Interesting chart. I think this quite clearly illustrates the problem for writers developers when attempting to design 'crossover' models - the common part set seems really restrictive. I mean, there are not even any common tires!
You hit it on the mark - the collection is quite small compared to each individual kit.
No rubber tires! That was the same thing I first said when I saw this image.
Still, it does provide enough parts for some small builds to be created...
How about this: Build a robot using JUST THE PARTS on this image and post a photo of your design along with a 5-6 sentence description of what it is/does in the sticky'd topic under the General Forums here: http://thenxtstep.com/smf/index.php?topic=1444
I'll pick one random name from all the submissions on November 30 and send that person a signed copy of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure. One submission per person, please.
Tim, This is meant to be used as a starting point. For instance if you have a prototype robot you can try if it works with both old and the new wheels. If it does, you can go ahead and publish it. I agree that this is not ideal, though.
On the other hand, NXT1 users can still buy NXT1 books. So, I don't see much point in creating a "combo" book.
Tim & Jim I partially agree with you, this partial set is too restrictive to use on its own. However if you were to use this set with another NXT2 kit (8546) you could create dual kit models that were compatible with a 1&2 or 2&2. There are already a lot of books for the NXT1. and soon there will be a lot for the NXT2. But how many will cater for those who upgrade/expand to NXT2 and still have NXT1? Or those that start with and NXT2 this year and expand to two sets next year or the year after?
It's a great idea, but my gut tells me that the more complex the requirements are for a book, the more likely a publisher is to say no... (that doesn't rule out self-publishing, though).
So, if a book requires one NXT 2.0 kit and one NXT 1.0 kit, I've shrunk the potential audience of the book. Book publishers have, to my knowledge, always tended to the least common denominator, meaning they don't want to do combo books that cover say, Windows and Office... that requires the reader to have both products... they'd rather split it into two books, one per application... same for robot kits I'm guessing.
I hate to complain about this (frankly, I don't have time to put something like this together and I do think this is useful), but this chart does not account for the Education Edition of the kit. The really useful subset is the intersection of all three.
I'm having some success with designing some robot animal building instructions which include three tracks---NXT1, NXT2 and (NXT Ed + resource set), but it is a LOT of work to create such instructions. So, I'd be interested to hearing if there would be interest in such a book (which could be self published in color like my new Endangered Species book). So far, I have an assortment of land birds---chicken, sandpiper, ostrich..., a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a kangaroo.
Comments
You hit it on the mark - the collection is quite small compared to each individual kit.
No rubber tires! That was the same thing I first said when I saw this image.
Still, it does provide enough parts for some small builds to be created...
How about this: Build a robot using JUST THE PARTS on this image and post a photo of your design along with a 5-6 sentence description of what it is/does in the sticky'd topic under the General Forums here: http://thenxtstep.com/smf/index.php?topic=1444
I'll pick one random name from all the submissions on November 30 and send that person a signed copy of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure. One submission per person, please.
This is meant to be used as a starting point. For instance if you have a prototype robot you can try if it works with both old and the new wheels. If it does, you can go ahead and publish it. I agree that this is not ideal, though.
On the other hand, NXT1 users can still buy NXT1 books. So, I don't see much point in creating a "combo" book.
There are already a lot of books for the NXT1. and soon there will be a lot for the NXT2.
But how many will cater for those who upgrade/expand to NXT2 and still have NXT1? Or those that start with and NXT2 this year and expand to two sets next year or the year after?
It's a great idea, but my gut tells me that the more complex the requirements are for a book, the more likely a publisher is to say no... (that doesn't rule out self-publishing, though).
So, if a book requires one NXT 2.0 kit and one NXT 1.0 kit, I've shrunk the potential audience of the book. Book publishers have, to my knowledge, always tended to the least common denominator, meaning they don't want to do combo books that cover say, Windows and Office... that requires the reader to have both products... they'd rather split it into two books, one per application... same for robot kits I'm guessing.
I'll second Dan's notion that it would be useful to have a diagram that shows the intersection of the two retail kits with the educational kit.