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Building and Programming Instructions for the NXT Gymnast

By Rick Rhodes


The following note is from Eugene Tsai, coach of the team who created the NXT Gymnast:

"I’m located in Taipei and run an after-school classroom teaching kids LEGO Mindstorms.

I coached an elementary school team to build the first gymnastic robot using RCX in September 2005 for the 2005 WRO (World Olympiad Robotics), Open Category competition – Robot in Sport. The robot was shown in Taipei’s competition in September and Bangkok’s competition in November of 2005. The robot was a 3-link design with two active links. At that time, people asked if the robot could swing over the bar.

After the first NXT arrived in my classroom last August, I was able to build a 2-link robot with a simpler structure and make it swing over the bar."

Eugene sent me building and programming instructions for the NXT gymnast in PDF form. For a limited time, you'll be able to download the instructions by going to the following site:

idisk.mac.com/railrho-Public
username: public
password: nxtstep
(The login is case-sensitive).

If you have further questions about the robot, please post them on the blog and Eugene will respond.

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