New Cover for "The King's Treasure"

Here's the new cover for "The King's Treasure" - sequel to "The Mayan Adventure" and due out at the end of November 2009.

More information to come soon on missions, including some photos and a special commemorative item I've cooked up to celebrate the book's release.

FLL Mission Rules Summary

My friend, Marco, over at www.techbrick.com emailed me the following information - thanks, Marco, for doing this. And if you're not familiar with TechBrick, spend some time looking around - he's got one of the most useful websites for FLL teams around, with plenty of free downloads, videos, worksheets, and more:

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Missions Rules Condensed to Two Pages for Tournament Programs

As the FLL tournament season begins, many of you will create a program for your audience. Jeff Tjiputra, FLL/FTC sponsor for The College of Southern Maryland, asked us to condense the FLL Game into two pages for use in their program. So here they are for your use as well.

The zip file below contains two MS Word documents (.doc). One is sized 8.5x11 (US Letter) the other 5.5x8.5 (US Bulletin). They include 1 sample image from each challenge, the description, and include the challenge images, FLL, and FIRST logos and the field image. Modify them as you wish.

Follow this link to download the zip file with two versions.
http://www.techbrick.com/Lego/LEGO2009/Resources/index.html#MissionsSheets

New Book: "Endangered Species NXT"

(Click above cover image to see it enlarged).



All building instructions and programs are full-color and high-resolution. The robots are:

NXT Sloth--slowly and smoothly slinks across a "branch" of your own choosing.

NXT Gorilla--"Knuckle walks" across the floor, just a like a real gorilla.

NXT Komodo Dragon--Slithers and "sidewinds" across the floor in snake-like fashion.

NXT Polar Bear--Walks on all fours, opens and closes its jaws, and roars

NXT "Poison Dart" Frog--Leaps up and forward into the air as it jumps across the room

Educational activities in math, literacy and critical thinking are included for teachers, students, FLLers and other groups and individuals.

All robots are built with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Set (#9797), plus the NXT Education Resource Set (#9648). In the near future, I'll post a list of parts needed for the book.

The Amazon link to the book is here.

Message from Dean Kamen for FLL- FIRST teams

Important Message from Dean Kamen: FLL - FIRST/TWC Partnership in the US

From: fllteams [mailto:fllteams@usfirst.org]
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 3:23 PM
Subject: FLL - FIRST/TWC Partnership in the US!

This message is directed at FLL Teams in the US.

From the Desk of Dean Kamen --

Hello FIRST Teams, Mentors, Coaches, Volunteers, Sponsors, and the entire FIRST Community.

I have an unscheduled, urgent assignment that will help us spread the word about FIRST and our mission in a new and exciting way.

This month, Time Warner Cable (TWC) will launch a new partnership with FIRST in the United States. We need to make sure the launch is successful, specifically the launch of TWC's new web site, http://connectamillionminds.com, which celebrates youth participation in science and technology. I'm asking you – through your incredible participation on the site - to let the executives and employees of TWC know that partnering with FIRST is the best decision they ever made. That's right, The Best. Ever.

Here's more on what I'm asking you to do and why...

What is the FIRST / Time Warner Cable Partnership?
It's a partnership that will put FIRST teams and events on TV and on the Web. TWC is investing $100 million (cash and in-kind) over 5 years in STEM. (No, not all of it in FIRST).

What is “Connect A Million Minds”?
It's the name and the goal of TWC's program - to connect a million kids to STEM. It's also the name of the TWC web site – http://connectamillionminds.com - where you can take the pledge to introduce young people to STEM programs – like FIRST – and inspire others to do the same.

Why is this web site launch important?
TWC is going to promote this website like crazy. By giving FIRST a priority presence on the site (we are the one and only group invited to participate BEFORE the site launches!), your photos and pledges can be the first thing visitors see!

What I'm asking you to do:

1. Visit http://www.connectamillionminds.com. As a beta user, you will have exclusive access to the site with the following (case sensitive) username and password -- username: RobotZ, password: Rule

2. Take the Pledge – commit to introduce one, ten, a hundred youth! to FIRST and STEM opportunities

3. Then click on “The Wall” and post an inspiring FIRST photo and a few words about how you connected young people to STEM programs

4. Send us your feedback. E-mail your comments and suggestions for the Connect a Million Minds site to TWC.Camm@twcable.com

Show TWC that FIRST is the best partner they've ever had!

When I'm asking you to do it:
FIRST will have special access to the beta site from 11/2 – 11/8, so you need to take the pledge and upload your content by November 8th. The official site launches to the public a few days later.

I look forward to seeing your content and hearing the reactions of TWC executives to the energy and commitment of the FIRST community. Thank you for all you do for FIRST!

Dean Kamen

___________________________________
FIRST(R) LEGO(R) League (http://firstlegoleague.org) | fllteams@usfirst.org | +1 603-666-3906, 800-871-8326 | FIRST(R) (http://usfirst.org) - 200 Bedford Street – Manchester NH USA 03101

Lip Synching Robot

Hey all,

I would like to introduce myself. I am Chris Shepherd aka “Shep.” The guys here asked me to contribute to this blog and I gladly agreed to do so.

I am a Mechanical Engineer. I have been building with Technic for about 20 years and Mindstorms since they were introduced. I also run my own blog over at Tinkernology.blogspot.com. I like to draw inspiration from industrial applications and I also love kinetic art. I built the Lego Flexpicker and a few other projects that you can find on my blog.

I just finished a cute little project of a Lego Lip Synching Robot. It uses one sound sensor and one servo motor with some gearing. The sound sensor picks up sound from a pre-recorded sound file and opens the mouth based on the intensity of the sound. It is programmed using RobotC and I completed it in just a couple of hours.

Windows 7 and the NXT?

I've recently gotten a scattering of reports of problems under Windows 7... but as a Mac user, I've got no way of testing it, and I'm not sure if these are problems due to working with a new OS, or just the smattering of problems that often crop up. So I'm curious and thought I'd ask the readership what they have heard or seen. Has anyone done a clean install of NXT-G (either 1.0 or 2.0), and what have been your experiences? Do they play together nicely, or have you found any incompatibilities between them?

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book Preview

Here's a short preview video of my upcoming book "The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book". (Formerly called the Adventure Book)

In short, the book:
- Comes with building and programming instructions for eight robots which can all be built with one NXT 2.0 set (#8547);
- Gives the reader a complete introduction to the NXT 2.0 programming software (NXT-G);


(click for direct link)