NXTified Gingerbread

Who said NXT robots and delicious Christmas treats don't mix??

Big thanks to Fredrik for sending us this!

Flying robot bird

Not exactly NXT, but certainly inspiring and worthwhile to post:
a flying robot bird created by the German company Festo.

The NXT Lord of the Rings?

Nazgul NXT robot, anyone?

CATROID : Scratch for Android

For who loves graphical programming languages, like NXT-G, I signal
an interesting growing project: CATROID.
CATROID, brother of Google App Inventor,
takes its steps from MIT-developed SCRATCH programming language,
and implements some blocks to control the NXT brick via Bluetooth!
It is still a bit limited, but it's the first on-phone graphical programming
language for the NXT. Even the textual programmers should be quite excited.

NXT 2.0 Snatcher Video

I recently filmed the Snatcher (building instructions in the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book) at one of the events I was attending, and thought it would be fun to share this video with you. In this video you'll see the Snatcher running the program as presented in the book: autonomously looking for an object, grabbing it and lifting it.

Hispabrick Volume 12

Jetro and his team have just release Hispabrick 12.  It is a fantastic online magazine (available in both Spanish and English) that is crammed full of LEGO news.  While it covers everything LEGO (and I mean everything!) there is a fantastic writeup of Steve Hassenplug's Super RoboRally.  We've cover RoboRally in the past, but this is a much more comprehensive writeup.

There is also an extremely in-depth analysis of all the LEGO motors ever produced (13 in total!)

You can download the PDF here- http://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/ (look for the English PDF on the right)

(yes that house is completely made of LEGO!)

What's on your holiday shopping list?

Yesterday, as I searched the Web for Christmas and birthday gift ideas, I came across these cute robotic salt and pepper shakers at uncommongoods.com and it struck me that y'all probably know of some cool gift ideas.

What is on your gift list (or wish list) this year? An additional NXT? An Education Resource Set?

What are some less expensive but desirable ways to supplement an NXT set? (LEGO Education is loaded with individual parts and packs of parts). Is there such a thing as a gift certificate for Bricklink? Do you have a favorite NXT book to recommend? Favorite one-kit models? Can you recommend a non-NXT book which compliments and broadens the understanding of NXT robotics? Can you warn us about a product that doesn't live up to its claims?

Do you know of a fun, inexpensive, and unique robotic gift (like these salt and pepper shakers) that is available online? Do you have do-it-yourself ideas for NXT jewelry or other household accessories? Please inspire us!

NOTE: In the spirit of transparency, please tell us if you have a financial interest in any product you recommend. Also, the "You might also like" stuff added to the bottom of this post are not my suggestions!