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.

The people of Roberta , the German project aiming to interest girls for sciences by using robotics, have created a cool new mobile app for Android, called " NXT speech control ": "With 'NXT Speech Control' you are able to control your NXT robot over voice commands. With this app you just have to fill in your commands e.g. 'hurry up', 'go away', 'hide' to the prepared nxt-commands (forward, backward, left, right) and then choose the speed and distance." Great stuff! Check it out and tell us about your experiences.

On Friday, Google announced on the Google Code Blog that AppInventor , its Cloud-based programming platform for Android , supports LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT now: "[...] a fun 20% robotics project that resulted in three ways you can play with your iRobot Create®, LEGO® MINDSTORMS®, or VEX Pro® through the cloud. We did this by enhancing App Inventor for Android, contributing to the open source Cellbots Java app, and beefing up the Cellbots Python libraries. Together these apps provide new connectivity between robots, Android, the cloud, and your browser." Seems the whole mobile-NXT thing is gaining momentum. :) Try it out and tell us about your experiences.