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Lego to Open Mindstorms NXT Firmware
ajdlinux writes "LEGO has officially announced that the firmware for the Mindstorms NXT will be open source. They will be releasing several developer kits and the firmware source during August, the kits containing the NXT driver specs, the schematics for the hardware connection and the Bluetooth protocol used by the NXT. The NXT will be only US$250, which is only slightly more expensive than the Mindstorms RIS2 kit. I certainly can't wait. " We had covered the earlier announcement of this kit.
The link is incorrect.
c e%20Announcement.aspx
You have trimmed the spaces from the name.
correct one is: http://mindstorms.lego.com/press/2057/Open%20Sour
liquidcoooled
liqbase
By default, would I be able to control the sucker from my cellphone? Or is that something they have to specifically program into the control software?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I can see no mention of the actual license in the press release (or anywhere on the mindstorm site for that matter).
Lego saying its Open Source is all well & good, but that means nothing. It may not be an OSI approved license - but even if it is, the differences between BSD - style "open source" licenses and gpl style "open source" licenses is huge.
Anyone know what the license actually is?
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Just look at that robot on that homepage. Imagine all the things that it can do. Why, if Lego scaled up all its parts, I bet it could take on ASIMO easily.
But seriously, if more work were put into developing things like this - toys such that everyday people with some ingenuity and some creativity could program their own robots, I believe that we would have a lot more ideas as far as where to take robots.
Right now, major robotic undertakings seem to be limited to those with the research capital and funding to make them happen. If this were the thing that was researched, I would think that we would be seeing a lot more cool stuff developed as a result.
Especially with the release of the firmware as open source. Lego is just inviting people of all capabilities to work with it.
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
I think I'm going to have to get one of these soon. I haven't seen any of these nifty Lego toys for adults in any shops in Sweden (for instance) but there are many shops in Europe you can order from online.
:This session reports on continuing work on developing Java(TM) technology for use in university-level robotics. It focuses on the issue of creating cost-effective and easily programmed intelligent robot swarms (n>10). Interesting swarms are composed of heterogeneous robots, but this quickly complicates programming. The presenters previously simplified the heterogeneous programming problem by using I/O tagging and reported on this at the 2005 JavaOneSM conference, in TS-1464. This presentation describes how they have successfully created a swarm of heterogeneous robots, based on Lego mechanical components, sharing a common code base, with a variety of non-Lego sensors.
If you are heading for Java One this year, there is this interesting seminar:
BOF-0503: Java(TM) Technology in an Intelligent Swarm of Heterogeneous Lego Robots
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
They are not the only one. Radio Shack is one of the current vendors of the VEX product line of robotics and beginning robotics.
I find the VEX line a bit more fun as it's easier to toss the controller after you get to the more advanced stages and use a 68hc11 or other processor on a dev board for more fun and real brobot action... but then that is a small step away from building one from scratch which makes the VEX a really nice way to ease a child into the world of real robotics wher you fabricate and build most of the machine from parts.
Because the VEX uses standard aircraft servo connectors it's easy to get their sensors and parts to a homebrew processor.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You can already program these toys with the free editions of the Visual Studio software.4 .html
:-(
http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS412745533
Why, oh why didn't we get to have toys like these in out childhood.
Actually, this was Lego's plan all along. They obtained the help of the most crazed Mindstorms hobbyists to help them design the product line. This wired article is probably the best one that involved the process behind creating the line.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,69946-0.html
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.