Brick Labs

Fay Rhodes has done some excellent work with both her books regarding building LEGO NXT Animals.
The first book, is the Zoo Book. You can buy it at Amazon.

Here is a Rabbit from the Zoo Book:

Next up, is another book from Fay Rhodes. Robots Alive! Endangered Species

Here is a frog from the Endangered Species book:

Both books are great. They are all built from LEGO NXT kits, with some extra parts. You can see the Endangered Species parts list (pdf download), and the Zoo Book parts list to see what other pieces you need.

OK. It’s Christmas time… and that means… time for making a list right?

I have two Christmas requests this year.

1) An Amazon Kindle DX.

2) Amazon Gift Certificates. Any amount… $5 is great…

3) A LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547) (ok, so I can’t count)

So… what’s on YOUR wishlist?

Amazon has a sale going right now. $227 US for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2 kit. Seems to be the best price around right now…

You often see people trying to mimic animals.  Especially in how they move.  I’ve seen robots that crawl, walk with 2 legs, walk with 4 legs, swim, slither and now… run.

Robert Full shared some ideas on TED way back in February 2005.  He shows some great research that was done in how certain critters can move so fast over such unstable mediums, such as screen, gravel, or vertically up a wall.

It’s definitely worth watching… maybe someone will create a running robot with some LEGO parts and some ideas from this video?  If you do, send me a link!  :)

Found via Brothers Brick.

As most of you know, I wrote one of the chapters in the One Kit Wonders book.  As such, there are certain terms that have to be used when writing about LEGO.

Brick Bender has put together a short version of some writing styles.  Here is a couple quotes, and then the link to the full article:

-LEGO is always singular and should be used as a modifier/adjective; ie. LEGO bricks, LEGO elements, or LEGO parts.

-They are not blocks, they are bricks.

Brick Bender – An unofficial style guide