Non-NXT Books to consider...

While sifting through my book collection for some books to donate to a charity, I found two that I can highly recommend, one for both for adults and kids and the other more for those of us adults who passed through the 70's or 80's when PCs were starting to bloom.

Code by Charles Petzold is easy to read and very entertaining, and contains a very well-plotted development of how computer programming developed over time, starting with codes and combinations, moving into binary then onto logic and switches... flip-flops, bytes, hex, assembly language all develop into microprocessors and on... the book was published in 2000 so it's not that dated. I'm re-reading it now and am glad I didn't let go of this one. Kids and adults will enjoy the simple way the book progresses and believe me - you'll learn something. This book has some very unusual ways to teach some of these topics, but you'll understand them!

The other book, which I'm certain many of you have probably read, is Hackers by Steven Levy. It's not about that element of society that likes to create viruses and malware and other mischief, but about how the computer age sort of started - back at MIT and the railroad club. Trust me, if you've never read this book, hunt a copy down and do so. It's got just a little bit of colorful language, but the history this book provides is amazing - I read this book about once every 5 or 6 years for no reason other than it's just a great book..

I know these aren't NXT-related, but I know a lot of readers are always looking to learn more... these are a good start.

ROBOTMAK3RS Review: LEGO River Steamboat

I thought the LEGO River Steamboat would be an interesting set for a ROBOTMAK3R review for a few reasons. First, the LEGO designer of the model is Marina Stampoli, a long-time collaborator of the late ROBOTMAK3R Vassilis Chryssanthakopoulo s. From earlier collaborations with Vassilis, I knew Marina was incredibly talented, with an eye for aesthetics and functionality. Her background in architecture is particularly useful for her relatively new position at LEGO. Her other sets include the Magic of Disney (21352), Message Board (41839), and Red London Telephone Box (21347). Second, watching Marina's reveal video and reading her designer interview made this set even more tempting to build. The gearing mechanisms running through the model gave way to many opportunities for automation using LEGO robotics elements. Since ROBOTMAK3RS is all about adding interactivity and automation to LEGO brick, I thought it would be fun to see where and how LEGO robotics could be added to this s...

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...

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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