Gizmodo Australia » mindstorms

Weekend Gadgets: Lego Mindstorm NXT And Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Nick Broughall — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:12:53 +0000

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. A courier just arrived at the office with a Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit for me to play with. My weekend is now a write-off.

Another gadget that’s made its way into my hot little hands this week is the Livescribe Smartpen. I’ve had a cursory play with it, and I think I’m falling in love. It’s probably not something I’m going to play with over the weekend, but I’m about to head over to Apple to have a briefing on Snow Leopard, and I reckon I’ll be putting it through its paces a bit.

But really, my weekend is now all about the Lego. I mean, who wouldn’t want to build a Shooterbot? That’s what life’s all about, isn’t it?

What gadget-related adventures have you guys got in store this weekend?

MoonBots Challenge Lets Kids Simulate Lunar X Prize Landing—With Lego

Jack Loftus — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:00:00 +0000

A program called MoonBots will allow children to simulate the conditions of Google’s $US30 million Lunar X Prize—get rover to the moon, snap HD pics, kick ass—but turns up the quirkiness (and the cool factor) by incorporating Lego.

Now, these inventions—all powered by the Mindstorms robotics kit—won’t actually see the barren lunar landscape up close, like their Lunar X Prize cousins. They will however see simulated terrain, and will be asked to complete similar tasks.

One task, demonstrated by Giz reader Tim, involves autonomously navigating the “Lunar surface” without bumping into moon rocks, secret aliens, or Apollo mission film sets. In Tim and his kids’ case, the “Moon” is a covered pool:

Aside from the fact that that poor little guy was probably wetting himself over being a mere inch from certain doom beneath the cover, he did pretty well. But, Tim, can you and your kid send that sucker to the moon? [YouTube, MoonBots]

Incredible Mindstorms NXT Theatre Creates Pirate Battle On Lego Seas

Jack Loftus — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

First of all, this whole motorised Lego theatre set up is legit. Skip to about 2:30 for a behind-the-scenes look at how it all works. Second of all, this is absolutely amazing.

For you NXT fans and collectors, here’s a parts list for this fantastic creation:

– One Intelligent NXT Brick
– One NXT Rechargeable Battery
– Three NXT Servo Motors
– One NXT Light Sensor
– One NXT IR Link (HiTechnic)
– Two Power Functions IR Receivers
– Two Power Functions Light Sets
– Four Power Functions M-Motors
– One Power Functions XL-Motor
– Three Power Functions Battery Boxes
– Three Power Functions Extension Wires

Creator NextStorm promises a more detailed explanation for this fine creation, but for now this video will do just fine. [NextStorm via Brothers Brick]

Guy Builds His Own ABB Flexpicker Robot Out Of Lego

Nick Broughall — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:27:07 +0000

Reader Chris was so inspired by the clip of the ABB Flexpicker robot we posted back in March last year that he did what ~~any self-respecting~~ only a special breed of geek would do – he built his own out of Lego. Aside from the obvious question of where does someone get that much Lego in order to build a machine of this size and intricacy, Chris makes it all sound fairly simple:

It uses four NXT microcontrollers with various Lego sensors and motors. It is very easy to program, each position uses an array element containing 3 motor positions, 3 motor speeds and an action such as grip, release or pause. I can easily teach it to pick anything up as long as it can reach it and it will fit into the end effecter.

Also worth noting is that the rig is actually only running at 35% speed – however, speeding it up reduces accuracy and causes the rig to shake a bit too much.

In any case, now that we know that industrial robots can be rebuilt using nothing more than Lego, isn’t it about time we start up our own factories to make our own gadgets?
[YouTube clip - Thanks Chris!]

Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 ‘Bots Can Spot Their Favourite Colour

John Mahoney — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:50:00 +0000

We got a look at the new Mindstorms NXT robotics kits from Lego. And a new sensor for the 2.0 version can, amazingly, detect the difference between colours. Cool.

Robotics nuts can do amazing things with the NXT ‘bots, so I’m excited to see what kind of projects evolve from the new kits’ color-sensing eyes. Also new in 2.0 is the ability to load images and sounds into your robots memory, for displaying on the LCD screen or, more importantly, allowing it to speak with the sound sample of your choice.

I’m counting down the minutes until the first Christian Bale Mindstorms (he likes black) hits YouTube. [Toy Fair 2009]

6.5kg Lego Safe Is Guarded by 305 Billion Codes

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 +0000

By definition, you would think that a Lego safe won’t be very safe. But, right now, and looking at the photo and features of this 6.5kg Lego Mindstorms NXT Safe, it looks like a much more secure place to guard my savings than any bank out there. All the $US34.67 of them. Seriously. Once glued, the 2.7-inch thick walls made of interlocking Lego bricks and its five double digit electronic code lock will make it impossible to break for most people. And beyond the fact that no thief would think you would be stupid enough to store your valuables on a Lego safe, the electronic code is not the only security feature.

Since the electronic code, operated by the front wheels, is direction sensitive–introducing “21″ to the right is not the same as introducing it to the left–that gives you 305 billion code combinations to unlock the mechanism. If someone tries to move the safe, it also has an alarm that would be fired by the built-in accelerometers connected to the Mindstorms NXT core.

• Large Digit display (using Custom Digits, and MyNumOut routine)
• Outside dimensions 38×38x38cm, creating 30 Litres of internal storage space
• Internal safety bars prevent stone walls to be disassembled
• Automatic un-Locking / Locking of the vault (Motorised lock)
• Automatic opening and closing door (Motorized door)
• Automatic burglar alarm (using HiTechnic Acceleration Sensor)
• Variable un-locking code, set by user during locking.
• Heavy, 7cm thick, door with secret Power-On/Off buttons.

If you are the rightful owner of the safe, however, it’s a delight to use. Once you introduce the code, the electric motor will open the door for you.

[Lego Examples via Craziest Gadgets]

Wii Fit + LEGO Mindstorms = Super Nerd Soccer

Jason Chen — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0000

No idea who did this originally, but Wired found a video of two dudes playing Wii Fit LEGO Mindstorms Soccer. Wait, what? Looks like the guys hooked up two Wii Fit balance boards to a LEGO Mindstorms trucks(?) and made them move around in sync with whatever leaning or jumping motion was made. A very fancy display of hackery all around, but can you imagine what the actual Wii Fit game will say when they weigh themselves on it? “Congratulations on being the only obese soccer players in existence.” [YouTube via Wired]

Lego Mindstorms Fat Boy Is Controlled with Actual Bike Handles

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:32 +0000

This remote-controlled Lego Mindstorms NXT Fat Boy bike is cute and stylised enough to guarantee a post on its own. But when you see that the actual controller is shaped like the handles of a real motor bike, then it’s just not a matter of writing about it or not. It’s a matter of taking a plane to Germany and stealing it.

[Leggor--Thanks J.]