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...