ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

IT WILL BREAK YOUR NXT-G BUT IT'S OK So I did my backup and decided to upgrade to Mountain Lion Then found out that it broke my NXT-G software -it didn't start anymore!@%#!!! When this happened I was a very upset... so i posted a comment on my FB and Raghav a student I met in India confirmed to me that he got his working on a new 10.8... Really? Cool!...  So i tried something. I simply re-installed the program from the available ISO (not the cd) on the LEGO website and luckily it all worked just fine after that!! Since this will happen to others let me share the workaround: Content of MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0.iso with EngRet.mpkg selected Here are the step:  1) Do a Time Machine backup and go ahead * update your mac to Mountain Lion 2) Go to  http://service.LEGO.com/en-us/helptopics/?questionid=2655   and download the  MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0.iso file 3) If double clicking on the iso file gives you authority issue simply right click on it and...

I've published NXT-G example programs for a balancing robot with the HiTechnic gyro sensor. The program makes it easy to let the robot do what you want, without worrying about the robot's balance. Find the programs with a tutorial here .

Update March 2012: The project with source code is located here . In the past year, a classmate and I have researched 'self-balancing robots' as a final year project. The goal was to create a simulation model of such a robot, and the result was an NXT Segway, with a HiTechic Gyro sensor, and programmed in RobotC (and a 170-page document going with it). I found this to be a very interesting project, but since the project document was written in Dutch entirely, that won't be very helpful to most of you. Another Segway, you might think, and that's actually quite right. Today however, I wanted to try to program this Segway in NXT-G, because the current version of NXT-G (2.0) is relatively fast. It turns out that the Segway can still balance very well when programmed in NXT-G. It's a little slower, but it can still handle uneven terrain and small disturbances. In the next week, I'll post some more updates, including the NXT-G program. Basically, all you need to crea...

There have been a number of people who have had problems with the NXT-G environment installations, and the newest Max OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Installations that either don't work or don't seem to do anything, etc. There is a interim solution I've been told about, but I've not personally tested it, as (for various reasons) I've not installed 10.6 on my Mac as yet. But, here's the steps I've been told should allow NXT-G 2.0 to install on a 10.6 machine: Copy the contents of the installation CD onto the Desktop Open the copied folder and look under "Parts". Under Parts, location the "MindstormsUnivEdu.pkg" (if you are trying to install the Educational version) or "MindstormsUnivRet.pkg" (if you are working from the Retail install CD). Control-click (or right-click, if you have a two-button mouse) on the package, and choose "Show Package Contents" from the pop-up menu. This allows you to poke about in the normally "s...

I've had the chance to have a good play around with the new education version of the software, in particular the datalogging aspect. Whilst it's possible to do datalogging in previous versions (check out some of Brian's amazing posts) the new version ties it all together in a nice GUI that I think will appeal to many teachers. Each experiment has it's own Configuration panel where you can specify the sampling rate, overall experiment length and the sensors you'll be using. Once setup, you can run the experiment in either Real-time or remote mode. Real-time allows you to see the data as it's captured whereas remote allows you to download the experiment, take the NXT to another location and upload the data once the experiment is finished. NXT-G2.0 produces some nice graphs and enables you to to do some basic analysis. This is the graph that was produced when I logged the light levels in a room for 24 hours. Overall I really like it. It is quick to setup and run...

This NXT Area and Volume Calculator is a little math exercise for your NXT, which gets it to act like an electronic "rolling tape" measuring device, to calculate length, area, and volume in both metric and English units. As some of you may know, the new NXT-G 2.0 software from LEGO Education has added support for "floating point" (non-integer decimal numbers such as 12.3) numbers and math. I was pondering what this meant for users of the existing NXT-G 1.x software, which only supports integer numbers and integer math. So I decided to cook up a little exercise to do some math that could benefit from floating point, but still done the integer way, so the program for this project will work in either NXT-G 1.X or 2.0. For those interested, here is a brief summary of some of the issues. A basic technique of integer math is to pay attention to the order of operations and store results scaled up in precision if necessary. For example, if there are 2.54 cm per inch, how ...

This is a new curriculum by Carnegie-Mellon, designed to introduce students to data logging with NXT-G 2.0. Included are lesson plans and video tutorials for the following experiments: 1)Motion: Program a mobile robot to obey the posted speed limit 2)Heat: Investigate how effectively various materials block radiant heat 3)Sound: Investigate the sound sensor's response to different kinds of sounds 4)Light and Color: Investigate whether or not your robot can detect "rust" and "mold" in narrow "ventilation ducts" 5)Light: Program your robot's light sensor to detect structural weaknesses on the underside of a "bridge" The curriculum includes high-quality instructional videos, student worksheets, quizzes and an extensive teacher's guide. Purchase includes a classroom license. A VIDEO that features the motion experiment is here . BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS for the stand used in the sound investigation are here . An OVERVIEW of the cur...

While Brian overheats and I freeze to death, I'll show you an example of comparison data logging with the sound sensor and NXT-G 2.0. The faint, wavy yellow line is my prediction of what my voice would sound like (graphically speaking) if I counted to ten, speaking into the sound sensor that's connected to the brick in another room. (To be honest, I just drew a squiggly line across the screen, but we'll call it a prediction for purposes of contrast). The solid line with sharp peaks and valleys is the graphical depiction of my actual voice, rising as I speak and dropping off in the silences in between. As you can see, my "prediction" is woefully out of sync with my actual voice. Both the predictive and actual lines are overlaid for comparison. You can see the minimum, maximum and mean for each data set if you click the graphic.

To see how NXT-2.0 and the new temp sensor performed, I ran the following test. (Click on the graphic for an enlarged view). 1) The bottom bar graph shows the temperature in our living room: 65.4 degrees Fahrenheit, proof of our extremely low natural gas consumption. (This has its downside, as you'll see from the next graph). 2) The middle graph shows the temp when my hand is wrapped around the temp sensor. (I didn't hold it long enough to actually warm it up, but 80 degrees Fahrenheit is a frighteningly low temperature for a body extremity). 3) The top graph shows the temp when the sensor is placed next to my body, underneath my shirt and fleece pullover. (It was only there for about 30 seconds, but an 87 degree body temperature indicates severe hypothermia--I'm heading for the fireplace). I did establish a Bluetooth connection with the new software and firmware, so the next step is to test remote data logging. I want to test the exportable MyBlocks feature as well. More l...

Here and here .

Carnegie-Mellon has posted eight, flash-based videos on how to use the new data logging feature in NXT-G 2.0. The videos are here . (Image courtesy of CMU's "Robotics Academy" web site)

It's still not available in the U.S. One UK link is here . The aforementioned link is from a British company called "Active Robots". A couple of years ago, I ordered an NXT supplemental set from them. (The set was sold out in the US). A person from Active Robots emailed me immediately, to inform me that the set was available for a lower price elsewhere. Any company willing to cancel a sale so that the customer can save money elsewhere is a good company. Let us know if 2.0 is available where you live.