The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide

Starting July 28th, I’ll be teaching a week-long robotics course for teenagers at Stanford University using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. The course, “Hands-On Robotics for Teens,” is one of many technology courses being offered this summer by DMA (Digital Media Academy), a nationally-recognized organization that runs summer computer camps at campuses across the nation. I’ve written a course description and put together a five-day course outline, and DMA has posted the information to their website.

The entire course will be “NXT-based.” We’ll be using the educational version of the NXT set and also the Education Resource Set.  And what’s the highlight of the course? I think it will be the robotic sumo competition!

The course is for teenagers (ages 13-19), and if you’re interested in signing up for the course (or have a teen who may be interested), you can find out more about registration at the DMA website.

I’m definitely excited. After all, what’s a summer without a robotic sumo competition?

Looking for a contest that demands more complexity? Then the official MINDSTORMS NXT NXT Building Challenge is for you. In this contest, inventors are required to create an NXT robot that uses two NXTs that communicate with each other. That’s why this is called the “NXT NXT” building challenge. You have until Monday, June 30 2008, to submit your creation to NXTLOG, where you will find the complete rules.

The ULMN Inventor’s Guide uses the retail version of the NXT set, known officially as LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. However, there is also an educational version of the NXT set, known officially as the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Base Set (see below). Unfortunately, while the robots in my book can be built from the pieces in one retail NXT set, the educational NXT Base Set does not contain all the pieces necessary to build those same robots.

If you own the NXT Base Set and would still like to build the robots in The Inventor’s Guide, there is a solution. The Education Resource Set (shown below) is a $69.00 “expansion pack” of sorts for the NXT Base Set. This resource set includes nearly 700 pieces. By combining the pieces from the NXT Base Set and the Education Resource Set, you can successfully build all the robots in The Inventor’s Guide. To ensure this, I have checked the bill of materials for the robots in my book—Zippy-Bot through Golf-Bot—and compared it with the combined contents of the Resource Set and NXT Base Set.

I must mention that while you will have the correct type and sufficient quantity of pieces using the NXT Base Set and Resource Set, you will not have all the same colors of pieces as found in the retail version of the NXT set. But that definitely won’t stop the robots from working!

The official MINDSTORMS NXT Biped Building challenge, which was launched earlier this month, is asking NXT fans to create two-legged walkers—among the most difficult robots to build. Fortunately, the MINDSTORMS website lists some sample bipeds on NXTLOG to give inspiration to the community.

However, a simple video can be very effective when it comes to giving inspiration. Following is a video made by YouTube user Laurens200: it demonstrates one of his NXT biped creations. This robot implements one of several possible methods for creating an NXT biped–and it’s quite amusing to watch!

Dave Parker’s website, nxtprograms.com, is an absolutely outstanding resource. On his website, you’ll find a multitude of projects with building and programming instructions. The pictures for the building instructions are very clear and well done. He has several categories of creations:

• Fun and Games
• Music and Sound
• Cars and Vehicles
• Weapons
• Machines
• Sensor systems
• Animals

The “Rattlesnake” creation under the “Animals” category is one of my favorites. Sometimes when I’m showing kids my robots, I’ll say, “Don’t worry–it doesn’t bite.” I couldn’t say that with this robot!

The official MINDSTORMS website is hosting yet another “challenge” or contest: the Camera Bot challenge. Can you guess what this challenge is about? I thought so. The website has this to say about the contest:

Lights, camera, action!

The MINDSTORMS NXT Camera Bot Building Challenge is asking you to create the NXT spy bot, paparazzi bot, photojournalist bot, or even a robotic fashion photographer.

We are looking for robots that can take still photos (not video), and we want you to also share the pictures taken from your robot’s point of view.

Get building! The deadline is February 29th. You can read the complete rule set here.

Previously, I made an excerpt from Chapter 4, “Understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Pieces,” available on my website, but now I’ve made the entire chapter available on the MINDSTORMS website. If you’d like to read this sample chapter, visit the link below and look for my book’s section:

http://mindstorms.lego.com/Books/

If Google’s response to an event measures the event’s significance, this month is incredibly important. As the LEGO Company celebrates the 50th anniversary of the LEGO Brick (the LEGO homepage reads, “Happy Birthday LEGO Brick!”), the Google homepage features the image below. Wouldn’t it be great if Google featured LEGO every day?

The official MINDSTORMS website has announced another contest or “building challenge,” and this time the theme is winter. What kind of robot should you create for this contest? The website has this to say:

It’s January and most of the world is making snow angels or sitting by a fire to stay toasty and warm. That’s why we are looking for YOU to design a robot that would work or play in in a winter wonderland!

This can be a robot that relates to winter in any way. It can be a snow plow, a robot skier or ski lift, or even a NXT robot designed to deliver you hot cocoa.

Get building! The contest deadline is January 31st. You can read the full contest details here.

A trick commonly employed in TECHNIC/MINDSTORMS building is using an axle to push another axle (or some other piece) out of a tight spot. I’ve found it helpful to use another trick, however, that involves the flexible axle joiner (see below). The NXT set includes eight of these pieces, and you can actually use them to help pull axles and other pieces out of very tight spots. Unconventional, perhaps, but it works since the flexible axle joiner is rubber, offering more grip than if you were just using your fingers.

Try running a 7M axle through several double cross blocks and split cross blocks and then attempt to pull the axle out. Not that easy, is it? Next, take a flexible axle joiner with two fingers and “grab” the axle as shown in the picture below. Now try to pull the axle out of the cross blocks, aided by the flexible axle joiner. You should find the task much easier. This little example demonstrates how the flexible axle joiner can significantly increase your ability to pull out pieces, such as axles, from difficult areas.

I’ve had great success with this trick, but you should be warned that it could possibly lead to “ripping” your flexible axle joiners. With that said, I’ve never had one of these pieces rip as a result of doing the trick. LEGO pieces are the strongest elements on earth, right?