MoonBots 2 Winners

The Google Lunar X-price Moonbots 2 challenge has come to an end, and with that also winners are announced. [link]



The main difference between FLL and Moonbots is that the Moonbots robot have to do a complete autonomous run, so no manual interference in between the runs, like real robots on the moon.



FIRST place: LegoAces

and their run:





SECOND place: Team Just Ducky

and their run:







THIRD place: Lunar Lords

and their run:







have a look at all the team videos, and their robots, maybe they are good inspiration for your FLL robot.



martyn

NXT Presentation by Xander Soldaat: 8 Sept 2011, Netherlands, Rijswijk

Xander Soldaat from BotBench will be doing a Presentation on MINDSTORMS NXT on 8 September in Rijswijk, the Netherlands. Apart from talking about MINDSTORMS and its hardware, he'll also bring some of his NXT creations.



The presentation will be held at a conference center in Rijswijk, with free entrance. More information about the presentation and signing up can be found here.



Whether you don't have an NXT or whether you're an experienced user, it will surely be an interesting presentation. Before and after, there will be plenty of time to talk with other people on how they use Mindstorms.



I'll be around too, see you there!

Genuine Italian™ LEGO MINDSTORMS User Manual

Greetings to you all, in particular to Italian AFOLs.

For them all, I have translated the LEGO MINDSTORMS 8547 User Manual in Italian.

It's available from the official MINDSTORMS website from the Support->Building Instructions section, together with the manuals in other languages.

GBC + NXT = Robotic arm goodness

The GBC (or Great Ball Contraption) has always been a favorite of mine. It's something I helped start, and has been embraced the world over. Recently there's been a new series of videos by YouTube user akiyuki showing some amazing mechanical solutions, but one just popped up that shows a robotic arm (driven by an NXT) that is simply amazing to watch:

(earlier portions of this are here, and are absolutely amazing considering that there is no NXT or electronic intelligence involved. Another great mechanical implementation is here).

Mechnically (and, clearly, in terms of programming) this individual has done an amazing job. But even beyond that, they have a look that inspires. Too often my robots are functional, and that's neat... but taking the extra time to make them look really good, that attention to detail, is rare. Here is a user that manages to combine all those facets... and does it really well.

NXT Puppet

Very cute :)

Amazing Mindstorms 3D printer

Brought to us by Arthur Sacek from Brazil's ZOOM Education for Life, this very well built and surprisingly precise 3D milling machine is truly amazing (and fun to watch)!


In a reply to one viewers comment Arthur says "Soon I will post a "How it works"....and you will see that it is not so hard as you think. I am also a beginner in programming."

I invite you all to subscribe to his channel as i expect we will be seeing some pretty cool stuff in the near future!

.

LEGO Smart Creativity Contest 2011

The LEGO^® Smart Creativity Contest is all about creativity, innovation, and hands-on learning! We want you to think beyond the books and focus on the power of the brick!

In 150 seconds or less, we challenge you to:

Show us how you use

LEGO Education solutions

to spark student innovation!

Whether you capture student innovation in the form of a LEGO-inspired animation, student-produced skit, or by performing an original song that plays tribute to the creativity of the LEGO brick, we challenge you to be creative and let that innovative spirit shine! Big prizes!

Click on the logo to visit the official homepage.

Rolling two-wheeled robot rover

On a web page of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I ran about an interesting mobile robot design that might be worthwhile to implement with a NXT robot also: the "Axel rover system":



The big green LEGO® Technic wheels come easily to mind...

Cake Cutting Robot

Great looking robot that will cut a cake into as many pieces as you want.  A tin lid acts as the cutter, and some basic math is used to calculate the angle of each piece.

As others have commented, all it needs now is a way to blow out the candles :)




via MAKE : http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/08/mindstorms-cake-cutting-robot.html

Cyclops - Teaser Trailer

A new creature is coming! Stay tuned on robotics.benedettelli.com

Can you guess what is it and which amazing capabilities will it feature?

UNIMOG NXTification by Anika

It's an honor for me to present you with another super cool NXTification!  Anika Vuurzoon has successfully combined the new awesome LEGO Technic UNIMOG set with the NXT and has presented it all in a fantastic video.



Not only is Anika a Mindstorms expert, she is also able to entertain us with very well presented videos featuring stop motion animation story line.  Well done Anika!!

You can read more about Anika's work on the Mindstorms/NEWS page here.

.

Culturelab: NASA lands at the Lego convention

Culturelab a new scientist webblog, real nice to read, not only the LEGO article.

read more about the LEGO Sumo robot and NASA logo

NXT Driven CNC machine

Here is a fantastic looking CNC machine made out of what looks like purely LEGO elements.It's only a dry run in the video, but given the 'bendyness' of LEGO and backlash in the gears, I'm keen to see what accuracy the creator can coax out of it.




via MAKE - http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/08/mindstorms-cnc-mill.html

Many people asked me for more info about the gun on my battle tank model.

A video explaining it is coming soon, but for now I made an LDD. I can't upload it to blogger, but you can download it here.

The model isn't perfect (rubber bands are missing, the motor on top missing, gears arenot meshing properly, colours not matching the original,...), but it should be good enough if anyone wants to build it (big if.).

GeekDad Exclusive: Lego Minifigs Soon Headed for Deep Space | GeekDad | Wired.com

Not exactly NXT, but still worthy of mentioning. These awesome, custom milled, solid aluminium LEGO mini-figs (each costing $5000 to make!) will be attached to the Juno space probe, due to reach Jupiter in 2016.

Via - GeekDad Exclusive: Lego Minifigs Soon Headed for Deep Space | GeekDad | Wired.com

‪LEGO MINDSTORMS WALL-E5 @ BrickFete 2011‬‏ - YouTube

Another great video of Wall-E5 by Bazmarc from BrickFete2011. I love how the kids are fascinated by it, but don't want to get too close :)

LEGO CUUSOO; Mini Alpha-Rex

It is a small version of LEGO’s Mindstorms NXT, created by suzuki on Jun 10, 2011. The body and motor is a module, so you can customize it if you have those. It is good for people who actually own a real one and also people cannot afford it.

see more details here

Theo Jansen NXT

Anyone who has tried to create a Theo Jansen mechanism with the NXT will appreciate this video.

HISPABRICK magazine 011 is out!

Issue 011 of the LEGO®-related HISPABRICK magazine created by AFOLs from Spain is out now. You can download it for free from the according web site, both in Spanish and in English.

The new issue features

"articles about LEGO and space, great creations from AFOLS, fantastic reviews (the new Unimog and more), our regular features and many interviews".

I take the liberty to direct your attention to three articles on "MINDSTORMS NXT and space": the Rosetta model, the NXT space shuttle and the Hubble telescope.

Have fun with the magazine!

Another NXTification of the Star Wars Shuttle

Remember the NXTification of the LEGO® Star Wars Shuttle by bazmarc we posted a month ago here?
Here's another one, this time by another well-known NXT hero, NeXTSTORM: