Mindstorms Podcast Videos

This is my entry into the NXT Car Building Challenge! Steering The steering mechanism is based of of the "racecar" off of NXT programs. there is also a ultrasonic sensor on it (as you can see to the left) the ultrasonic sensor is always facing the direction of where it is going thus, making it more useful in programming than just having one that faces straight. Drive wheels The back drive wheels are geared3:1 so on smooth ground it works great but on rough ground and carpet it does not work so well. you can also gear it 1:1 (with gears not included in NXT 2.0) and 1:3 (by switching the gears. Program The program is for use with the PSP-Nx-v3 from mindsensors. it is remote controlled using a joystick. the ultrasonic is used to slow the robot down whenever it is driving forward towards an object. that way it is easier to avoid objects. the color sensor is red when it is close to something and green when it is far away from something. Go to http://mindstormspodcast.wordpress.com for more info and downloads Thanks to musikConomy for intro music

I built this robot int a tissue box. it is skid steering and the back wheel goes up and down to lift up the back of the robot and the back of the box. uses PSP-Nx-v3 for controls.

I got the PSP-Nx Combo with Wireless Controller for my Birthday. This Comes with a PlayStation 2 Wireless controller and the PSP-Nx converter which you can plug a PS2 controller or wireless receiver into and get a Sensor output for the NXT. From that you can receive from the 16 buttons (Triggers, bumpers, R3, L3, D pad, Shapes, select, start) and X/Y axis from the 2 joysticks. To test this out i built 2 robots. First I built a simple skid steer robot with a rotocaster as the back wheel. Then I used a program from Mindsensors to start off with so that i could learn how the programming works. I also downloaded the NXT-G block. I then built the HiTechnic RotaBot and used ­R J McNamara's program (I'm having trouble finding the link because I believe his website is down) to make it work with the robot. - His code was written in NXC which I do not know so I couldn't edit it. AAs you can see in teh video - this robot can drive in any direction without turning. This robot requires Rotocastors and NXT 2.0 set.

2nd place!!

I’ve setup two testing areas, first on the deck with a carpet but the carpet made the turning unreliable so i was not able to test the turns well. Then i set it up the in the kitchen and i got it to work after playing with it. The only downside with the setup in the kitchen is that it has to come down once i’m finished testing and it only shows the two table placement and 1 wall – does not show sink or dolls. I have gotten it to go home and work a bit better than shown in the video.

Today we talk about vehicles. Tim built 3 tanks and faced them off and Jared built a lawnmower-like car. We also talk about Lego iOS apps. iNXT Remote: connects to a computer on your network though WiFi. You need a computer running the server program on MAC or PC. You can control it using a virtual joystick, poll sensors, delete and transfer files, run programs, and play sounds. NXT Drive: requires a jail-broken iPhone - just type your NXT ID in and it connects and controls by tilting the iPhone iBooks: free app that can read PDFs and you can find instructions or make instructions into PDF form.

Finally, our first episode has been created. In today’s episode we talk about Tim’s Ball shooter and Jared’s Door closer. We also talk about Lego® Cuusoo, a service created by Lego’s® Japanese partner. There you can upload a project and if 10,000 people support your project then Lego® will review it and if it becomes a product you will receive a royalty. It’s now in open beta.