NXT 2.0 Discovery Book - Update
It has been a while since I last blogged about this book, but now I can finally say I've completed all of the chapters for it. Although there's still quite a bit of work to do, I hope the book's release date is in or around March 2010. Please note that the book description at Amazon is outdated and does no longer reflect the contents of the book very well.The book is written to be a good addition to anyone's NXT 2.0 set. It teaches readers all about programming as they build increasingly sophisticated robots. Each little bit of programming theory comes with at least one sample program and a programming 'discovery' (challenge/exercise - over 75 in total) to practice the newly learned skills. The first programming chapter starts with out with simple things like move blocks, but the book also includes chapters about data wires and variables, for example.
Building and programming go hand in hand in this book. Basically, you build the first robot (a training vehicle), learn the basics about MINDSTORMS, then move on to the next robot which teaches you about sensors, for instance. At this point the book comes with instructions for eight robots, including The Snatcher, and a robot that sorts your LEGO bricks by color and size. I've posted a little teaser image of a robot below. Can anyone guess what this robot does? Be fair and comment before looking at the book's description that's currently online ;)
Comments
Maybe something like a "Chimney Climber"?
Yes, it is a chimney climber indeed! Some of you may know the chimney climbers I built, from youtube.
Two of these videos together total over 500,000 video views, so I thought it would be nice to make instructions for NXT 2.0 owners in this book.
And yes, the image is modified - the arms got removed here. The question was easy enough already.
And, well, it doesn't climb real chimneys. You could build one that does that, but your NXT won't come out in the same color!!
All that's needed to make this robot climb is two strong vertical objects, like a wall and a book case with a gap of about 32 cm in between. If you don't have this situation in your room, just move the bookcase, to create the gap. I've also successfully tested this robot in between a wall and the side of my desk. For more info - get the book!
Laurens