please notice that I set the minimum random value to 1, so no matter what intensity was randomly chosen, you would still be able to see the lamp turn on somewhat...

Slowly turn on, slowly turn off
Finally, this is the method that I used in the Sky Wheel. I didn't just want the lamp to turn on and off, I wanted it to slowly get to its full brightness, then slowly dim back down to a zero intensity. And, I wanted it to complete the pattern 25 times. Okay, having it complete any operation 25 times is easy- simply throw the operation in a loop and set the loop to be continued until it reaches 25 completions. Easy. Now what about the lamp? From the Enterprise, I already knew how to make a motor slowly speed up. I knew for a fact I could use the same setup for a lamp too: Place the block inside a loop, and have the intensity equal the number of times the loop has been completed (limit 101). That makes it reach an intensity of 100 (the extra "1" is because of the fact that the first time the loop is completed, it is the first time it has been completed and the intensity will equal zero. You need the "extra" 1, otherwise the intensity will stop at 99). Once it has reached full intensity, it will move on to a second loop. For this loop I wanted the light to slowly dim. This wasn't as easy as simply having the intensity equaling the number of loops completed. After all, that would result in the intensity increasing. Instead, I wanted it to start at its 100 intensity level, and go down one for every loop completed.  So I used a math block.  I had the math block's "A" value is set at 100, and the "B" value is subtracted from the "A" value and is set to equal the number of loops completed. That way, the intensity equals "100" minus "the number of loops completed" (limit 101). There is only one more think you need to deal with. If you downloaded the program now, you wouldn't be able to see the lamp turn on and off 25 times because it would happen nearly instantly. In order to fix that problem, all you need to do is add a wait block to each of the two loops in the programming. The amount of time waited will determine how fast the lamp lights to full intensity, and how fast it dims again. You want the number to be really small, as the loop needs to be completed 101 times. Even if you set it for only 1 second, you would still have to wait 101 seconds for the intensity to reach max. That is why, in my program, I set the wait block for 0.005 seconds. Your setup should look something like this:

I could post different programs for the Lamp Brick all day, as there are hundreds of possibilities, but I should get on top of my homework now. And besides, what fun would it be for you if I just posted them all for you? :)

I hope you enjoyed this post and found what you were looking for in it. Feel free to ask questions if you have any- to post a comment, simply click the __ comments button, and type in the blank box. :)

The Globe Plotter

This was posted in the news section of the Mindstorms website. I think it's great that they're updating the news section so often! What they post is always so interesting. This time the news story is about a guy named Michael "Mike" Brandl. He seems to enjoy plotting pictures on objects. :) He seems awesome; I would love to have a life like his- Attending exhibitions, building your dream models, having your projects recognized and posted about on the NXTLOG... Make sure to go here to read more. There are several links and even a video to watch. :)

"This robot draws nearly the entire world on a blank white ball. For this robot the coordinates of the continents were prepared as a zigzag line, drawn with a green felt tip pen. After the continents are drawn the robot switches colors from green to black. With this pen the continents are labeled, AS for Asia, AF for Africa, NA for North America, SA for South America and EU for the European Union. After switching to the blue pen the oceans are labeled, PAC for the Pacific, ATL for the Atlantic, IND for the Indian Ocean."

Sky Wheel

(Make sure to click to enlarge)

I finally got another project on the NXTLOG. Many Mindstormers have their favorite category for building. For some it is trucks, others animals, others useful inventions. For me it is rides. If you haven't noticed (and indeed, I hadn't noticed until I was posting this project), exactly every other of my projects posted on the NXTLOG has been a ride. This is shown clearly here. I am now wondering if I could keep it that way for the rest of my NXTLOGging life. :) I don't know what it is exactly, but whenever I see a ride I dream of building it. That was the case with the Sky Wheel. I saw it a long time ago, and I have finally fulfilled my dream of building it.

Ok, I know the project doesn't seem very complected (it only uses one motor), but it becomes more complected once you notice the gears. It was a challenge to find a design that worked for the unique setup of gears, but once I found it, it worked beautifully. Still, you could say this project isn't very complex compared to some (and I would agree wholeheartedly), but it definitely wasn't the easiest either.

Overall, this was a triumph. I am satisfied with how it turned out. And for only spending 3 hours designing,  programming, and building it, and think it is a pretty good achievement. Click the picture above to enlarge and view notes. You can read more about my project, the Sky Wheel, here. Oh, and now that I have experience programming lamps, I plan on making a post here about how to do just that. Expect to see that either tomorrow or the next day. Thank you for reading. :)

Building Apps from Denmark

The following was recently posted in the news section of the Mindstorms website:

"My experience with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and App Inventor

Below is a story from Lasse Nørfeldt, a young biology researcher from Copenhagen, Denmark, explaining about his experience with creating apps for LEGO MINDSTORMS.

I recently published an app on the Android Market called Build Controller . It's an app that allows you to turn on and off the different parts that the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT has to offer. I made the app with App Inventor which is a Google project that tries to make it easy and intuitive to make apps. My time spent on making an app that could use the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT in a new and different way has been very fun and educational, so I would like to share my experience and I hope that it will inspire people to make some awesome LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT apps for Android devices.

Lets start from the beginning. I had absolutely no experience with programming but had for a long time wanted to learn how to code so I could build my own apps. I then bought a JAVA book, but never really got into it, because the learning curve was too steep.

Then the launch of App Inventor came and I was really excited because this was so close to what I wanted. It's a very intuitive way to build programs that requires zero code writing, instead you work with blocks. These blocks contain code that when pieced together functions exactly like a program written in a normal fashion. I played around with it for a while and discovered its power but also limitations.

Then came the upgrade that supported LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. I had never heard about LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT before and checked it out straight away. It quickly became clear to me that this was a product that made it easy to do hardware programming for a wide range of different uses. This was absolutely awesome! I had for a while wanted to build small gadgets that I could control with my phone.

I had earlier looked at the Arduino project but here again the learning curve was very steep [needs skills in electric circuits and programming - something I don't posses, yet ;-) ].

The NXT then seemed like the right solution to me and I quickly got a hold of a set.

Just before Christmas I got my NXT and started out building the get-started vehicle that can shoot out colored balls. Downloaded the official app from LEGO and played around with it for a while. It worked great and was a lot of fun. I then decided to build some small gadgets that I could control with my own app. It quickly became clear to me that it would be better the other way around - first building an app that then could help me in my building process. I started off building a simple app that could turn the different parts on and off.

Connecting via bluetooth is the hardest part but is needed to get the whole thing started. The app inventor forum site is full of talented friendly coders though, so when I had issues I got help there really quick.

In this case, a user by the name of ShivalWolf had written a guide on how-to set up bluetooth connection and I just used his work. Getting input and output from the sensors went smooth and it was an amazing experience to see my program actually make my LEGO motors come to life.

Setting up the functions was a lot easier than I expected but the whole thing quickly got messy on the phones screen. Making a pretty user interface (UI) with app inventor is where you especially become aware of App Inventors limitations. You have to work in a window called Designer and each time you make a change to the app, it updates and you lose the Bluetooth connection. This means that you build all the functionality first (and make sure it works) THEN you make a pretty UI.

How long time did it take? I used about 4 evenings setting up the system and about the same for setting up the UI. I published my app to the Android Market sometime in January and was surprised to see how many downloads it got (there have been 2,200 downloads in 10 weeks). The app was not complete and missed the Ultrasound Sensor function. I updated it later so it supported it and looked at my statistics. There seemed to be some problems with Android version below 2.1. First I thought it was the Bluetooth that was causing trouble (which might as well also be the case for some). I made a change so it could only be installed on phones with Android 2.1 and above. This presented some issues with the UI and I removed the restriction.

So unfortunately some people will download it without any luck, while others will find it useful.

What was the hardest part? I think the hardest part was actually finding the time to make the app, as soon as I found the time, it only took me a day to complete it.

What's next? I have some projects involving some DIYBio (Do-It-Yourself Biology) projects at a place called BiologiGaragen . I want to build some machines that allow you to make fun science experiments at home.

Sincerely,
Lasse Nørfeldt, B.Sc.Pharm."

NXTLOG Sensor Overload Challenge!

NXTLOGster just released another challenge! It seems like contests are going back on their priority list, as their last contest only ended a few days ago. This contest unlike I've ever seen. It challenges NXTLoggers to make something creative using sensors. There are six awards this time- one for each sensor type, and also one for "Sensor Overload (best use of multiple sensors)". I actually plan on entering this one, and I can't wait to start thinking about what to build. Read more about the challenge here, and let me know what you think! :)

Green City (Set 9594)

I was exploring the awesome LEGO Education website again and I found this. It looks very interesting, a great way to get students introduced to LEGO Mindstorms:


"New to the LEGO® Education robotics program is the Green City Challenge Set and Activity Pack for LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education. 


The new set and activity pack center on the theme renewable energy and are ideal as a classroom beginner package or in-class competition set. 


Students are introduced to the world of robotics by first exploring basic programming maneuvers utilizing three training mats. 


Each training activity focuses on one of four main LEGO sensors - light, ultrasonic, touch, and sound - and enables students to explore and enhance their programming and sensor knowledge. 


When students have completed the training phase and are confident in their robotic building and programming skills, they are presented with the Green City Challenge. 


The challenge consists of a number of missions simulating real-life challenges, each environmentally focused and conducted on the Green City Challenge mat. 


These innovative Green City Challenge missions replicate the excitement of FIRST® LEGO League, integrating this engagement into the classroom in the form of a step-by-step introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS Education. 


As students complete each mission, they are awarded an energy brick. When all missions are complete, students use their collected energy bricks to power the Green City."

Read more about Green City here. Great job LEGO Education, this is epic. :)

More FIRST Robotics

The live feeds are now closed

I know you may not be interested in FIRST, but because I have nothing else to post today- and FLL (FIRST LEGO League) uses Mindstorms- I thought I'd post about this... :-)


The FIRST Championship is this week. FIRST has four divisions, and I am too old for FLL so I joined FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition). If you would like to read more about FIRST, please go here and scroll down. Or you can check out the FIRST website... Here is a link to 7 live feeds. Archimedes, Curie, Newton, and Galileo are all FRC, FTC- 1 Field and FTC- 2 are a third divition of FIRST called FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge), and, if I remember correctly, EINSTEIN/FLL is FLL until Saturday (I think the finals for FRC are on Einstein). Enjoy, and I hope you get a chance to check them out.

Students Help Design Space Stations During Science Week

Wow, this is awesome (complete credit goes to the Mindstorms website)...

"The LEGO MINDSTORMS team is proud to have sponsored LEGO MINDSTORMS and LEGO TECHNIC sets as prizes for a poster competition held at Sevenoaks School in Kent, England, during the 6-day Science Week 2011, with an attendance of 3776 students from schools in the area. During Science Week the students could try various experiments, learn about the human body, saw chemistry demonstrations and could participate in scientific challenges. One of the challenges was centered around space exploration.

Students from 7 schools entered the poster competition with the title of “What a space station should look like”. The competition was judged by NASA astronaut Dr Nicholas Patrick and the 3 winning entries received their prizes in their schools.

Congratulations to teams and students who won the competitions.

Students also had the opportunity to conduct a 20 minute-session with the astronaut crew on the International Space Station. See the video here:



Our thanks go to Graeme Lowrie, Head of Science and Technology at Sevenoaks School for the use of photos from the Science Week.

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Team


To see more about LEGO bricks used for space exploration see: www.legospace.com"

More NXT Resources

I recently found more PDF files which contain "NXT Models & Building Guides" on the LEGO Education Website. Although I haven't gotten a chance to look over all of them, the ones I have looked over look very awesome. Here is a link. I will also be adding a link on my Teacher Resources page, which you should check out if you haven't already. It has resources (including building instructions, products, and fun activities) for anyone teaching- even if they're teaching themselves!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Blog Readers!

I hope you, all my blog readers, have a great Easter. May you be able to celebrate this Easter surrounded by loving relatives and friends... and LEGOs :) Here are a couple of my favorite Easter related NXTs...


This one, by mindstorms-teen, reminds us of the true meaning of Easter...

"Cross" by mindstorms-teen

 And this one, by ulquiorra333, is cute and fun. This would be awesome to have running around your house on Easter... :)

"easter bunny" by ulquiorra333

Check out other Easter projects here.


Have a great Easter everyone!
CheshireCat150

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

A League of Extraordinary Older Kids Doing Good for Younger Kids!

The Mindstorms Team posted something new in the news section of the Mindstorms website...

"At the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, a group of hackers and developers teamed up to participate in a 7-hour long hacking event, that culminated in a robotic sumo competition.

Arranged by the SuperHappyDevHouse and various partners 43 old kids (older than 18!) came to the Speakeasy bar at 6PM on Sunday 13 March to play with LEGO MINDSTORMS robots. The challenge was to build and program a sumo robot that could push out another robot from the sumo ring!

Most of the people who came to the event had never met before but joined up in teams of 3 or 4 persons, and started hacking away at building the best and strongest robot, using all their skills in designing and programming and also finding their interest in playing on the floor again! The teams were very excited about the challenge and the closer it was to competition time, the more hectic it was for them to test and fine-tune their robots!"

Read more about it (and even watch a video) here!

Teacher Resources Tab

As you can see, I added a new tab which I titled "Teacher Resources". I created this page for teachers (school teachers, parents teaching their kids, or kids teaching themselves) to easily find Mindstorms products, curriculum, and fun activities. I also included information about my personal favorite (perhaps the best in the world) robotics program- FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Every future engineer should have a chance to be on a FIRST robotics team. I was in FIRST last year, and words could not describe the wonderful experience. Check out the Teacher Resources Tab to learn more about FIRST and find links to Mindstorms products, curriculum, and fun activities.

Activity of the Day, 5

Sorry I didn't get around to posting this earlier- I was getting my wisdom teeth removed when they posted this activity. :( 

This is the perfect activity to do if you're new to the NXT. You learn how to use arguably the most important block- the move block! Including lots of pictures and detailed description, this PDF file is really easy to understand. Also- I forgot to mention this earlier- even if you don't do the activities, look them over! You might learn something new.

Day 5: Educate NXT Activity

From the very popular book, Educate NXT, by Chris Bracken, in this activity students will learn about the different features of the Move block, test a range of different turns for their robot, and navigate their way around a simple obstacle course.

Mindstorms Contest

Just a reminder!: There are only 15 days left to enter the NXTLOG Body Forward challenge.


As there are only 18 entries so far, I have a feeling that NXTLOGgers are having problems finding something to build for this challenge. By the end of past challenges, there are usually around 80 entries. Something tells me they aren't going to get 60 more entries in the next 15 days though... Oh well, I just hope the Mindstorms team doesn't get discouraged! I really enjoy entering their challenges. I was just simply way to busy this month (studying for a big school test in a few weeks). I've still got time though. ;) Ok, enough excuses. I hope more people enter! I am writing this post only to encourage you. And make sure to post a link to your entry here! :)