ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

In his blog , Lauro Ojeda describes how to program the EV3 using C++. In particular, he focuses on mobile robot navigation, developing software that allows a differential drive robot to keep a precise estimation of its pose using the Rotation Sensors embedded in the motors and a gyroscope.  He has released the Robot Navigation software, that allows developing mobile robot applications of different levels of complexity. The current version supports robots based on the the Lego Mindstorms EV3. The web site includes instructions for how to compile and use it in Windows and Linux. In the video, you can see a demo application. Using the arrows on the computer keyboard, the user drives the robot around, and then requests the robot to return to the home position.

I recently came across this on Youtube. and the second part, that shows you how to setup the enviroment. This seems really interesting, and I think could be a big help to FLL teams... if anyone tries it, let us (or the poster at least) know how it goes! Happy New Year to everyone, Richard

I actually started wondering about LEGO robotic boats a while back, when some threads on the NXTasy forums brought them up (as well as submarines ). There were two main problems I could see for a "pure LEGO" water-craft: (1) Flotation (which could perhaps be solved by LEGO boat hulls, which re-entered the LEGO scene in a number of recent City sets, such as the Fireboat ( #7906 ), City Harbor ( #7994 ), and the Speedboat ( #7244 )), and (2) Propulsion. I did not want to deal with the risk of rotating seals for propeller shafts etc., so I figured on having all the electronics (including motors) above the waterline, with the propeller drive shafts either entering the water at an angle, or being driven by pure mechanical linkages to a completely submerged prop. But upon getting two of the Fireboat sets for the hulls, I decided to try using the stock LEGO underwater motors that come with these sets. The result was Serenity (posted on NXTlog) , a pure-LEGO robotic ( not remote c...