Brick Labs

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders–New from No Starch Press: How to Build Innovative Robots with Just One NXT Kit
San Francisco, CA, November 12, 2008—When the creative minds behind The NXT STEP blog co-authored The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book [...]

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A German builder named leggor has created a remote control for his NXT fatboy motorcyle.  That by itself isn’t anything new.  Many folks have created remote controls for their NXT projects.
What is neat about this remote control… is it simulates a real motorcycle handlebar.  Complete with twistable throttle and a break.
A simple shot of the [...]

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ThinkingBricks.com left me a note the other day.  It’s something I noticed myself, but forgot to pass along.
Right now, Toys R’ Us is having another of it’s “Buy 2, get 3rd Free” sales on LEGO kits.  In the past, they have excluded the NXT systems.
Not this time!
You can get three NXT Robotics Kits for [...]

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Sneak peak at the cover of a new book coming out soon.  Expected ship-date is November 2008.
The book contains 10 robots that can each be built with a single NXT kit.  Many of the robots have extra challenges for you to accomplish.
All the robots have high resolution digital instructions so you can build the [...]

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Originally built in January of 2007, the Pin Plotter has undergone several changes.  The current version is capable of producing 1.3 holes per millimeter!
As you can see from the picture on the left, the detail is very good.
The needle (for punching the holes in the paper) is the only non-LEGO part in the model.
The write-up [...]

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I’m the proud new owner of Jack.  Jack is an Omnibot 2000.  He was left on my doorstep in a basket, with a spare change of batteries.  I don’t know who his parents are, so I’ve adopted him.
Unfortunately, Jack has one problem.  He is missing his remote.  This means, I can’t control Jack’s behavior. [...]

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Originally designed by inventor Greg Blonder, this version of the clock is powered by the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT system.  It uses foam core for the slider and framing.
There is a video of the Slide Rule Clock in action, plus links to Greg Blonder’s original renderings of the Slide Rule Clock.
A rather nice idea.  I have [...]

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Cory Walker has developed a new set of libraries for working with your NXT from a C++ program.  He calls it NXT++.
NXT++ is an interface written in C++ that allows the control LEGO MINDSTORMS robots directly through USB or Bluetooth connections. The interface is intended to be simple and easy to use. The code can [...]

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If you’re like me, you fight with a Rubik’s Cube.  So why not let your LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit do the dirty work?

 
Hans Andersson has built a Rubik’s Cube solver.  “But this has been done before” you say.  True… except for this solver is built entirely from a stock NXT Retail Kit.  That’s right.  [...]

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