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Lego Mindstorms AT-AT
cybercuzco writes: "Lego has just released a new mindstorms add-on that lets you 'create a fully operational Imperial AT-AT walker.' Pictures and specs are available here. The price is rumored to be $99, so start saving your nickels."
If you've got deep pockets, get the Mindstorms base kit and add 'Vision Command' ('http://guide.lugnet.com/set/9731') to it. Vision Command comes with a small USB video camera which can be programmed to watch for movement in various 'zones' of its field of vision; what it sees is sent to your computer via USB, and then your computer can send that information back to the Mindstorms RCX unit via infrared. The result is that you can make a robot which turns its head to watch you as you walk in front of it (as in, make it turn its head to the right if it sees motion to the right of center), or which can orient its gaze on anything it sees of a specific color. Very cool!
If you're interested in LEGO at all, check out the Lego Users Group Network at 'http://www.lugnet.com/'. They have discussion groups for everything from robotics to train sets, they link to set instructions and CAD programs and information on programming the Mindstorms RCX in Java. Also, there have been two books published (one by O'Reilly) about building robotics with Mindstorms.
I agree.
I clicked on the link, willing to be talked into blowing money on a new toy, but I was not about to update Junkbuster's cookie file just for this.
The idiots are costing themselves customers. I would understand requiring cookies in some sort of shopping cart system once I had chosen to add the item to a cart. But just to check it out?
Forget it.
-- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"'
AT-AT? Nay, I want a Mindstorms BattleMech! Sort of like these, but with motors and programming capability. And working lasers, of course! =)
I saw this the other day at K-Mart, and it was around $100. They also have a new (non-mindstorms) series of Star-Wars Technic sets that are designed to be models. The X-Wing is fantastic (about 2 feet long), but weighs in at $150.
I see. Yoda was just a burnt out FORTH programmer.
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Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
Kind of the way that Mercedes-Benz is an average car in Germany but roughly twice as expensive in the US.
I'm saving my money for that fully operational death star they are working on.
(I think I'll spring for the redundant power supply option though...)
The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. (Marx)
Um, that means the rest of the legs would keep trying to move, which is just as bad! Try this instead:
/* 1=OK, 0= Damn Rebels */
int i;
struct leg {
unsigned int status;
unsigned long odometer;
unsigned int rebelSquishCount;
unsigned int running;
} theLegs[4];
int stopLegs(void) {
int i;
for (i = 0; i
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
That just had to happen... *sigh*
/* 1=OK, 0= Damn Rebels */
Um, that means the rest of the legs would keep trying to move, which is just as bad! Try this instead:
int i;
struct leg {
unsigned int status;
unsigned long odometer;
unsigned int rebelSquishCount;
unsigned int running;
} theLegs[4];
int stopLegs(void) {
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
theLegs[i].running = 0;
return 1;
}
void gpf(void) {
sing("Daisy");
while (1) {
justSitThere();
}
}
for (i = 0; i < 4, i++)
if (theLegs[i].status == 0)
if (! stopLegs(i))
gpf();
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
No, Lego don't win either: they lose a lot of potential sales.
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
Actually, some languages with C-ish function call syntax, such as Perl, allow parameter-less functions to be called without parentheses. From the explicit then statement, it's obvious that the OP is not using C.
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
Of course. C is the programming language of the Dark Side of the Force; all good Jedi Knights are expert FORTH hackers. This is why we don't see many of them nowadays...
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
The blurb commented on the "steep" price - $99 US. Well, I recently decided to buy a Mindstorms set for my 12 year old brother, to see if I got him interested in programming. (He is already an avid Legoer, and has a lot of engineering potential...) On the Lego web site, I found one which looked good - only $60 too. Problem is, I'm in Brazil, and they don't seem to ship overseas. So I go shopping, and I find out that they don't sell this set here for less than R$280, which is about 150 dollars!
After some research, I found out that these kits are also ridiculously overpriced in many other countries outside of Western Europe-US-Japan. This is really too bad; there is a big market of hacker-larvae around the world who would kill to get one of these, if only they could afford it. By limiting their market like this, Lego are causing a situation where no one wins.
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
The Imperial R&D Department, in the basement of the Death Star...
Clinko Palpatine, age 12, the Emperor's nephew and head of development, is working on the control software for the new AT-AT model...
> IF legs == blocked, THEN stop walking
A few days later - the AT-AT, sent into battle, falls into a trap...
TYPE MISMATCH: legs is of type LIMB, blocked is of type BOOLEAN
FATAL ERROR: stop walking is not a known function
TOO MANY ERRORS
SEGMENTATION FAULT
DISACTIVATING UNIT
With programmers like clinko running the thing, it's no wonder the Empire lost!
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
Perhaps if they get enough of these notes they'll wise up... after all, Shopping Season is close upon us.
services@lego.com is the address to bug'em yourself. Yes, I know this is liable to slashdot'em. Serves'em right, IMHO.
I'm a big fan of parental responsibility; what your kid sees and does on the net is YOUR problem. But when I can't get in to have a peek and make sure the site is legit because someone insists on shoving a cookie down my craw, it rather sticks there. Yeah, yeah, there are other ways to track, but my inside addresses are NAT'ed and my outside one is part of a huge ISP's block, so a whole lotta damn good that's going to do them... but nooooo, Lego isn't satisfied with a good generic demographic, they want it ALL...
Well, they shall get none from me.
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"If you don' like it, you can kiss my furry little butt!" -- MiB
Really? We can witness the power of this Fully Operational AT-AT?
Who would have thought that the first affordable blaster would come from Lego! Now mindstorms ust need an X-10 interface and I can set a cadre of these to guard my house...
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
Check out a two-legged walker here.
Oh come on, it's not as if the rest of the Star Wars universe had been scrupulously checked for engineering consistency and then the AT-AT ruined it.
It's the feel that's important with George Lucas films, and Empire was among the best.
Can you imagine the Star Wars series with strictly plausible plot devices? :
R2-D2 plugs into a power socket instead of a data port. When his circuit breakers are reset they have to completely reinstall him from cd and get the data from backups, which takes all day.
Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite. When they defrost him he's only good for feeding to Jabba's pig-like guards.
R2-D2 heads off into the desert to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke easily finds him 20 ft. away bumping up against a rather tricky step and feebly wiggling his little front leg trying to climb.
Luke finds Obi-Wan, the last Jedi in the universe who survived the slaughter of his entire order. Unfortunately he threw away both his and Anakin's lightsaber many years ago to avoid being identified and now smokes a bit too much wombat resin and only answers to the name "Bob".
etc etc
see?
"comp.lang.forth has been talking about a Forth logo ... an anime Jedi warrior girl, scantily clad."
--Chuck Moore
Let's see a camel or a cup of coffee compete with that!
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This isn't really a mindstorms expansion; it's a new set, using their Scout microcontroller (handicapped RCX: only 1 motor, only 1 light sensor, but intergrated into the computer brick). I fully expect that the normal mindstorms users could build this sans the kit (provided either a) you don't mind using yellow and red for your AT-AT, or b) you have lots of grey parts). We'll find out in a few hours, though!
And, they could also be a violation of the new COPPA law. Follow me here folks, these passages are from their own privacy statements:
What if I don't accept the cookie?
You still can participate in many of our online activities. However, if a LEGO Cookie is not present, it may limit our ability to customize and deliver a better online experience and improve our features.
Does LEGO.com Use Cookies?
Yes. When we ask to add a cookie to your computer, we are not collecting personal information, but the non-personal information that we do get helps us give you a better online experience.
Non-personal responses collected during a guest visit are used to help us make sure that our products and our communications to our guests are responsive to their interests. We hope to be able to continue to make the LEGO World Wide Web sites interesting and entertaining for users of all ages, and to ensure that we continue to make the kind of products that children love and parents trust.
Now, if cookies arent required, why cant you even get into the home page, without accepting them? If they arent using them to track info on users, why the barrier to the home page? If they are using it to track users, then they arent making people aware of it. And, furthermore, I would assume that may be their aim, otherwise, why require a cookie?
And, if that is the case, and they are forcing children at browsers to accept the cookie, they could be in violation of the United States COPPA law. Personally, im dismayed at such a level of irresponsibility from such a distinguished company.
Bah.
Supernaut
NO, you're not reading the error message correctly. It doesn't say, "No Cookie" -- it says "No Wookie". Any idiot knows that you need a Wookie to compromise Imperial security!
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Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
I just hope when I'm 70, I can glue some pieces together and make myself a lego cane! Yep, an old fart still playing Dead Milkmen in the car...
Rader
...is make the ball/socket joint an "official" part.
What do I mean by this?
Go buy one of the ThrowBot kits. In each one of these kits, there is one, sometimes two, springy throwing "arms", that allow you to flick the included disks. These arms (as well as some specialized pieces) have a knob "ball" end that snaps into a socket, to allow you to position the arm just about anywhere.
Now, the sockets are nice - pretty standard style pieces in the LEGO fashion. But the ball arms that fit are anything but standard. The hard plastic ones are shaped weird, and are hard to use in anything but these ThrowBots. However, the soft plastic, springy throwing arms...
See the ball on the end? It is attached to the rest of the arm by what? That's right! A short length of cross-axle! Cut the ball off, leaving the cross axle attached, and then it becomes VERY versitile - allowing you to extend it with other axles, attach gears, etc. - the movement is kinda stiff, but a little sanding of the ball with 120 grit and some silicon oil will loosen it up some, allowing you to make great walking machines or any other creations that need such a joint.
I wasn't the one who first noticed this, someone else did - but this is a part they need to make standard (instead of making us cut up LEGO pieces). A standard ball and socket joint - for making walking machines and other things (right now, in order to do something similar, you esentially have to build with universal joints (weak), or use you own system (bulkier, and heavier UJ style constructs) in order to build walking bots).
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
The problem with getting other kits is that you have to only make use of the grey or black parts to make sure they blend in right. [I've actually debated on buying another Dark Side kit just so I wouldn't have so many damned yellow and blue parts that I never use.
In messing about with another kit that I got late August, I mounted a catapult to the top of my AT-AT, and it fires after taking a few steps forward. [a worm gear kicks a block out of the way, which releases the arm to fire]
My problems right now, however, is that it slowly tears itself apart [after each firing, you need to retighten a few parts to make sure it's still solic], and the catapult partially obscures the light sensor, so I can't quite use it for an alarm system at work [damned flourescent crappy lighting]
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
I bought the R2D2 set from Toys R Us since it was on sale for $50. It is by no means part of the official Lego mindstorms set. The scout core(just like on the ATAT) only has a light sensor, and 1 motor that can go forwards/backwards. I should have saved my $50 towards a real mindstorms setup. I do like the new 10 and 20 tooth gears though. Good for making new transmissions.
Doppler effects on stars, quasars, etc.
Measuring the movement of the ship relative to interstellar medium and dark matter.
Would say inertial tracking, but if acceleration is zero, than that wouldn't work. Inertial memory would be a close enough approximation, though (just have the computer remember the accelerations that the ship had gone through, vector sum them up, and calculate the needed counter-acceleration vector to neutralize).
What about some sort of galactic GPS system? Time beacons are used in Star Trek, so the idea of a grid of beacons would not be far-fetched (for the Star Trek/Wars worlds, of course). Just use Doppler measurements on the signals (this assumes that the beacons themselves are stationary, of course).
Of course, on the flip side, most of the time anyone asks for a complete stop is in orbit around something, so there is a point to declare the ship stationary to (whether it is a planet, an anomoly, another ship, a star, yada yada yada). I really can't remember any Star Wars/Trek episode where a complete stop was ordered in the middle of deep space.
As well, let's say that a complete stop is called in the middle of deep space. So what if the ship is moving a little bit? Rest assured, between our sun and Proxima Centauri, sixty miles an hour is rather insignificant; perhaps it would be called "pseudo-stationary". As well, as long as the ship wasn't accelerating, the velocity would not be a problem; you and the ship are moving the same velocity, you would think that the ship is stationary. Anything that would need a complete stop to do (repairs, investigation, commercial breaks, etc) could be done at a constant velocity just as easy (remember, "at rest" is the special case of constant velocity where constant velocity = 0).
"Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
Er, "normal" accelleration? I am not sure I follow that. I will assume, from your "crushed when the ship" comment, that you believe "normal" accelleration (a) is when 0 < a < 10g; that is normal acceleration is between nothing and about 10 times Earth's gravity. This is a misconception; acceleration is simply the change of velocity over atime. Acceleration can be as high or as low as the force can be generated.
In Star Trek, the main reason the ship crew and officers don't become smears on the opposite wall is because ships are equipped with inertial dampers - devices that nullify the effects of extreme acceleration inside the ship (kind of impossible, by most Newtonian physics. See also - reactionless drive). Other sci-fi books assume that the warp bubble that the ship rides distorts the space around it, but doesn't warp the space inside it - the end effect being that since the stuff (crew) inside the bubble are not accelerating with respect to the space inside the bubble, they do not undergo any acceleration. Babylon 5 and Star Wars never exceeds 5g, and use hyperspace (with little acceleration) to transverse long distances. Joe Haldeman's "Forever War" uses statis chambers to hold the crew from rupture during hi-g manouvres.
As for the multi-dimensional sensor, it wouldn't be a problem. Most nuclear submarines have two-dimensional inertial trackers, which monitor accelerations forward-backward and starboard-port. The creation of a three-dimensional tracker is left as a exercise for the reader.
I agree with your interpretation of the captain's orders, and you see how few Americans would understand some of the complex ideas (such as "no coffee breaks" and "no cowboy stuff").
"Don't mind me cutting myself on Occam's Razor"
Guess which two sites I'll never visit again?
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My mom's going to kick you in the face!
Just chmod your cookie file to be read-only. Works like a charm. Your browser accepts all cookies until you shut it down, but it never writes them. When you shut it down, they all go away.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
What fascinates me in both StarWars and Trek is the concept of a complete halt of a starship. When the falcon or the enterprise stands still in space, against what are they measuring their speed?
All opinions are my own - until criticized
Actually, the typical standstill scenario involves a planet and at least two vessels.
"Captain the alien vessel has halted above the planet"
"Full stop! Hailing frequencies open! Ready with the blasters!"
I interpret this as
"Captain the alien vessel has entered a geostationary orbit around the planet"
"Move our ship into a similar orbit! (a rather complex manouver that severly limits the number of available attack angles on the alien vessel) No coffee breaks at the radio just now damnit! Yeah and the same goes for you blaster guys and please no cowboy stuff this time. I'll tell you when to blast aliens and not"
All opinions are my own - until criticized
In the spec sheet, I see that the thing that controls the AT-AT is called a Microcomputer(TM).
Do they feel bad that Lucas owns almost all the other trademark on the product that they had to come up with their own?
As they say in wrestling, "Is that legal?"
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"And the beast shall be made legion. Its numbers shall be increased a thousand thousand fold."
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Cast a Cold Eye
On Life, on Death
Horseman, pass by
--W.B. Yeats' gravestone
Luckily, a lot of effort has gone into reverse engineering the Mindstorms Brick. Russell Nelson has a lot of good information at http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics/
I have been working on a Java toolkit for programming the Brick, and for manipulating it interactively. My kit, called RCXComm, can establish serial connections with the RCX brick via the IR port, and can handle packet communications, upload programs, send messages to active RCX Programs, as well as a few other things. The RCXComm classes can be used as standalone software, but they are really intended for incorporation into other applications.
Java tools for playing with the RCX are available at: http://www.popbeads.org
If you use the kit, I would appreciate hearing any feedback you have.
Incidentally, Java classes for decoding CueCat scan data are also available at http://www.popbeads.org
If you watch TV news, you know less about the world than if you just drank gin straight from the bottle.
A fully operational AT-AT walker? does that mean I can shove about 30 stormtroopers in it and take over a military base with it? Fully operational and for only 99 dollars? I am gonna buy 20 of them and take over microsoft by force!
The anti-salmon
This is probably scary enough to guard your house without being fully operational.
Look at the size of those things...(and you wonder where Lego gets its ideas)
- - - - - - - - -
Or maybe he'll just kick them.
Either way it would be cool.
And you could call it a beowulf cluster too.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Screw AT-ATs! Where the hell is my working Mindstorm Lightsaber?!?
I want one of these just so i can wrap up its legs in dental floss and laugh when it falls over.
I'm no super programmer or anything, but you would think the programmer of the walkers in the movie would add something like:
"IF legs == blocked, THEN stop walking"
That's of course if they were real.