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Domain: legomindstorms.com
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Comments · 27
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Re:hehe
In our minds? What else did you expect from LIGO MindStorms?
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Re:from your target audience
You might look into the Lego Mindstorms. They are programmable using a graphical interface (drag'n'drop, I think), and are aimed at kids.
The official Lego website. -
lots of different options..
Trusty 'ol HandyBoard
68HC12
Lego Mindstorm
8051 development board
Good 'ol Parallax
There are also chips/development boards from Microchip (manufacturers of PIC series of ucontrollers) and Atmel.
Most of the above DO NOT come with motors, sensors, base, wheels etc. However, these are not difficult to find at a nearby hobby shop.
For a little more challenge, get a DSP board (TI, Motorola, Analog devices etc). You can get a good new/used one for pretty cheap from eBay -
Lego Mindstorms
Take a look at the Lego Mindstorm kits http://www.legomindstorms.com/. They're in the $180 to $200 dollar range and come with all the parts your friend would need. Plus, there are several choices for programming the Lego Mindstorms programmable brick on both Windows and Linux, including BrickOS, Lejos(Java), and NQC(Not Quite C).
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Lego Mindstorms
Two words:
Lego Mindstorms
The perfect getting started programmable robotics kit... -
My old computer club
Back in the day, we had a computer and robotics club. We met after school and built interface boards so we could control a set of stepper motors using either an apple IIe, an old mac quadra, or a commodore 64.
So these old boxes aren't around anymore, but the element of controlling robots with computer programs is essential experience for the high school computer geek. Check out the Lego Mindstorms stuff and give the club members a competition or goal...When I was in school we built a machine and programmed a computer that could open a Master lock without knowing the combination! (no, we didn't iterate through all possible combinations, either) -
Uhhh... Lego Mindstorms?Maybe Mark could talk to Lego to build additional, improved kits for their Lego Mindstorms line. His depth of knowledge in modular robotics might drive their products towards being less of toys, and more a general-purpose toolkit for robot construction.
Plus, based on their recent comments on IP, they seem like a pretty cool company.
shut up man -
Mindstorms
The original schweet desktop toys: Mindstorms
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Re:Thanks for this information
Wait. Does the refrigerator light stay on after I shut the door? Oh man, I hope somebody submits a link answering that question next.
I build a simple Lego Mindstorms robot with a light sensor to answer that exact question. Guess what? It DID go off! So my mom was right after all! -
MindStorm Robotics
Lego Mindstorm is a programmable robotics kit based on the course developed at MIT. It uses a control board you can program from your PC through an IR port in a language VERY sismlar to C. The robotics you can create with this can become really sofisticated, including temperature, pressure, and light sensitive sensors, just to name a few. It would be great for HS kids to play with. I believe that Lego also has an ongoing contest for creative uses of their product, recent winners being a working "typewriter," and a working scanner. Don't know what your budget is like though, the set wasn't very cheap when I used it 3-4 years ago.
-Tarlyn
10lbc ---not pr0n, Punk Rock! -
Lego
I know it sounds strange, but Lego Mindstorms is actually pretty cool. O'Reilly has a good book for it and they also list lots of online resources here.
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Re:Obvious answer: Mindstorms!
If you are interested in seeing kids learning with Lego Mindstorms check this out.
I was part of the First robotics competion, for high school students this year. It was well run, and a blast. I am sure the lego league is just as good.
Best regards,
Nate Custer -
Obvious answer: Mindstorms!I remember when I started playing with Lego Minstorms, I couldn't help thinking, 'Hell, I wish I had THAT when I was a kid.' I can't think of a better way to teach a kid how to program, and do Object-Oriented Programming, no less. It's very easy to understand, and you see a direct relationship between the code and the result. For instance, you'll be able to physically illustrate a FOR or an infinite loop with insane ease.
And really, it's a toy that evolves with you. If 30 year-old jaded programmers can still get a kick out of it, imagine a kid... He'll probably wear it down before he gets tired of it!
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Different from MindStorms?
How is this different from Mindstorms? It sounds pretty similar, except that the software for MindStorms has been ported to other platforms (like Not Quite C).
darren
Cthulhu for President! -
First Lego League
In the US there is a school level competition where groups of students build a robot to try and achieve various tasks. They get a pack that includes the instructions and the extra pieces. They can only use the basic Robotics Invention System (RIS) and the supplied extra pieces. The current challenges revolves around rescuing trapped astronauts.
There are instructions for building standard arenas so that teams can get together and hold tournaments. Although there are some people doing this outside the US, none are in the UK (and I'm too old anyway). This just shows that yet again us old wrinklies were born too early (and in my case in the wrong country).
Details can be found under the 'First Lego League' button on the MindStorms website. -
Would Lego Mindstorms be a good starting point?
Thanks for the replies so far. Would any of you consider Lego Mindstorms as a good starting point into embedded programming? The hardware is relatively cheap, there appears to be a lot of stuff on the 'net for it, and it appears to be very flexible.
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Re:Time for a Barbie-Q?I tried teaching my daughter how to work out the password on paper this weekend. This hack gave me a most excellent excuse to practice modular arithmetic with her.
Anyhow she has grown out of Barbies and is into some serious Lego hacking.
Where should we post them?
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I worked on thisWell, not really - I was an intern at the MetaCreations office where this technology was developed.
Let me tell you: This is some awesome shit.
DISCLAIMER: I no longer work for the company, and the following information is gathered from what I have found over the web and from asking people at the company.
History
The technology was initially pondered by a russian physicist - Alexander "Sasha" Migdal. He came to the United States a long time ago and did work at Princeton University in various fields (mostly in physics, I believe). After a while, he formed a company with his friends from Russia called "Real Time Geometry." Sasha is an insanely smart man. A little eccentric, but smart
RTG pioneered the technique of being able to dynamically set the number of polygons you want to render a model with. For instance, you could have a massive model of a helicopter render with full detail when it's close to the camera, and have it render with less detail when it's far away from the camera. This technology is now part of MetaCreations' MetaStream
The company was bought out by "MetaCreations" in (I think) 1997 (or thereabouts). MetaCreations was the merger of MetaTools and Fractal Design.
After this was when the technology that we're discussing now was beginning to be implemented.
Process
Although I have not performed the procedure myself, I have seen it done on many types of objects, from pottery to toys to PEOPLE'S FACES.
The object is placed in front of a black background with several lights around it with the aim at neutral lighting. The black background prevents a shadow from being interpreted as part of the object. The camera is usually placed about 3 meters away (not precise, just average or so...). For "in studio" objects, a laser was used to accurately calculate the distance to the subject. The technology has been refined a lot (obviously) and just when I was about to leave, they introduced this deal with Minolta in an All-Hands meeting.
Now, I see a post of 5, Interesting that states that one of the shots is a piece of pottery - how simple is that!
Well, it's not. The reason?? TEXTURES. The 3D imaging RECREATES the model so as to preserve not *only* the size/shape of the object, but ALSO the *look* of the object under certain circumstances - for instance, certain lighting environments.
That's why a pot ain't so easy. While the shape might be "easy" (you try extrapolating 3D data from 2D data), the texturing is even more difficult. I can remember seeing models where everything was great, except maybe when you look into the pot and you see a hole at the bottom and you think "Hurm, we hadn't thought of that, had we?"
In any case, that's the process. Now how does dynamic resolution and 3D imaging come together? Simple: The fact is that many objects (people for instance) have *curved surfaces*. Within the realm of polygonal 3D modelling, you *have* to throw out data, it's just not gonna all fit. While the camera/software figures out the 3D models, it is very difficult to render them in real time... MetaStream does a wonderful job of rendering huge objects in real time, even on a shitty computer.
Now, in this wonderful time of the web and stuff, MetaCreations (I think) is positioning this software/hardware for two things:
- Family Fun (share 3D images with your friends!)
- and E-Commerce (see what you want to buy in full 3D)
Of course, that means you need small files - full 3D models and textures the size of a GIF or two? Yep. It's pretty cool stuff. From what I know, it's a wavelet compression technique that compresses both the textures and the model data. Most models (of people's faces, toys, pots, whatever) are in between 50 and 200 K, which is pretty remarkable for the quality that you get from MetaStream.
Several web sites have already implemented this technology, and make quite good use of it. Here's a sampling:
- LEGO's MindStorms Site uses it to display what kind of robots you can make
- AutoByTel uses it to display cars
- And more... they are listed on MetaCreations' site
Sorry for the long post, but I hope I cleared up some information.
PS - Hi to Sasha, Victoria, Dmitry, Victor, Baga and everyone else! - Family Fun (share 3D images with your friends!)
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Re:Lego Battlebots
I've been trying to get some folks together to do something a bit cheaper: Lego Mindstorm Battlebots. All the parts must be Lego (with the exception of the rubber bands. Many lego sets come with rubber bands, but they'll break and should be able to be replaced), and the winner is the battlebot that can still move under its own power. Battering rams to whack the legs out from under something, scooploaders to try to flip the bot...
You should look into the FIRST Lego League - This is a mindstorms-based robot competition. Information can be found at the FLL site at http://www.legomindstorms.com/fll/. This is geared for younger students, but it still an excellent foundation to build any type of competition from. -
A _REAL_ Competition.
I've been waiting for the past few days now for something like this to come up. Too bad Rob or Jeff would probably never post it...
Some of you may or may not have heard of the FIRST Competition. It is a robotics competition which involves High School students, along with their corporate partners, Universities, or what have you. This year's competition was just released on Saturday. FIRST's Competition homepage is here. This competition is far superior to almost any other. There will be ten regional events this year, and the National Competition will be in EPCOT Center in Disneyworld, FL. There is no other robotics competition with such spirit or fire behind it as this one. Please check out the Homepage and support the FIRST cause in any way possible. The competition has grown from 28 teams in 1992 to over 380 teams this year. There are teams from all over the USA, Canada, and even a team from Brazil.
Some of you were wondering about mindstorms... They have a Mindstorms Competition called FIRST Lego League! Check it out here!
General Information on FIRST can be found at www.usfirst.org -
Re:Give your old bricks new life
Something that most people don't know, is that once you have your IR tower to program your RCX, you can also program the mid-range set (the Scout brick). This brick can then be used to program the one in the Droid Developers kit.
Read on....
http://www.legomindstorms.co m/products/rds/hackers.asp -
Geek �ber-toy: Lego Mindstorms!There's nothing like remembering how it was, at 10 year-old, when you could shake that big box under the Christmas tree, and know a toy hid in there. When the familiar rattle of Lego bricks was heard, my face always overflowed with joy.
A safe bet for any toy-lovin' geek remains the Lego Mindstorms kit and accessories. The basic kit is a bit pricey ($219 US), but well worth it. And if your geek has the basic kit already, there are expansion packs ($49.99 US), an upgrade ($24.95 US), additional RCX ($129.99 US), remote controls ($19.99) and touch, light, temperature and rotation sensors ($9.99 - $19.99 US) as well as additional motors ($18.25 US).
All these elements are available at Lego World Shop.
If your geek is the kind of geek who has all the Lego Mindstorms stuff already, there's a book from O'Reilly on Mindstorms ($24.95 US), which will provide advanced tips for design and programming. It was reviewed on Slashdot.
"The wages of sin is death but so is the salary of virtue, and at least the evil get to go home early on Fridays." -
Lego Mindstorms
The various Lego Mindstorm kits are great fun for geeks of all ages.
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Re:Interwoven links
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Re:Another example of dumbing down...Not to be insulting, but you're only limited by your imagination.
Can you create something that could map out a terain of a room on demand.
Certainly. I've seen it done. (Can't find a URL, though.) Just keep track of the robot's position, and feed the presence/absence of objects to a computer database.
Cary a load and move out of the way?
Can it sense depth?
It can be done. One way I see of doing it is by using two bricks, and placing them at a distance from one another, then use the "echoes" of the infrared emitter via light sensors.
All you mentioned is feasible with one or two Mindstorms kits, and basic ingenuity. You might need more Lego bricks, but that's it.
Check out The Lego Mindstorms page, and visit the Hall of Fame, Expert section. Then tell me you can't do anything with Lego Mindstorms... You can do digital cameras and scanners. I think you can do anything.
"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."
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Re:more affordable haptics
A few years ago, when I worked at Discovery World we ported the armlib software from UNC to work on RT-Linux with the PHANToM. Our work is available here . It was pretty fun work while it lasted. Unfortunately, when I left, the project died. We did develop an extension of the UNC client/server protocol for remote manipulation - we called it TouchU-TouchME, but we never had a chance to present a paper on it. Oh well... I note on the UNC web site that someone has created a scanning-tunneling probe using Lego Mindstorms. This would be an ideal mate to the work that WillWare describes above.
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Do it at home!All it takes is two Lego Mindstorm kits, the Not Quite C compiler, maybe the optional Lego Midnstorms Extreme Sports expansion pack. Alright, so you don't have a sonar, but it's hundreds of hours of pleasure anyway.
The article didn't mention whether they used the Mindstorms kit...
"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."