Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

The Maniac blog wishes everyone a Merry CHRISTmas and a happy New year!!!!

Here is "Alpha REXMas" made by "Apologetic" on NXTLog.

I probably won't post anymore until after Christmas and the New Year.

Here is a teaser trailer of my new MOC (My Own Creation) that will be coming to my blog on January 7, 2012. I will try to put it on NXTLog too but will first put it on my blog. Enjoy!!!

NXTLOG Spooktacular Building Challenge Winners!

                                                                                                

  The moment we have all been waiting for: Here are the winners of NXTlog's Spooktacular Building         Challenge. Sadly I was not able to enter because I was extremely busy.

16/11/2011

This October NXTLOG hosted a spooky Halloween challenge, and some of you got boo-ilding! We saw robot candy dispenser tricksters and treaters and even crazy characters to scare you in the night! We could only highlight a few winners based on our award criteria, but make sure to visit, comment, rate, and get inspired by all the entries by searching the tag "spooktacular."

Here are the winners:

SPOOKTACULAR AWARD
This award goes to the Halloween robot that is spooked the judges silly!

THE HAND
Created by: skeloton325

*Click clack click clack* That sounds ominously like fingernails....It's THE HAND! Imagine this creepy crawler grabbing at you on Halloween night. What a fright! Inspired by GhostInside's project, Thing, this is a slightly smaller version of a frightful decapitated body part. THE HAND walks with a basic quadruped leg design to create four moving "fingers" to propel it forward. For fun, skeloton325 added a thumb to the design. With an ultrasonic sensor attached, it could guard candy on Halloween night. skeleton35 posts a video, a .rbt program file, and even has a spooky NXTLOG username. Congratulaaaaations!

THE "TRICKSTER" AWARD
This award goes to the trickiest robot on Halloween night.

Candy Trap
Created by: Ultrasonic13

With arms like a bat and the slyness of a fox, the candy trap is designed to catch people who try to take your bowl of candy! An ultrasonic sensor detects any intruder approaching and lures the visitor in by shining a light sensor on a bowl of candy. Little do they now that when they reach for a candy a touch sensor detects their move and, "Bam!" they get trapped. Enjoy this fun trick from Ultrasonic13!

THE "TREAT" AWARD
This award goes to the most iconic Halloween robot. How much does your robot really say, “Halloween?

Candy Bowl Claw
Created by: trekdude

A first project on NXTLOG, the Candy Bowl Claw is a combination robot. One part trick, one part treat. The robot waits for someone to grab some candy, and then the claw closes on hand, laughing like a maniac. It then releases it's grip, and allows the person to grab some candy. But there's a catch; a creepy looking spider is illuminated by a red light while moving around and roaring, so that candy grabbers get a spooky show. trekdude got the idea for the spider portion of this project from Dave Parker's nxtprograms website. Make sure to always give credit for your inspiration. The judges think that this project really said Halloween, because everyone who visits the Candy Bowl Claw gets a treat.

HONORABLE MENTION(S)
*Many projects submitted for this challenge were disqualified for awards because the user did not follow the rules. Make sure you always read the rules and submit a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT .rbt program file with your building challenge submission.

Mind-Monster
Created by: x2mind

Candy bar supersizer 2000
Created by: fish3952

                                  Congragulations to all the winners from the Maniac Blog.

                                                            Compliments if NXTLog.

Cyclops!!!

Remember a little while ago I posted the teaser trailer of Daniele Benedettelli's Cyclops? Well now he posted another trailer of the cyclops that he will reveal at the World Robot Olympiad November 18-20 in the United Arab Emirates. Looks pretty neat!!!

My Website :-(

I know that I said I would be done with my website in two weeks but I have been really busy lately and just couldn't get to it I will try to have it done before Christmas. Sorry :-(

Website Unpublished

I just unpublished my website so I can work on it some more so dont worry I should have it published again in two weeks.
        

My Website

To anyone who has been waiting patiently for my website: Mindstorm Maniacs to be finished I am going to say that I am sorry for taking so long it is just been I have been busy with school and have not had time to finish it. I will try to have it done in the two weeks. So please bear with me and it should be done within two weeks.
        

New Touch Panel for the NXT!!!

 We've all been waiting for it and now it is finally her Presenting: A touch panel for the Mindstorm NXT by Mindsensors here are its features (copied from mindsensors website):

• Fits over the NXT Brick LCD.
• Corresponds Touch Points with LCD pixels.
• Complete LCD area is touch sensitive
• Provides 8 virtual buttons on sides.

Here is a video of it working:

You can know buy one for just $49.95!!! Click here to go to the Mindsensors website and order yours.

CubeStormer 2!!!!

Remember a little while back I posted about Cubestormer well here is the 2nd version it can go faster than any pro. And this time it is made with NXT instead of RCX.

            That video at the top was just a teaser trailer here is the offical video of CubeStormer 2!!!!

Cyclops teaser trailer!!!

This is the cyclops teaser trailer by Daniele Benedettelli. He will be displaying it at the World Robot Olympiad November 18-20 2011.

Sounds pretty interesting! Can't wait until we can see it. 

Wiigobot!!!

Here is another awesome video I found it was made by ww.battlebricks.com. It is of a Mindstorm scoring a strike on the Wii!!! Pretty cool hugh?

Explorer Bot Challenge Winners!!!

         The Explorer Bot Winners 

ALL TERRAIN EXPLORER
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that can shift modes to tackle all types of tough terrain.
Amphibious Explorerbot
Created by: NatoNX

"This robot can transform itself to go on both water and land, and adapt itself to go on rough terrain. NatoNX goes into great detail on the project's NXTLOG on how the robot is designed, but it is best seen on video in this NXTLOG: Amphibious Explorerbot Program and Video. Here, you see the robot running in a bathtub (do NOT try this at home unless you feel really confident about NOT ruining your NXT, as they are NOT designed to get wet!), and then in its transforming phase on land. Bravo NatoNX!"

THE SPECIALIST
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that is the best in its field at exploring its specialty.
Mars Environment Explorer (ME2)
Created by: CyberStranger

"Thie ME2's specialty is... exploring Mars! This well-equipped mobile robot has a Wind Speed Meter (WSM), using an ultrasonic sensor, a Multi-channel radiation detector (MCRD), using a sound sensor, and a Water and Light Detector (WLD), using a light sensor. CyberStranger provides a highly detailed NXTLOG and video. NASA should take note of some of the ideas here for their next MER missions!THE STEALTH BOT"
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that does its observations and explorations without being detected.
The Silent Cartographer
Created by: NXTesla

"The Silent Cartographer drives around and makes a map of what it sees. Using the ultrasonic sensor, the bot scans its environment and displays what is "sees" on the NXT screen. Each pixel on the NXT display is the equivalent of a 14x14 inch square in real life. NXTesla includes a video on a separate NXTLOG: The Silent Cartographer (Video and rbt)"
DATA MINE
This award goes to the Explorer Bot that best collects data.
Voyager Rover
Created by: Dinoguy7719

"The Voyager Rover can seek out objects (using the Ultrasonic sensor), uses a Light sensor to detect ambient light as a solar collector, and a robotic arm as a probing tool for drilling and analyzing rocks and any other objects the Voyager would encounter. Dinoguy7719 provides great pictures and an LDD file so you can build your own version of the Voyager!"                                   
                 Congragulations to all the Explorer Bot Challenge winners from the Maniac Blog!!! 
                                                        Compliments of http://www.mindstorms.com/ 

CubeStormer

Watch this awesome video of a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot solving a rubiks cube in under 10 seconds!!!
  I don't think that he programmed this all in NXT-G or even NXC I think the computer mainly solves the cube not the NXT.  
      Please comment on what you think.

Welcome to the Maniac Blog!!!!

                                                            
    
     Thank you for coming to "The Maniac Blog." I hope you enjoy it.
 
      Here are the reasons for me starting "The Maniac Blog".

• Because I love building with the Mindstorm NXT. 
• I want to let everyone know about my passion for robotics.
• To post competitions and some of my projects and current experiments.
• For fun! 

This Blog is part of my website http://www.mindstormmaniacs.yolasite.com/ please visit my website and tell me what you think about it, you can visit it by clicking on the link.
               Please check back regularly for new posts.

            Your fellow Mindstorm Maniac,
                                Mike