ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Amazon is selling the black NXT for $89.99, which is (correct me if I'm wrong) cheaper than a common white NXT when bought through regular channels. The link is here . To my surprise, the brick is now also available in Europe through LEGO Shop @ Home, for 112.50 Euro. The little dog you see there is one of the robots I built with this brick.

If you haven't seen it yet...you've been under a rock...and here's a tiny pic to drool over. If you're looking to buy but haven't grabbed yourself one of these nice looking 10 years of MINDSTORMS commemorative Black NXT Bricks...you're in luck! Amazon.com has reduced their price from $169.99 to $127.99 (USD) w/ free Super Saver shipping. That's a pretty good savings! Grab one if you dare.

Last month I blogged about the new Black NXT that LEGO just launched in USA and Canada. If you are lucky enough to live in North America, you can still order them - there are still a few left from the Limited Edition run of 1998 units. I got mine recently - and I decided to build the Bike from the One Kit Wonders book: I used black pieces instead of the white and grey pieces that comes with the standard NXT kit. The black bike looked stunning. I thought it will be cool to have the Black bike and the white bike running at the same time.  More to follow: The NXT bike can be built with pieces from a single NXT  (Retail) kit.  Building instructions for the bike can be  found on last chapter of the LEGO MINDSTORMS One Kit Wonders   book that was published a few months ago.. The book also has 9 other really cool models - some of them written by contributors to this blog including Jim, Chris, Matthias, Martyn, Jonathon, Eric, Laurens, and myself. You can get the book from here . If you want ...

The Black NXT, comes with some nice extra downloads. 4 different walpapers, instructions for some special Black models, build by the MCP. This Brickshelf link shows more. Martyn

So here's another NXT robot based on the Black NXT limited edition : a black raven that can "talk" and (independently) move its head and wings. Next to a lot of black TECHNIC parts, I used three original NXT motors; as there are no black ones, I spent some effort in both hiding them from the view of the user as well as integrating them into the general scheme of the raven (with the intention not to spoil the overall bird-like appearance). The Raven also integrates a sound sensor and is programmed presently to react to loud sound events. Hence it might sit on the top of the wardrobe at night and scare away visitors ... ;)

Most of the times my creations are poorly color-coordinated; I just use whatever parts I need functionally and don't worry about how it looks. But with the black NXT (in other words, with an option), I started thinking more about how to utilize the color. While I like the white/gray color scheme, the darker pallet had me thinking more along the lines of a zamor shooter... and I already had the mechanism, and enough dark studless parts... Thus was born Ogre: The four zamor launchers can fire a little over 9 balls each second, with a large "tray" on the top that feeds about 50 of them and allows for easy reloading. The tank treads have the upper point of the triangle "sprung"... the tension on the tread is maintained by a LEGO shock, so that the treads do not have any slack in them (and when going over a bump, the treads can "stretch" slightly to compensate). It doesn't use any NXT motors (after all, they didn't go with the color scheme), instead...

Today LEGO is launching the long awaited Black NXT brick! The limited edition black brick is being launched as part of the MINDSTORMS 10 year anniversary. Only 1998 of the limited edition have been manufactured and being sold. [The magic number, 1998 also happens to be the year the original MINDSTORMS was launched]. LEGO has said that they have seen a popular demand for the Black NXT, so they made an exclusive run of them. If you want to purchase a Black NXT before they run out, you will be able to order them from amazon.com    for $169. I think there is a free shipping option for US customers. It will also be sold through the LEGO shop@Home for customer living in Canada and USA. It is a shame they did not make matching black motors and sensors to go with it – but still – you can make some really cool robots using the black NXT and some black TECHIC pieces.  In the coming weeks we will be sharing some really cool black models that incorporates the black NXT. shop.LEGO.com www.am...