The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide

The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide

by David J. Perdue
Released November 2007
Publisher(s): No Starch Press
ISBN: 9781593271541

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Book description

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set includes a variety of powerful electronic parts (motors, sensors, and the programmable NXT microcomputer) and lots of building elements. With these parts you can create thousands of unique, intelligent robots. The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide helps you to harness the capabilities of the NXT set and effectively plan, build, and program your own NXT robots.

The first part of the book contains a brief introduction to the NXT set. You'll then examine the pieces in the NXT set and the roles they play in construction. Next, you'll learn practical building techniques, like how to build sturdy structures and work with gears. Then it's time to learn how to program with the official NXT-G programming language (and learn a bit about several unofficial programming languages). You'll also learn what author David J. Perdue calls the MINDSTORMS method: a strategy for creating your own robots. Finally, you'll follow step-by-step instructions for building, programming, and testing six sample robots (all of which can be built using only the parts found in one NXT set). These six robots include:

Zippy-Bot, a two-wheeled vehicle with a ball caster

Bumper-Bot, a version of Zippy-Bot that explores your room and avoids objects

Claw-Bot, a version of Zippy-Bot that searches for objects and pushes them away with its claw

Tag-Bot, a four-wheeled steering vehicle that dashes around while you try to "tag" it with a flashlight

Guard-Bot, a six-legged walking robot that launches a ball at intruders

Golf-Bot, a stationary robot that finds a target and then hits a ball into the target

You'll also find an NXT-G Quick Reference, which provides information on the 30 types of standard programming blocks, and the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Piece Library, which features detailed information and images of the more than 80 types of LEGO pieces in the NXT set.

So go ahead. Grab your NXT set, fire up your creative mind, and see what you can invent with The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright (1/3)
  2. Copyright (2/3)
  3. Copyright (3/3)
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Part I: Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT
    3. Part II: Building
    4. Part III: Programming
    5. Part IV: Projects
  6. Companion Website
  7. Part I: Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT
    1. 1. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: People, Pieces, and Potential
      1. Building a Robot
      2. Programming a Robot
      3. Activating a Robot
      4. What Can I Create with MINDSTORMS NXT?
      5. Conclusion
    2. 2. Getting Started with the NXT Set
      1. Requirements
      2. Getting a Quick Start
      3. Installing the NXT Software
      4. Using the NXT Software
      5. Organizing the MINDSTORMS NXT Pieces
      6. Conclusion
  8. Part II: Building
    1. 3. Understanding the Electronic Pieces
      1. The NXT
      2. The Servo Motors
      3. The Sensors
      4. Connecting the Electronic Pieces with Electrical Cables
      5. Getting NXTreme
      6. Conclusion
    2. 4. Understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Pieces
      1. Introduction to the Pieces
      2. Examining the Pieces (1/3)
      3. Examining the Pieces (2/3)
      4. Examining the Pieces (3/3)
      5. Conclusion
    3. 5. Building Sturdy Structures
      1. Extending Beams
      2. Widening Beams
      3. Forming Corners
      4. Creating Angled Structures
      5. Creating Dynamic Structures
      6. Creating Flexible Structures
      7. Conclusion
    4. 6. Building with Gears
      1. The Gear Train
      2. Controlling a Gear Train's Performance
      3. Assembling LEGO Gear Trains
      4. The Worm Gear
      5. The Turntable
      6. Conclusion
  9. Part III: Programming
    1. 7. Introduction to NXT-G
      1. Starting an NXT-G Program
      2. The NXT-G Interface
      3. Fundamental NXT-G Concepts
      4. The Common Palette (1/2)
      5. The Common Palette (2/2)
      6. Conclusion
    2. 8. Advanced NXT-G Programming
      1. Data Wires
      2. The Complete Palette (1/3)
      3. The Complete Palette (2/3)
      4. The Complete Palette (3/3)
      5. The Custom Palette
      6. Expanding NXT-G with the Dynamic Block Update
      7. Conclusion
    3. 9. Unofficial Programming Languages for the NXT
      1. NeXT Byte Codes
      2. Not eXactly C
      3. leJOS NXTJ
      4. RobotC
      5. Bricx Command Center
      6. Summarizing the Programming Languages
      7. Conclusion
  10. Part IV: Projects
    1. 10. The MINDSTORMS Method
      1. Hitting the Target with the MINDSTORMS Method
      2. Conclusion
    2. 11. Zippy-bot
      1. Building Zippy-bot (1/2)
      2. Building Zippy-bot (2/2)
      3. Programming and Testing Zippy-bot
      4. Conclusion
    3. 12. Bumper-bot
      1. Building Bumper-bot
      2. Programming and Testing Bumper-bot
      3. Conclusion
    4. 13. Claw-bot
      1. Building Claw-bot (1/2)
      2. Building Claw-bot (2/2)
      3. Programming and Testing Claw-bot
      4. Conclusion
    5. 14. Tag-bot
      1. Building Tag-bot
      2. Programming and Testing Tag-bot (1/2)
      3. Programming and Testing Tag-bot (2/2)
      4. Conclusion
    6. 15. Guard-bot
      1. Building Guard-bot (1/6)
      2. Building Guard-bot (2/6)
      3. Building Guard-bot (3/6)
      4. Building Guard-bot (4/6)
      5. Building Guard-bot (5/6)
      6. Building Guard-bot (6/6)
      7. Programming and Testing Guard-bot (1/2)
      8. Programming and Testing Guard-bot (2/2)
      9. Conclusion
    7. 16. Golf-bot
      1. Building Golf-bot (1/7)
      2. Building Golf-bot (2/7)
      3. Building Golf-bot (3/7)
      4. Building Golf-bot (4/7)
      5. Building Golf-bot (5/7)
      6. Building Golf-bot (6/7)
      7. Building Golf-bot (7/7)
      8. Programming and Testing Golf-bot (1/2)
      9. Programming and Testing Golf-bot (2/2)
      10. Conclusion
  11. Appendix A: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Piece Library (1/3)
  12. Appendix A: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Piece Library (2/3)
  13. Appendix A: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Piece Library (3/3)
  14. Appendix B: NXT-G Quick Reference (1/2)
  15. Appendix B: NXT-G Quick Reference (2/2)
  16. Appendix C: Internet Resources
    1. General Resources
    2. Programming Resources
    3. Bluetooth Resources
    4. NXT Blogs
    5. LEGO Computer-Aided Design Resources
    6. Building Techniques
    7. Educational Resources
    8. LEGO Sets, LEGO Pieces, and Custom Hardware
    9. LEGO Storage
    10. Personal Websites
    11. LEGO Events
  17. Index (1/3)
  18. Index (2/3)
  19. Index (3/3)

Product information

  • Title: The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide
  • Author(s): David J. Perdue
  • Release date: November 2007
  • Publisher(s): No Starch Press
  • ISBN: 9781593271541