The 15-minute bot build - partial walkthrough

Just to demonstrate how fast you can get going, I also did my own little test... I set myself a goal to build a bot with one sensor in less than 15 minutes... it took 9. It's nothing great to look at, but I'm also going to time myself programming it... basic forward/backward motion, turns, and some minor control via the sound sensor. I'll post the "15-minute program" as a separate post. I'm also going to be posting more photos on Flickr... I just wanted to give you SOMETHING just in case I have difficulty with Flickr...

I started with the brick, 2 motors and 2 connectors. Yes, I know there's an official name and number for the connectors. And no, I don't care about that at this point... I'm just building.

With the motors sitting as shown, programming a motor to move forward will cause it to turn towards the bottom of the picture... you have to recognize what is the 'top' of a motor and the 'bottom' so you don't have to do trial-and-error. The thick grey stripe on the top of a motor is how I determine 'top'.

Here I've connected the motors. They're a little loose/unstable with just the connectors I've chosen, so I reinforce the motors by using a 15-hole beam. It's not an elegant solution... just a solution (for now).

Here you can see how I've reinforced the motors by connecting across the brick. Again, it goes over the top of the brick and doesn't look great, but I'm on the clock... so cut me a little slack :)

I'm using these parts for the wheels. To keep the wheels from rubbing against the orange motor face, I use the small bushings as spacers... the other bushings go on the other side to hold the rod - but the rods are good and tight in there, so the extra bushings weren't really needed.

Okay, that concludes the partial walkthrough. The rest of the build can be found on Flikr. Do a keyword search using the following tags:

"The NXT Step" Jimbot

(Be sure to put The NXT Step in quotes as shown above.)

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT...

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these Fall and Winter remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Braill3 by Jerry Nicholls Braill3 is an EV3-based LEGO Braille bricks reader. This robot uses its fingertip, made from three touch switches, to read messages written using the LEGO Braille bricks and will speak out what it detected. If it sees a simple maths problem it will attempt to solve it and give the answer as well. To learn more about the process of creating this machine, read Jerry's blog . Braill3 can be viewed here . Set Review: The Braille Bricks set is well thought out. The ratios of the letters is suitable for general use and the addition of some punctuation and arithmetic operators is excellent. There is a card showing what bricks there are and their quantities, but no form of sort...

Ghostbusters R.T.V Remix

Nino Guba is from Torrance, California, USA. He played with LEGO as a kid, but growing up in the Philippines, it wasn’t something he had easy access to. He only got reintroduced to LEGO when he moved to the US and had kids of his own. When his sons were younger, they received LEGO sets as gifts, but as they grew older, the sets got put into storage as their interest faded. Fast forward a few years, he started coming up with his own product ideas and thought about how he could quickly prototype them. That’s when he discovered LEGO MINDSTORMS—and was hooked! He raided his kids’ old collection, got everything organized, and now he's designing and building his own creations, blending his coding skills with LEGO robotics to bring ideas to life. Tell us about your Ghostbusters Remote Trap Vehicle (R.T.V) project. This project is a LEGO Technic adaptation of the Ghostbusters R.T.V.—a ghost trap converted into a remote-controlled vehicle. Its companion build is a prop replica of the Futaba...

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