Nearly all LEGO movies we feature here on The Brothers Brick are animated with stop-motion. NeXTSTORM has instead programmed a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT brick for every single element of motion in this LEGO Pirates movie.
Awesome tip, Dylan!
Tag Archives: MINDSTORMS
LEGO Announces Special Edition BLACK MINDSTORMS NXT [News]
We’ve just received some exciting news from LEGO. It seems that they will be selling a limited edition black Mindstorms NXT kit. Here’s the press release:
LEGO MINDSTORMS 10 Year Anniversary Exclusive: The Black NXT Limited Edition.
Now you can be the proud owner of one of the Limited Edition Black NXT micro-controllers that we have produced to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of LEGO MINDSTORMS.
The first LEGO MINDSTORMS products came out in the year 1998 and have since then continued to bring fun and active building and programming experiences to millions of robotic builders across the world!
Only 1998 exclusive units will only be available through our online shop www.legoshop.com
(or) www.amazon.com
Why a Black NXT? Because it is cool! And looking around in the MINDSTORMS community we noticed that a Black NXT was high on the wish list among users. Also, talking to the MINDSTORMS Community Partners, the closed web forum of adult fans collaborating with the LEGO MINDSTORMS development team, it was very well received and suggested as a must-have!
Once you have bought and received your new Black NXT you will get access to additional materials like a special-made program for the Black NXT, a personal certificate of ownership, wallpapers, building instructions for special models.
Please note that this is an exclusive item in a limited edition: only
10001998 produced! – so, if you want to secure yours go online at www.amazon.com (or) www.legoshop.comThe LEGO MINDSTORMS Team
I must say, I find this to be pretty cool news. I think that the LEGO Mindstorms Black NXT Brick
I’m not sure why their press release says there will be 1998 made in one spot, and 1000 in another, but I’ll try to get an answer on that.
EDIT (AB): I’ve confirmed with LEGO that it’s 1998.
LEGO Space Police, Indy, Castle, NXT 2.0, and other late 2009 sets revealed at Canadian toy show [News]
UPDATE: Nearly all of the LEGO sets featured in this post are now available, including LEGO Space Police, Castle, and Agents 2.0.
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LEGO fans don’t normally get an official look at third-quarter LEGO set releases until Toy Fair New York in mid-February. However, CTV technology journalist Kris Abel visited the Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto this past weekend, posting a full run-down of the late 2009 LEGO releases.
We’ve confirmed with The LEGO Group that this is official. Although Kris Abel reports that many of the sets and box art are still prototypes, his photos of the sets themselves are pretty good. In keeping with our new policy, then, here goes…
First up,
5972 Container Heist opens up to reveal a massive cannon:
If you can’t see the photos, click the links at the bottom of this post.
5974 Galactic Enforcer has classic (dare I say Classic?) lines:
The alien criminals in the LEGO Space Police sets have several new, unique pieces:
In LEGO Star Wars news, Endor gets a bunker (8038), the Y-Wing gets a facelift (8037), the Neimoidians get their own shuttle (with Nute Gunray minifig?), and 7749 Echo Base includes a first-ever LEGO tauntaun:
LEGO Power Miners sport a larger rock monster and a very large drilling platform:
The LEGO Indiana Jones assortment includes a boat chase, a pair of fighters, and a new Elsa Schneider minifig:
On the LEGO Castle front, the trolls get their castle and the undead make their return in 7079 Drawbridge Defense:
Finally, LEGO has announced MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, with a new color sensor.
You can read all of Kris Abel’s coverage on his blog:
We’ll expect even more complete coverage at Toy Fair New York in a few weeks from the usual suspects. In the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments.
Auto-controlled tripod turret
Brickshelf user (and Klocki contributor) Sariel presents two versions of an auto-controlled tripod turret, one featuring light-up fiber-optic cables and a spinning barrel while the other features a fully-working firing mechanism that launches 12 clips.
Check out the Youtube video of both versions of the gun:
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Wall-E by Marc-Andre
QuéLUG member Marc-André (aka Bazmati/Bazmarc) has built a fully automated Wall-E using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and Power Functions:
I love the movement on Wall-E’s expressive eyes.
Thanks to reader William for the tip!
LEGO MINDSTORMS Donkey Kong by Dan Kressin
Dan Kressin has built an awesome recreation of Nintendo’s classic Donkey Kong game using the older LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX system:
The light sensor triggers Mario’s jump, while a troll stands in for Donkey Kong up at the top, throwing barrels down the ramp. Even the music is coming from the RCX! Read all about his fantastic creation on Dan Kressin’s Web site.
(Via Forum 0937 and Klocki.)
MINDSTORMS NXT fans launch LEGO into space via weather balloon
A group of LEGO fans, college professors, and students recently participated in H.A.L.E., the High Altitude LEGO Extravaganza. The goal? Launch a bunch of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT systems with cameras covering the ascent to nearly 100,000 feet and subsequent descent (via parachute) back to Earth.
This amazing photo shows the weather balloon bursting at 99,712 feet:
You can see a whole bunch more photos and videos from Eric (Burdo?), as well as additional photos from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Via BB Gadgets, Gizmodo, and several posts on The NXT STEP.
Lego unveils WeDo [News]
The Lego Company has announced the upcoming release of a new robotics system, scheduled to be released in January of 2009. Geared towards grade school children, ages 7-11, WeDo is designed to introduce robotics to an age group that has been previously overlooked. By building robots that remain tethered to their computer, kids can write, download and tweak their programs, giving them the opportunity to see what changes occurred immediately. While it appears that, due to its tethered nature, it may have a limited use outside of the classroom, anything that introduces young children to robotics is a good thing in my book.
In a company press release, dated June 30 2008, Jens Maibom, vice president of LEGO Education, said:
“Building upon our successful 10-year history of bringing educational robotics to middle, high school, and university classrooms with the award-winning LEGO MINDSTORMS toolset, we are excited to extend this expertise to benefit an even younger audience. With a progressively competitive global economy, we know it is imperative to provide even younger children and their teachers with curricular-relevant, easy-to-implement educational materials to spark children’s interest in all manner of subjects. After observing classroom tests conducted in Brazil and the United States, we are confident that WeDo Robotics, the first product from LEGO Education designed to serve the classroom needs of emerging markets, will inspire teachers and motivate students in classrooms around the world.”
Check out more WeDo info at the Lego Education site.
Wedo! Can you?
MINDSTORMS NXT Rubik’s Cube solver by Hans Andersson
Hans Andersson’s Tilted Twister is a Rubik’s Cube solver built from only parts available in the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT retail set. Here’s what Hans says:
An ultrasonic sensor detects its presence and starts to read the colors of the cube faces using a light sensor. The robot turns and tilts the cube in order to read all the faces of the cube. It then calculates a solution and executes the moves by turning, tilting and twisting the cube.
Check out the video of Hans’ MINDSTORMS Rubik’s Cube solver here:
If you want to build your own Rubik’s Cube solver, you can check out Hans’ instructions, executables, and source code on his Web site.
And don’t miss the MINDSTORMS NXT Rubik’s Cube solver we featured a year ago, by Daniele Benedettelli.
Thanks for the tip, Clay!
LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX gantry crane by Peter Edwards
Peter Edwards’ latest addition to his Bodville layout includes an amazing LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX gantry crane for his train yard:
Watch the awesome video right here on The Brothers Brick:
You can also check out lots of pictures on Brickshelf.
LEGO Wall-E roundup #2
Even though Pixar’s Wall-E didn’t dominate the box office this past weekend, our lovable robotic hero continues to dominate the hearts and imaginations of LEGO builders.
First up, Wall-E Directing Animator Angus MacLane adds to his collection of LEGO Wall-E models at three different scales. Here’s a mini Wall-E:
Angus’s micro Wall-E has a two-brick cooler, while his nanoscale Wall-E is accompanied by a nanoscale Eve:
Not to be outdone by Mark Sandlin, Chris Giddens gets in some some Wall-E action:
Andrew Lee takes his inspiration from Chris Giddens (with three-brick cooler), while Steve and his son Adam use gears for my favorite Hal so far:
Jimmy may have been the first person to build a LEGO Wall-E (back in February), and his recent vignette depicts Eve zooming around the devastated landscape:
Lindsay Joy‘s Wall-E shows off his dance moves, and Ted Godwin provides instructions for his microscale version:
Finally, the BlueToothKiwi team has posted the inevitable MINDSTORMS NXT version (via MINDSTORMS NXT Review and The NXT STEP):
EDIT: Samus11 gives Wall-E a boot and a cooler (thanks castlebuilder100!):
LEGO Wall-E creations previously featured on The Brothers Brick:
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! by Fay Rhodes [Review]
I recently received a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set for my birthday (my wife is awesome!) so naturally I was excited to get the chance to review the newest Mindstorms book from No Starch Press. The author, Fay Rhodes co-authored the The Lego Mindstorms NXT Idea Book, is a member of MCP (Mindstorms Community Partners), and a contributor on the blog The NXT STEP.
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! is a departure from previous books on LEGO’s robotics system. According to the book’s preface, the author intended this book for people who were not familiar with the NXT system, namely children, parents, teachers, and others new to NXT.
Her intent was to write a book that would be a simple and fun introduction to the system, while at the same time enabling the builder to construct some truly unusual robots.
First of all, I was impressed with the simplicity of the book. I own a couple of other NXT books and they start with complex chapters on programming. Fay Rhodes takes a different approach. She starts off with a very brief introduction into the programming language (6 pages versus 30+ in other books) and then she dives into actually constructing the robots. I think this is a great change, as people who are new to NXT want to start building robots immediately.
The instructions are easy to follow and each one starts off with a pictorial parts list. I did have one problem with the instructions. It is difficult to tell the difference between friction pins and regular ones. This could cause potential problems, but I was able to figure it out without too much trouble. Also, it would have been nice if the instructions were in color, but I’m sure that would have driven the cost up too much.
Regarding the robots themselves, they are quite unusual. As the name of the book implies, all the bots are animals. There are a total of nine — a frog, rabbit, camel, spider, alligator, dinosaur, elephant, skunk, and a peacock. Of these nine robots, only two (the skunk and peacock) travel on wheels. The remaining seven robots either hop or walk and the skunk has a surprise projectile weapon system! But my personal favorite is the spider. Who can’t love a robot that walks on eight legs?
NXT Spider from Rick Rhodes on Vimeo.
The techniques for walking and hopping are surprisingly simple and aren’t horribly parts intensive. I don’t have a huge collection of Technic pieces and I was able to build most of these with fairly minor parts substitutions. The peacock and ‘gator suffered the most, as I was rather low on important pieces, but I built the other robots quite easily.
A number of the robots do require non-LEGO pieces, which may annoy LEGO purists, but I understand that many NXT builders do this. Most of the uses I understood (fishing line and such), but one of the non-LEGO pieces in the two hopping robots confused me, because there was a LEGO solution readily available. Rhodes suggests using “rubber fingertips” from an office supply store as ends on the legs. These keep the robot from sliding as it prepares to hop. But there are rubber Technic pieces that can be attached to the leg, which have the same effect. Oddly enough, these pieces come in the NXT set. I used them and they worked fine.
After the instructions for each robot, Rhodes includes several pages of programming instructions. These mostly consist of screenshots, which are quite helpful. This way, you can see exactly how the configuration screens should look at each step. All you should have to do is follow the instructions, and the robots function as intended. These screen shots really take the intimidation factor out of learning a new programming language.
I did find a couple of typos in the programming sections, which could have messed up functionality. They were easily fixed, but you should be aware that the programs might not be perfect. These included a sensor that was plugged into the wrong port (instructions said port 4, but the program used port 2) and a motor that ran the opposite direction. These didn’t stop the robots from operating; some just didn’t work as intended. So, by following the programming steps exactly, you will still get a robot that runs.
Overall, I would recommend LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT ZOO! for any NXT builder. I didn’t expect that it would be written “down” enough for a beginner. But the robots are simple to build, the instructions are easy to follow, the programs are quick to write and they work.
So, if you’re just getting into NXT this would a good book to get you started. But if you have been involved in NXT for while, don’t be put off by the simplicity of this book. It has some rather unconventional techniques that end up building some really intriguing bots. Anyone can learn from this book.