Details: If you've seen the LEGO Education Renewable Energy Add-On Set, you've probably wondered if the windmill blades could be used to propel something instead. As it turns out, they can! They work wonderfully for steering blimps. The video here includes some footage from LEGOWORLD Copenhagen, where a video camera was attached to the blimp. For some meta fun, see if you can spot the photography rover driving around on the ground. I'm really hoping that somewhere, there's footage from that NXT robot of this NXT robot in action. I'm also trying to determine if I can make my own before the next LEGO convention I go to.
Although I've put off featuring them in my "another blog you should read" series, The NXT Step is easily indispensable for us LEGO Mindstorms NXT fans. It may be a difficult read for those of you who aren't technically inclined, but they do try to keep it accessible for all ages. Several of the blog's authors have written books about working with the NXT, and quite a few of them are active in either the LEGO community or the educational community. In lieu of a regular model pick today, here are three recent highlights from The NXT Step:
In other news, the LEGO website has re-posted the online bonus models for the NXT 1.0 kit. They had originally been a casualty of a website update to include newer instructions for the NXT 2.0, but the company has since rectified the error and brought them back. Now, if they could just remember that they need to re-post the bonus instructions for set 8448...
Finally, they recently found a fantastic base for a very large robot on YouTube. The tank treads are made out of Technic beams, and the 9 NXT's and 16 Power Functions motors give this plenty of expense power:
Details: I've previously featured Sariel's first "hand" model, but he has now created a second one. This one makes use of the WeDo Educational Software. LEGO WeDo is only sold through the LEGO company's educational division (see http://www.legoeducation.us/store/), and is designed to work directly with the Power Functions motor system. A USB hub allows a computer to directly control two of the PF motors. Up to 3 hubs can be controlled with the off-the-shelf software, and 2 hubs were used for this particular model. One motor controls the pneumatic hand itself and the pneumatic compressor for that hand, using an autovalve. Two more motors are used for the turntables (one per turntable) to power the wrist and the base of the arm. The fourth motor controls the elevation of the hand through a linkage that does not tilt the hand. Software-wise, there's a task programmed for the arm and the ability to use the keyboard to control the motors individually.
