LEGO Mindstorms: The Master's Technique

Poomah writes: "I started my LEGO building career in the late 60s with the basic bricks of that time. I built anything that came to mind. There was no end to the wonders I created with those basic bricks. As I grew up I strayed from the LEGO path to do things like going to college, getting a job, and getting married so I could start a family. When LEGO Mindstorms was released, I was one of the first in line to get one." Now he's discovered a book to help people get the most out of these toys, so here's Poomah's review of LEGO Mindstorms: The Master's Technique. LEGO Mindstorms: The Master's Technique author Jin Sato pages 361 publisher No Starch Press rating 9 reviewer Poomah ISBN 1-886411-56-5 summary How a master builds a LEGO MINDSTORMS robot.

I devoured the book, performed all of the challenges and even amazed my friends with a few inventions of my own. From time to time I would see some inventions spotlighted online. I would marvel at the time and dedication people would put into these. I would wonder, like many others, how someone would conceive such things as a copier or a Rubik's Cube solver. Now there's a book that explains LEGOS from the mind of a master and an engineer of 25 years: Jin Sato's LEGO Mindstorms: The Master's Technique."

When I first looked at this book I was so excited. It would give me the excuse I would need to play with my LEGOS once again. It even has a cute LEGO doggie on the cover. Wait a moment, that cute doggie uses two LEGO Mindstorms kits. It has two RCXs. I only have one. Is this book going to be of any use to me, the casual LEGO builder? Simply put, "Yes!"

Jin starts the book at the most logical place, the beginning. A quick one-page history, one short chapter on the LEGO bricks themselves. This includes info on what they are made of, some of the evolution of LEGO into TECHNIC pieces, and how to assemble them in different ways to create strong connections using minimal pieces.

Chapter 3 starts with the good stuff, motors and gears. What would LEGO Mindstorms be without motors and gears; just a lump of art. In just a few pages the Jin explains everything a first-year mechanical engineering student needs to know about gears. He steps you through creating a gear test bed. This shows you, using a single motor, how all the gears operate and work together. At this point I was wishing I had started reading this book at home near my LEGOS.

I could write in detail about the wonders of each chapter. To keep from writing a review that's the same size as the book, let me summarize some things. This book is filled with lots of examples. Not so much a beginning to end to create a single project, but more a process of creation. Anyone can follow a step-by-step approach for creating a single LEGO project. I have several of those at home sitting on a shelf covered in a thin layer of dust. I call them LEGO art. But with this book, each example evolves you into the next more complex example. The nice thing about these examples is the comments scattered through out. There is a bit of theory explaining how it should work before you get into the construction. This really helps you understand why you are building each part. Eventually you build up to building MIBO, the LEGO doggie on the cover. Personally I couldn't build MIBO since I only have a single RCX, but the concepts he explains gave me new ideas and a drive to build with my current resources.

Every LEGO Mindstorms enthusiast should have this book next to their LEGO storage bin. It's a great reference book when you are in a creative mood.

You can purchase LEGO Mindstorms: The Master's Technique at bn.com. You can read your own book reviews in this space by submitting your reviews after reading the book review guidelines.

Comments

Legos are expensive

[Vietomatic]

Legos are quite expensive nowadays. In order to build a huge project, or even a more "tech" one with motors and IC chips, it takes a small fortune.

How about Lego software so kids can build virtual structures?

Re:Legos are expensive

[aziraphale]

LDRAW - or, more specifically, the fabulous MLCAD program - is exactly what you want. Unfortunately, doesn't handle working technic models, but it's still a helluvalot of fun.

Wasn't there a project to create a data model for describing lego parts in terms of valid connections to other lego parts, so you could build virtual lego models with moving parts?

Re:Legos are expensive

[cornjones]

LEGO.com has a builder on their site.
https://club.lego.com/build/brickbuilder.asp
If that doesn't get you there go to LEGO.com and go to games and you should see the brick builder app.

Re:Legos are expensive

[ThatTallGuy]

One of the challenges of LEGOs, like writing computer programs used to be, is to do the most you can with your limited resources. Run chain or gearing to make your one motor do many things. Make an object hollow or with outlines or gaps to save pieces. Practice efficiency of design.

A virtual set would probably give you as many of piece X as you want. LEGO bloat would set in. You could build LEGO Office...

Re:Legos are expensive

[talonyx]

Kids like to PLAY with the lego, once it is built. Thats why there are Pirate and Space and all those other kinds of lego - with people - so that kids can make adventures with the stuff they build afterwards. The best possible thing for a developing imagination!

There's no reason to take away that great advantage and make kids painstaikingly try to build things in 3D. If they can't do it, they'll give up, and Lego won't be fun for them anymore.

Re:Legos are expensive

[mobets]

That's neat, but way too limeted. I want a program where I can design stuff with technics peices, including gears, chains, belts, and other interesting stuff. And then when I'm done, watch it work.

Re:Legos are expensive

[Jacek Poplawski]

Legos are quite expensive nowadays. In order to build a huge project, or even a more "tech" one with motors and IC chips, it takes a small fortune.

I disagree.
I am owner of Lego Mindstorms and many Technic sets (including additional motors) - this wasn't expensive. You can bought everything on auctions, it's cheaper than you think.
This toy is great, of course PC with Linux is better, but when you have your PC you can try something else.

Re:Legos are expensive

[Paul Komarek]

I agree that LEGOs are expensive, in that you have to expend valuable money to acquire sufficient quantities of this valuable toy. But I have never seen a better option for physical prototyping. If you've ever

*) looked at the price of a CNC milling machine, or
*) investigated the effort and money needed for working with plastics, or
*) sought in vain for a house in Pittsburgh with a room to use as a wood shop (or fretted about using power tools at 9pm because you lived in an apartment)
*) discovered just how expensive a linear bearing really is

then you know why LEGOs are worthwhile.

Sure you might have to work your idea around the blocks that the LEGO corporation provides (often using
-Paul Komarek

Lego Mindsprings?

[Smallest]

Do the editors even read the articles??

We know the answer.

-c

Virtual Legos

[qurob]

How about Lego software so kids can build virtual structures?

You can't step on a piece with your bare foot, put pieces in your mouth, and your dog can't accidently crush your 4-day project.

Twenty Years From Now

[cheeseflan]

One of the most fascinating things about Mindstorms is the thought about kids playing with these as they grew up. Twenty years ago we were playing with the first home computers, something everyone dismissed as an expensive, pointless hobby. Sound familiar?

Will this be the point that future historians point to to say "here was when the mainstream robotics revolution started"?

Re:Twenty Years From Now

[Mad Man]

Dialogue ommitted from The Terminator:

"The Series 200 Terminators were made out of interlocking plastic bricks. We spotted them easily..."

This book is a great find

[PhysicsGenius]

Believe it or not, we use Lego all the time down at the lab. They are great for building pretty sophistimacated models of nuclear structures with motors even providing realistic 3d movement. The fundamental sizes of the pieces and placement of holes and such are used to implement h, the planck unit of action.

Some of our more brainy "Legheads" as we call them spend several weeks building Lego models of various particles, then ram them together to get a first order approximation of what they'll find during a (much more expensive!) accelerator run.

Re:This book is a great find

[Permission Denied]

I am replying to this with my +2 bonus so you moderators will see this - this guy got a +3 for complete and utter crap:

placement of holes and such are used to implement h, the planck unit of action.

then ram them together to get a first order approximation of what they'll find during a (much more expensive!) accelerator run..

OMFG - moderators actually take this pseudo-intellecualist crap seriously?! Look at this guy's history page - he does this all the time. I've responded before when he came up with some crap about gcc implementing "just-in-time assembly" - and he got a +4 informative for that. Do some people just mod up when they see big scary words?

If you're going to moderate this guy, I'd suggest +5 funny. It's amazing just how successful he is at spewing total crap and getting gullible moderators to believe him. An excellent troll (troll in the old usenet sense of the word, not the "BSD is dying"/goatse.cx slashdot kind troll), a true master of his trade. Those who know anything about any technical matters whatsoever are in on the joke, while those who are clueless just nod and smile.

Ah, yes - news for nerds. Refreshing.

Legos are awesome

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

I have about $10,000 in legos in rather large boxes in my closet. It's to bad I don't have any of the fun ones with all the gears and motors and stuff.

In high school I was in a robotics class though, we built a lift out of legos using I think about 4 sets worth of parts (mostly for reinforcing) and we lifted about 50 pounds with it. Probably coulda done more but we didn't want to start breaking rods and gears

I haven't had a chance to play with the mindstorm stuff yet, but rest assured if I had the money I would!

About Jin

[CrezzyMan]

Jin Sato is one truly awesome builder, let me tell you. I'm pleased to see that he's finally written an English-language Mindstorms book. Lots of his stuff has been published in Japanese.

Back when I used to go to RTLToronto meetings, Jin always brought along some of his creations. I've seen that Aibo-looking dog up close, and it was pretty awesome: IIRC, the two RCXs communicate to each other in order to walk. His two-legged walker is interesting as well.

More links:
Jin Sato's Mindstorms website
RTLToronto, a LEGO enthusiasts group for the Southern Ontario area
A nice photo (JPEG) of Jin's table at a previous RTLToronto get-together.

Mindstorms and Education

[krswan]

Lego sells a version of Mindstorms for schools (Called
Robolab) along with curriculum, teacher training, etc... In my opinion, it is one of the best tools out there to actually get kids thinking, creating, and using technology for something other than processing worksheets and delivering standardized tests.

The activities that come with Robolab are OK to start with, but the real learning comes when kids come up with their own problems to solve and robots to create. I have seen kids make fax machines, robots that blow bubbles, machines that sort items based on their color or a bar code... there are limitless possibilities.

The software that comes with the set is ok also, but there are a bunch of free compiliers out there so code can be written in C, Logo, etc... and sent to the Lego "brick".

Now schools just need money to buy these and time to train the teachers!

robotics clubs

[octalgirl]

Thanks for the review. I've been looking for a good lego book. I am part of a lego robotics club at the middle school where I work, and the Mindstorms kits are at the heart of this program. The kids compete at an annual Robotics Park in events like chain-reaction (sort of the old mouse trap game where you put a ball in and a series of events happen) and of course the robot competition. We had a heck of a time this year trying to find good examples of claws. We needed one where the robot would drive out, pick up a sponge, then drive back to base. We managed and did ok. Came in 5th out of 28. For all of you lego fans out there - keep your local schools in mind. If they are involved in a program like this (many are), then they need as many lego parts and gears and motors as possible. Also the plastic bins to keep everything. Most schools are also crying for volunteers. We have the kids lined up to join, but not enough adults to take this on. It is a committment, but a very rewarding one. Esp if you like building robots, cause then you have scheduled time to do it and get to teach the kids along the away. Before selling any of your old lego or construx parts at a yard sale, think of donating them first. thanks!

My webcam

[brejc8]

I built a cool webcam out of lego and you can control it over the web.
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~brejc8/camera.html
This is how i built it

Re:My webcam

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

My God man, you let every slashdot user control the thing? Funny clicking noises and smoke - I can see it now - poor little webcam

Re:My webcam

[Paul Komarek]

It was the noise that pursueded me to scrap my lego-controlled webcam. The webcam wasn't a LEGO part, and was effectively a smooth sphere with a couple square bits on it (3com Big Picture NTSC). Between the harness and the focus mechanism (thank heavens of the current generation of squishy rubber LEGO tires), the device became pretty heavy. Add to that a third motor that is at least 10 years old and only turns at high speed, and the sound was terrible.

I did use my limit sensors to control some things, and dead-reckoning to keep the user from completely unscrewing the lense during focussing (and later bought rotation sensors to help that sort of thing).

-Paul Komarek

Accuracy in Simulation.

[Baka*Exp 2]

To be completely accurate a lego sim would need to be able to determine the final project midway. Then randomly choose one part and make sure you have 1 too few.

My Lego Plan

[Hut-Moll]

For all you closet Lego freaks there is a simple answer. 1. Have kids 2. Buy the legos, tell you wife they are "For the kids" 3. When every you play with them by yourself you can always say "I was making it for little Johnny" 4. Whenever you make something really cool make sure "little Johnny" isn't around to break it. My wife has already figured out that I am a geek. I did well to hide it from her while we were dating. She figured it out after about 2 months of living together. But I'm hoping this little Lego plan I have will put her off for a few months. This may be a little off topic but when I was 10 my life revolved around building robots with my legos, writing BASIC on my TRS-80 CoCo and DND. The really telling mark was that I wrote a DND Module on my TRS-80 CoCo.

Re:My Lego Plan

[hamjudo]

Bad plan. Better to marry someone who understands.

I got Lego's as a tenth anniversary present from my wife.

Re:My Lego Plan

[brer_rabbit]

More simply said...

1. Get Legos.
2. ???
3. Profit

Apple IIe and Legos

[shepmaster]

I still have, sitting less than 10 feet away from me, my DACTA set to connect my LEGOs to my old Apple IIe. it was the basis for a lot of my life now. It was the first chance I had to install a 3rd party card into a computer, the first chance I had to program, and the first chance I had to build anything of substance. I got it for my birthday, and at an amazing price of $4000! (Forgive me if that is horribly wrong, but I was young, and I swear thats what my dad said they cost.) If nothing else, it allows me to keep around my IIe for a long time.

Lego as project planning tool

[mccalli]

Long, long ago in a company far, far away my Dad was a quality control manager in a Sheffield steelworks.

Now, office computing didn't really exist at this time - PCs weren't even a glimmer in IBM's corporate eye, and I don't think that Apple had got going either (mid-seventies). Yet projects were still planned and still needed to be tracked.

My dad suggested using Lego. He got laughed at at first, but eventually converted the company to using it. The idea is simple: buy a big base board , some different coloured long bricks, and voila: a fully editable dependency chart can be created just by moving the bricks around.

Powerpoint? Pah. PAH!

Cheers,
Ian

ENGR116/ENGR117

[reschly]

At my school, we used lego mindstorms for class projects. This was for honors freshman engineering classes. In the first semester class (a general engineering education class), we had to make them go through a maze, using the lego programming language. In the second semester class, a C/FORTRAN programming class, we had to make them go to assigned spots in specified amounts of times, programming them in C. Certainly wasn't easy. Biggest problem was that the lego parts weren't dependable to perform the same every time.

Re:A Robot to Photocopy Book that Turns Pages

[wass]

While not quite what you're looking for, and not including any page-turning abilities, these two projects are pretty cool.

Here is a Lego Copy Machine that is one of the coolest Lego Mindstorms projects. I don't know who made the first Lego copier, but whoever did is cool as hell. Basically, the only non-lego part is a pen, which moves up or down, depending if the light sensor sees white or black.

pretty damn cool.

For a variation on the theme, here is a scanner , which uses only rubber wheels in addition to the other Legos.

Where to get rack pieces?

[epepke]

I have a LEGO Mindstorm kit, and I find it great. However, I also find it difficult to get pieces. One of the things I need are some racks. I want to build a robot that will go up and down a track with fairly precise control, and rack and pinion seems to be the best way to do this.

There used to be a LEGO Technic forklift kit with lots of racks and pinions and also an add-on kit with a bunch of racks. However, even when I go to the LEGO outlet, all the Technic kits I see are fairly useless cars or robots, and there don't seem to be any add-on kits. The Mindstorm add-on kit has a lot of weird pieces (including a foot pedal), but no racks.

Does anybody know where to get extra racks, pinions, gears, wheels, and other bread-and-butter pieces for complex kits?

Re:Where to get rack pieces?

[Poomah]

I've gotten lots of piecs from Pitsco. They sell parts in bulk and interesting sets.

Re:Where to get rack pieces?

[BigFig]

You can find all sorts of Lego pieces, including the racks you're looking for at http://www.pldstore.com. Go to the "Spare Parts, Tools & Resources" department. I've never ordered from them myself, but I know they've got LOTS of stuff to choose from!

Re:Where to get rack pieces?

[Omote]

Check here:

http://www.1000steine.de/english.htm

They've got a bulk auction site link off the main page. If you've got time, check out some of the pictures - simply amazing.

Re:Where to get rack pieces?

[tibbar]

best place to get parts mindstorms/technic/ or just plain brick

http://www.bricklink.com/

as an old fart who got back into lego recently
this is by far the best place to get parts

Re:Where to get rack pieces?

[jchawk]

I've ordered from Pitsco and it was a wonderful experience. I needed a serial IR tower because the 2.0 mindstorm set comes with a usb, which is hard to get working under linux (alpha drivers only).

I went to their website, ordered it and with in a few days I had it in my hands. :-)

Jin Sato

[Deanasc]

Judging by his website, Jin Sato is the Mozart of Lego's. That being said I'm intimidated by the complexities of his robots. Add to that the fact that he often uses several identical and expensive sets and you'll find that the average Lego enthusiast can't approach his level of building.

Here's another good lego book

[RumGunner]

This book uses more technic style legos, cheaper, and easier for kids to get their hands on.

Lego Crazy Action Contraptions

Get a life, you pedantic twerp.

[jabber01]

Do you ever exceed the speed limit while driving? Granted, the speed limit isn't in the LEGO FAQ, but it's a rule, a Law, and yet you break it with regularity, don't you?

Get over your 'leet skilz of FAQtoid enforcement, and learn to appreciate life without being an anal-retentive bastich. LegoS are fun to play with. (Yes, that sentence ends on a preposition. Wanna spank me?)

Has Lego sued Slashdot yet?

[dananderson]

I'm surprised to see the Lego building block on Slashdot. Has Lego sued you yet?

Don't get me wrong. I love Lego building blocks and enjoyed them as a kid. I think they are still useful and fun for kids in today's overly-structured environment.

Anywho, one of the early websites erected in 1994 or so was by a voluntter Lego fan. He put up all sorts of Lego trivia and had cute lego graphics. Wasn't making any money and wasn't dissin' Lego.

In 1995, the site went blank. All it had was a copy of this letter from a lawyer in Denmark (I think), where Legos are made. In a rather unfriendly tone it said to ceise and desist (sp) immediately or be sued. The Lego volunteer shut the website down.

In summary, Post a Lego on the Web--Go to Jail (a good bumper sticker :-).

Re:Has Lego sued Slashdot yet?

[Chelloveck]

I'm surprised to see the Lego building block on Slashdot. Has Lego sued you yet?

The LEGO Corporation seems to have lightened up on this. Their site now has this fair play page that describes how an enthusiast site can reference LEGO bricks without stepping on trademark and copyright issues. They even allow "scanning of limited extracts" of their copyrighted materials as long as you're not trying to suggest that the LEGO Corporation is in any way connected with your site. The guidelines seem quite reasonable, allowing use of the LEGO trademarks and material while still protecting the corporation's intellectual property.

Re:Has Lego sued Slashdot yet?

[DNS-and-BIND]

Lego, like TSR and Microsoft, has a rather nasty history of suing anyone who goes 'boo'. All you have to do is whisper 'Lego' and they're all over your ass. Most old-family owned places are like this, must be something.

Re:Has Lego sued Slashdot yet?

[FurryFeet]

All you have to do is whisper 'Lego' and they're all over your ass

And then you'd be all like: "Hey, le'go! Le'go", and then you'd be sued again and again, and more lawyers would be clinging to your butt...
That's it. No more caffeine.

Thanks, all!

[epepke]

Very helpful information.

Re:lego and a life

[colmore]

Your barriers to Lego nirvana are purely mental. If you think having a wife and child will enable you to have *more* Legos, then you are not spending enough of your single income on legos right now. If you would just re-prioritize legos above things like food and rent, then your problems would all be solved.

Re:lego and a life

[plover]

"Marraigicide" isn't a word.

Hell, "marriage" isn't a word, either. It's a sentence.

Re:"LEGO" is a proper name

[DNS-and-BIND]

Are you one of Lego's lawyers posting here?

Seriously, who cares what some corporation thinks? I had legos as a kid and they're mine, not theirs. Get it, grammar nazi?

palm based lego

[lpret]

I saw an article on Slashdot eons ago that talked about a robot made of legos that ran off of a palm V as it's 'brain.' It was pretty impressive, and I wonder if there is a way to do this with this robot kit...

getting started cheap!

[joekool]

after getting my kit I figured out that a lot of the time you need either another RCX brick(the lego computer) or another motor, to do anything--the easiest, and cheapest way to get these is to get something like the droid developer kit, which has a scout brick in it, which has some sensors, and a motor. It is also controllable from the RCX. There are a few similar bricks, all of which are MUCH cheaper that the RCX brick (like half price. I have seen the droid kit on Ebay for as little as $30.

Why stop with the book :)

[ZenBuddha]

We don't have to stop at the Book. You can use this nifty little JAVA SDK to create a LEGO Robots that do all sorts of stuff. Infrared Communication, Voice Recognition, and Robotic Vision Oh My......
JavaTM Technology and Lego Mindstorm Robots
Robotics Developers Kit