The LEGO MINDSTORMS Fall 2012 survey

The MINDSTORMS team has decided to start the MINDSTORMS newsletter up again, so they put together a short 9-question survey to see what all of us fans would like to see in the survey. Go and take a few minutes to answer the question. Here is the link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSnewsletter

Here is the disclaimer:

Disclaimer: all information collected will be aggregated and used anonymously. No additional data other than your answers will be collected. LEGO will not sell or distribute collected information beyond the immediate purpose for which it was solicited. You will not receive any emails or other direct communication as a result of taking this survey. In order to effectively use the data collected, please answer the survey only once, but feel free to let your friends know about the survey.

Source: LEGO Mindstorms

Back to School!

Next Tuesday I will be starting school so I will not be quite busy but since I got the 8043 excavator :D I will be coming out with some bigger and better robots! I am also finishing up with my website so that should be out soon... Also there is some changes that I am making to this blog that me and Ryan (Aka: idkwhoyouare) are working on. So stay tuned I am planning a few big projects but they won't be ready for a couple weeks... If you want to see some videos of the excavator and B-model just visit my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/nxtstep101

  

Math Game

Here is my robotic Math Game that I made for a school project back in June. Basically it is a game that you can play with 2-6 players, the object of the game is to be the first one around the track and beat the other players. The was you play is you press the Orange button and figure out the answer, then you press it again and click the A,B,C, or D button based on what your answer is. Then you move the spaces the Remote tells you to. If you get the answer wrong you go back the number of spaces the robot tells you to. There are three different objects to cross or go around they are The short cut going forwards, the shortcut going backwards, and the Ferris wheel.

 The Ferris Wheel is a creative way to keep interest in the game and keep the learning aspect. The Ferris Wheel is geared down so it rotates slower and smoother. It has 6 seats for the players that are big enough for the tokens!

The track is just spaces to move and place your token there is about 40 spaces is the whole track with the addition of the Ferris Wheel. The Shortcut is a belt that is you land on the  space that opens up, you will move either forwards or backwards depending on which side you land on.

Here is the video. Enjoy!

New Contributor!

Hey everyone sorry for not posting in awhile I have just been busy, But anyways I wan't you to meet my new contributor his name is Ryan (a.k.a idkwhoyouare) I have followed his creations on NXTLog for as long as he has been on. He is a very talented builder, he specializes in bigger robots rather then smaller (He has two NXT's plus a few Technic sets). He has built alot of robots but he personally thinks that his "Lightning McQueen" was his best! Anyway he will be posting here for and keeping this blog up and running while I am working on my website and learning labview. He is currently working on making a model of J5 (Johnny Five).


You can read his bio in the "about" page here.

Update!

Hey everyone I hope everyone's summer has been going well!
Anyway I just wanted to let you know that the big changes I talked about are still going to happen just not right now I have to finish up some details. My website is coming along slowly but surely it should be ready by the end of summer :D Some of my big projects I had planned are going to be postponed until I get the 8043 Excavator (I should have enough money by the end of this month xD) because I need some more parts. One of my previous POST's might have seemed sort of in uninformative or quick but it wasn't (You will understand soon enough :D).

Well I just wanted to let you know what was going on.

An image of the Technic set I will be getting.

Happy 4th of July!

              Hey everyone, I just wanted to wish everyone (in the US) a Happy Fourth of July!     

                                    Have a fun and safe time celebrating our Independence!                                       

Coming Soon!

AbsoluteIMU-AC

Photo courtesy of www.mindsensors.com 

Coming soon!?!?!?!?

Summer!

Yaaaaaay..... After having to do school into the summer, I have officially finished! Which means I will be working on some new projects (I am testing out some now), although I won't be able to make all of them until I get some much needed parts. I also am going to work really hard to finish my website, and remember what I said about something happening to this blog? Well those changes should take place this summer. So yeah I got a pretty busy summer planned. Oh and by the way something else exciting has happened and you will find out what it is probably by the middle of July.


P.S. I am really trying to find a name for my website and if you think of one either email me: (nxtgeek@gmail.com) or comment.  Thanks!

4 Output Multiplexer

I am testing some different multiplexer mechanisms for one of my future projects (it's really cool) and so here is what I came up with. It needs some improvements but it is just a design, the one I will use for my project is going to be smaller and more accurate, anyway here is the video of it in action:

Mobile Skid-Steer Arm

This is my entry into the unofficial NXTLog Mobile Arm Building challenge that me and a couple of other NXTLogger's started. It wasn't as big as I would have liked it to be but due to the amount of parts I have I couldn't make it bigger. Basically it is a moving arm that can drive with two motors and lift and grab with the other giving it an extra dof (degree of freedom). The chassis (pictured below) was built strong to support the skid-steer drive which if not built properly would have bent the axles.

The grabber/lifting mechanism (pictured below) was designed to first grab something then lift it a few inches off the ground. I geared the lifting mechanism down so that it could pick up heavier (approx. 1.5lbs) objects.

I could probably explain how this works in a lot more detail but that is why I made the video. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for some awesome projects coming this summer!