NXT robot tracks a person

YouTube user lesswire1 has posted a nice video of a robot who finds self-fulfillment in looking at its creator wherever he goes.
Remarkable here is the chain of technologies used: an attached IPhone tracks the person and appropriately controls the movements of the NXT robot by sending light signals to the robot's light sensor.

Pan and Tilt Time Lapse rig

A very nice pan and tilt setup for use with a DSLR Camera.

First video shows how it works and the second video gives a example of what it collected.




via - http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/09/13/lego-pan-tilt-system/

Pinhole Camera

Nice little camera made from the NXT. It uses the old style 35mm flim (none of that fancy-schmacy digital stuff) and has a pinhole that is opened quickly to expose the film. The NXT motors also wind on the film for the next shot.

I love how you can set the ISO via the NXT screen and I'm assuming that will control how long the shutter is open for.



--
Damien Kee
www.damienkee.com

EPAN: Panorama views with the NXT

Team Robidog from Switzerland has

"built a NXT robot that moves a digital cam around while it is shooting an image each second. The cam runs in multi shot mode on a firmware extension called CHDK with consistent light exposure. Once the robot has covered a 180° area, it moves down for 10° and continues. This way, a 180° x 60° panorama view image comes into being which is finally assembled on the computer. When making use of the maximal zoom factor of the cam, almost a Giga pixel of data is generated." 

(Translation from the creators' statement)

Very nice!

Another movie with a panorama image of the Reformierte Kirche in Richterswil (CH) can be found here.

New Mindsensors.com products

Mindsensors.com is working on two new devices for the NXT.

NXTHotShoe
"NXTHotShoe will allow you to trigger two cameras and/or flashguns from your NXT and you will be able to control the trigger time of each of them individually, with one millisecond granularity."



Obstacle detector
"This rugged design with ample mounting points is specifically made for NXT Sumo Wrestlers.
This sensor will provide information about presence of obstacles directly in front or front-right or front-left."

Read more here.

Camera Panning Platform Using the NXT

This rig is currently being used to film a stop-motion, animated film.

The top two movie clips are of the rig in action. The bottom two photos are of the rig itself.

More details are here.