Guitar Man

I just came across this video, in which a robot mimicks the movements of a guitar player. It does a very good job at that. Watch the video to see what I mean.

Before you watch it, though, make sure that your speaker volume is not set to its maximum level!

NXT Guitar Challenge Game Video

I finally posted a video of the NXT Guitar Challenge Game project from nxtprograms.com (for "Game Mode" at least):



Fortunately it worked out for this project that building instructions and programs are available for both NXT 1.0 and NXT 2.0. :-)

NXT 2.0 Guitar Challenge Game

The NXT 2.0 version of the NXT Guitar Challenge Game is now posted (See earlier post for more description of this project). Compared to the NXT 1.0 version, the building instructions are modified for the different parts mix, as are the NXT-G "Free Play" programs (for color sensor, etc.), but the programs for the "Game Mode" play and song recording (compiled from NXC) are unmodified and run just fine on the newer 2.0 firmware.

Note that the bonus materials offered on the CD (Windows song recorder/editor, NXC source code for Game Mode play and NXT recording) apply unchanged for NXT 2.0, since Game Mode is the same between the two versions (although the CD is primarily designed for NXT 1.0 users).

I still need to find time to make a newer/better video and will when I can.

NXT Guitar Challenge Game

It is finally here on nxtprograms.com, after squeezing in bits of spare time throughtout the school and FLL season and other projects: The NXT Guitar Challenge Game! This project is a "Guitar Hero"-like game for your NXT that requires only a single NXT kit. Using a guitar controller built with a single NXT kit, you are challenged to play a series of "notes" that scroll towards you on the NXT screen while listening to the song. You select the correct note by sliding a plate on the neck of the guitar that is seen by the ultrasonic sensor, and then strum the note using a lever that triggers one or two touch sensors. The game counts your hit and missed notes and displays your score at the end of the song. And unlike other Guitar games, the music plays externally on your iPod or stereo, so you can listen to the real recording on your own sound system while playing along, and you can also author/record your own favorite songs and play along with the real recordings that you already own. You control the choice of music and the difficulty of the game recording!


Also included is a "Free Play" mode, where the guitar converts to an all-in-one self-contained instrument that you can play like a stand-alone guitar using 8 notes from the rock/blues scale. In this mode, the guitar is an upgraded version of the original Electric Guitar project, now including a fun "whammy bar" to bend tones (uses the light sensor as a high sensitivity distance sensor), and a convenient touch-sensor strum lever.


Back to the Game Mode, the free version of the game on the web includes the ability to play the game and record your own songs on the NXT, and 7 sample songs. An enhanced version of the game on the new CD 65 Fun Projects for your LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT allows full authoring and editing of songs on your Windows-based PC using a custom graphical editor. In the PC editor, you simply press keys on the keyboard while listenting to the music to "record" a song, then you can go back and edit/tweak it with the keyboard and mouse.


Also included with the CD version is full source code for the NXT game and NXT song recorder (in NXC) and source code for the PC song editor (in C/C++), so experienced C programmers can try making their own modifications to the game or the editor. Advanced NXT programmers can also use the source code as a way to start getting exposed to some NCX or C programming.

Building instructions are currently posted for NXT 1.0. I also have an NXT 2.0 version built and will post instructions for that as soon as I have time. I will also post a new video when I get a chance, for now here is a link to the preview video posted earlier.

Project Teaser Video

Here is a video teaser for my new project... This was the first time I have tried taking a video of the NXT screen, and the dinky video camera I have was barely up to the task, but I'm sure you will get the idea.

NXT Electric Guitar

I updated this Electric Guitar project from nxtprograms.com to extend the building instructions to show how to build the body of the guitar as pictured. This was previously left as an exercise to the reader, but I got lots of requests for the instructions... Also, I added this video: