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...

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

LEGO Shuttle signed by NASA astronauts

How awesome is this!  The LEGO Shuttle (that our own Bazmarc has been a part of) has been at the Kennedy Space center as part of the celebrations for the final shuttle launch.

But it gets better, the model itself has been signed by some NASA astronauts!

Congrats Andrew, Marc-Andre and John!

Edit: Pics taken from Andrew's blog - http://08milluz.wordpress.com/

LEGO Mindstorms Space Shuttle

Release Date	April 16th, 2011

Description	Scale model of the NASA Space Shuttle. Integrating 4 NXT flight controllers and 2 remotes, the shuttle can move side to side and move its Canadarm.   Flight control is provided by Hitechnic Accelerometers, Gyroscopes, and color sensors.

General Information	Flight Crew: John Brost Marc-Andre Bazergui Andrew Milluzzi Mission Control: The LEGO Group

Mission	The LEGO® space shuttle Enterprise’s mission is to continue to inspire and encourage children to explore science and math just as the real space shuttles and other NASA projects have inspired countless current and future scientists and engineers.

Website	lmsshuttle photos http://legospace.com http://mindstorms.lego.com

First public appearance was during Yuri's Night Party, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin and the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle lift-off. The event was held at the Virginia Air & Space Center, hosted in part by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Here is a video of the event



jump at 0:36 to see the interview with creator Andrew Milluzzi
If you find more pictures or videos please do let us know.

NASA Robotics Curriculm Resources

NASA have collated a enormous collection of Robotics activities to use in the classroom. Activities are designed for a variety of different age groups and abilities.

It looks like it has not been updated for a few years, and the majority of activities are designed for use with the older RCX, but there is no reason you couldn't modify them to suit the NXT.

If you're a teacher, have a look through a few (there are 300) and let us know in the comments which one is your favourite.

My favourite is "Junkyard Wars: Mechanical Monsters" Date Posted: 12.27.04
http://robotics.nasa.gov/rcc/general.php?ID=1218


--
Damien Kee
www.domabotics.com

Inspirational View - NASA's S.A.I.L. STS OV-095

Hi Folks! This may be approaching the edge of "off-topic", but it may encourage someone out there to look further into the rabbit hole. Here is the 'inspirational view' of the Space Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and Test Facility. Wait for it to load, then click and have a look around (use your center mouse wheel to zoom in/out). Related to MINDSTORMS NXT? Sort of, there is a connection though...click for it here. Please, enjoy. The view will soon be moved to a better location.

Christopher