NXTCentral.com » ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com The Place for Everything LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:08:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 SUMO! http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/18/sumo/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/18/sumo/#comments Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:18:53 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/18/sumo/ End of FLL this year…End party, right? Well, we can’t just sit around talking! To celebrate this year’s great success in FLL, all our team members got together to have one more challenge: a sumo competition. Each team member got together with one other, and since we had 10 members, a total of 5 robots were created. Now, who won?

First place: The Bull

 

The Bull

Second Place: Underflip (My Robot)

Underflip

Third Place: Paintball (I personally think this one looks the coolest!)

 

Paintball

Fourth Place: SWAT

 

SWAT

 

Fifth Place: DUDES

 

 

DUDES

]]> http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/18/sumo/feed/ 3 Giganto http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/07/giganto/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/07/giganto/#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:00:28 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/07/giganto/ Giganto is a joint effor of several people I know and me. It uses two XL PF motors, several NXT motors, and two NXTs. This is it’s second version, and while it is still not THAT big it’s alot bigger than many robots I have built so far. See more of it on NXTLog Here:

And by the way, the Lego Technic Bulldozer I bought came in the mail today, so some of my upcoming projects are going to have a obvious size difference than my old ones!

 

 

]]> http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/03/07/giganto/feed/ 5 Mindsensors+Lego=? http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/27/mindsensorslego/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/27/mindsensorslego/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:00:12 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/27/mindsensorslego/ This is written for the purpose of persuading Lego to allow Mindsensors.com to use their sensor casings.

A small NXT (a Lego robotics kit) rover drives around with a sensor that detects which way an obstacle is. The shiny white robot dashed around quickly, and the whir of the motors rises and falls as the rover drives around autonomously. The robot turns away from several walls, then finds a cup and grabs it. The sensor is made by Mindsensors, an online store that makes some of the best sensors available. (A sensor gives input on something, in this case, it detects if the robot will hit something ahead of it or not.) However, all of their sensors are all un-Lego-like because they don’t have any protective encasing. They are just bare-bone circuit boards.

Mindsensors, in my opinion, has the best sensors among all other stores I have seen so far. They have a wide selection of sensors that has all the sensors that other stores offer, and more. Their prices are reasonable, ranging from $19.95 to $97.75 and their sensors are well-made. Hitechnic, another sensor company that Lego has joined with, sells a sensor for $46.99, yet Mindsensors sells one with the same exact capabilities for just $32!

Therefore, I think, Lego should do what they have already done several times these past years with other innovative companies: join with Mindsensors and allow them to use their plastic encasing with their logo. Doing so would protect their sensors from being damaged by static shock; someone who had just walked on a carpet could easily burn a circuit on a sensor by just touching it, since it has no protection. Without the plastic encasing, it is also hard to attach to a robot, since the only way to attach it is by the holes that Mindsensors punched into the circuit board. The plastic encasing comes with Lego compatible holes, so allowing Mindsensors to use the encasing will solve ALL these inconveniences.

I admit that some of Mindsensors’ products do not meet Lego’s requirements. However, from some communications I’ve had, Mindsensors is not even aware of that. If they did, believe that they would even change their products to accommodate Lego’s requirements.

Therefore, I request that Lego to join with Mindsensors and allow them to use their plastic encasings. If they would accommodate this idea, many others and I would be very grateful to Lego and I’m certain that their sales will increase.

–ro1000

]]> http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/27/mindsensorslego/feed/ 3 Biped http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/16/biped/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/16/biped/#comments Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:00:57 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/16/biped/ meowmechanic on NXTLOG has created one of the best looking bipeds I’ve ever seen so far. It uses just one NXT set, and can walk forward, turn right, and turn left.

Check it out on NXTLOG here.

]]> http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/16/biped/feed/ 4 How to Take Good Photos of LEGOs http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/15/how-to-take-good-photos/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/15/how-to-take-good-photos/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:00:30 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/15/how-to-take-good-photos/ nxtprograms.com has a nice tutorial on how to take good quality photos. This is always the hardest part of our creations. The tutorial is very simple and easy to understand.

Read it here:

http://www.nxtprograms.com/help/photos/index.html.

]]> http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/15/how-to-take-good-photos/feed/ 3 New Contributor! Ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/13/new-contributor-ro1000/ http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/13/new-contributor-ro1000/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:21:51 +0000 ro1000 http://www.nxtcentral.com/2008/02/13/new-contributor-ro1000/ Hi! I’m a new contributor on nxtcentral.com, and I’m looking forward to posting more about NXT and Lego! I’ve been using RCXs for several years, and I got a NXT about a year or two ago. I can program pretty fluently in NXT-G, and can also do some NQC and NXC. I don’t have any experience with RobotC yet, though. Hope to help bring news and cool projects to you guys!

-Ro1000 (aka. Robomaster)

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