New Blog Contributor!

Hi - I am a new contributor to the blog, so here is a quick blurb about me:

Like many of you, I've been brought up on Lego, and own the RCX and NXT robots.

My work has involved robotics related programing, networking and electronics, but I spend most of my time writing code to remotely operate and run telemetry for Microchip's PIC microcontrollers as well as the Lego NXT.

Some of you may be familiar with the roboDNA Lego NXT PC Dashboard I'm currently working on, and made available for download a couple of months ago. If anyone needs help setting up a dashboard for their bots, just send me an email!

One of my current projects is with the Lego NXT RoboDome here in Ottawa Canada. RoboDome is a fun-filled Lego NXT themed classroom that offers elementary students a chance to design, program and have competitions using a dozen NXT robots. The theme includes everything from Lego specific colors, part bins and cabinets, and even desks designed for Lego building. The RoboDome project was initiated by Jim Dale and Janis Kam at the Ottawa Carleton Catholic School Board back in 1999 for the Lego RCX, and they have recently finished upgrading everything to NXT. They have asked me to help setup 2 RoboDome classrooms with the roboDNA Dashboard software, and I will soon post more details for educators who may be interested.

I have recently been testing a few different Lego NXT parts, including Mindsensor's compass, accelerometer and pressure sensor. I'll be posting my findings soon, and will also add a sample dashboard for these so others can try.

Lou

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

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these summer and fall 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. Remote controlled material handle r by Jozua van Ravenhorst (aka Mr Jo) This remix combines the LEGO Technic Material Handler (42144) with MINDSTORMS EV3 (31313) It uses the power of pneumatic cylinders to move objects around. By using a bluetooth remote control, very precise movements can be made with this model. Touch sensors in the base chassis prevent the turret twisting the cables that go through the turntable to much. The program has several protections to prevent over pressurizing the system for each of the 3 individual pumps and valves that control the 2 booms and claws. The real version of this machine is mostly used in waste material sites to bring the material to machines that sort and

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

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