The success of Lego's Mindstorms NXT has been one of the main contributing factors to the widespread interest in robotics. NXT enthusiasts of all ages have created some of the coolest designs, even capturing the attention of engineers who develop industrial robots. Now, Lego has announced that the third generation of its NXT bot, dubbed EV3, will be available this August and will be easier than ever for anyone to get into building new bots. To celebrate, we thought we'd take a look at the best NXT bots to come out in the last few years. Paper Airplane Maker: Recently, NXT user hknssn13 posted a video showing paper airplane making machine. A single piece of paper migrates down the assembly line to be folded and eventually launched at the end: Articulated Robot Hand: Robotic hands have long been of interest as prosthetics or to make humanoid robots. Now, they can be built out of Legos. The hand's designer, Barbos, recently posted the video and a description of what was used in the design.
The video itself is quite impressive and was from last year's Lego Fanwelt in Germany: 360° Milling Machine: Back in 2011, Brazilian engineer Arthur Sacek designed a 3D milling machine for ZOOM Lego for Education. The NXT bot turned floral foam into amazing 3D reliefs in hours. Now, Sacek has recently posted a video of a 360° milling bot that sculpts 3D figures much like a lathe: MakerLegoBot: In 2010, 3D printing was just a whisper, a rumor of a new kind of technology that would change the way we manufactured everything. Will Gorman of BattleBricks decided to turn Lego NXT in a 3D printer, but there was one caveat: it would "print" legos. Dubbed MakerLegoBot, the printer is a remarkable example of the future of manufacturing with machines building machines: Cubestormer II: One of the most exciting videos of 2010 was CubeStormer, the Rubik's Cube solving robot. While other cube solving robots exist, CubeStormer impressed in how fast it could solve a randomized Rubik's cube.
But ARM Holdings, the company behind the design of the bot, wanted to push it even further. So the designers of the bot, Mike Dobson and David Gilday, used four Lego NXT bricks and a Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone to build CubeStormer II that is scary fast, beating human records and showing how fast it can solve the classic toy: LEGO Beer Machine: Last March, a video was posted on YouTube by Nxt1engineer showing off a remote control operated beer machine that automatically serves two kinds of Dutch beer. The designer has developed a M&M dispenser last December as well. Here's the final version of the Lego beer machine: PancakeBot: Father and designer Miguel Valenzuela built PancakeBot in 2011 and received sponsorship to take it to the 2012 Maker Faire where it was a big success. A more recent video provides a detailed explanation of how the 3-axis Pancakebot works, and now there's even an Indiegogo campaign to get PancakeBot to this year's Maker Faire in the Bay Area:Subscribe to our newsletter for more awesome videos every week!
Robodog 11 0Nxt RobodogBlack NxtThe BlackNxt BrickNxt ProjectsLego MindstormBuilding InstructionsForwardThis little dog was developed in November 2007. It walks around while wagging its tail and while looking for humans or objects in its way. You can build it if you have the NXT 1.0 set and three extra gears (details below). Building instructions and the program are available for download. This is a picture (More)…FIRST LEGO LEAGUE AROUND THE WORLD DISCOVERING THE EXCITEMENT OF STEM... Central/South America & The Caribbean Africa & Middle East Inspiring the Science & Technology Leaders of Tomorrow Bringing together teams from all over the world for the ultimate celebration of science and technology. The FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival is a celebration of the season. Or you could bark, quack, or squeak, because the 2016 ANIMAL ALLIESSM season is all about our furry, feathered, and finned friends. Download the Challenge today. Download instructions to build the models for the 2016/2017 ANIMAL ALLIES season.
Or you could bark, quack, or squeak, because the 2016 ANIMAL ALLIESSM season is all about our furry, feathered, and finned friends. In the 2016 FIRST LEGO League Challenge, more than 28,000 teams of students age 9 to 16* will look into the eyes of our ANIMAL ALLIES. What might become possible when we learn to help each other? FIRST LEGO League challenges kids in over 80 countries to think like scientists and engineers. During the ANIMAL ALLIES season, teams will choose and solve a real-world problem in the Project. They will also build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under the FIRST LEGO League signature set of Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism®. *Ages vary by countryThe original Riley Rover was designed by Damien Kee and the designs can be found here. Riley Rover Rescue is a division of the Robocup Junior Australia competition.
Details can be found here. Once you have built the base CE Race Bot v00 for "Riley Rover Rescue", you can add an additional colour sensors, add an ultrasonic sensor or upgrade the robot by adding an omni wheel. These changes can be done in any order and are independent of each other (for example, you could add an ultrasonic sensor without adding a second light sensor). Build instructions by Evan Bailey.LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Thinking Robots It may look like one, but the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set is not a toy. Whether you've been building with the original LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set for years or you just picked up a 2.0 set, you'll love this book. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Thinking Robots will show you how to build and program two robots that think. You'll be awestruck when the TTT Tickler ties you at tic-tac-toe and amazed when the One-Armed Wonder solves a Rubik's Cube in just a few minutes. These robots aren't child's play. The models are challenging, and you'll have to do a bit of thinking yourself to get them to work.
But once you get the hang of it, your efforts will be amply rewarded. In addition to providing detailed instructions for building each model with either the original or the NXT 2.0 set, author Daniele Benedettelli takes you inside the robots to show you how they're designed, what makes them think, and how to use them. You'll learn how to: Control and calibrate your robots for best performance Dig into tic-tac-toe strategy to see how the TTT Tickler always plays to win Use the CubeSolver program to solve a Rubik's Cube with the One-Armed Wonder Better understand artificial intelligence as it relates to robotics, problem solving, and gaming So go ahead, put on your thinking cap and get building! Requirements: A computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, one complete LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or NXT 2.0 set, a webcam, some marbles, a couple of rubber bands, and an Internet connection (to download the programs). About the AuthorDaniele Benedettelli is known worldwide for his original LEGO robots, including the LEGO Rubik Utopy (a Rubik's Cube Solver) and JohnNXT 5 (based on the robot in Short Circuit).