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The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide

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The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide

(23 customer reviews)

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The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set includes a variety of powerful electronic parts (motors, sensors, and the programmable NXT microcomputer) and lots of building elements. With these parts you can create thousands of unique, intelligent robots. The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide helps you to harness the capabilities of the NXT set and effectively plan, build, and program your own NXT robots.
The first part of the book contains a brief introduction to the NXT set. You'll then examine the pieces in the NXT set and the roles they play in construction. Next, you'll learn practical building techniques, like how to build sturdy structures and work with gears. Then it's time to learn how to program with the official NXT-G programming language (and learn a bit about several unofficial programming languages). You'll also learn what author David J. Perdue calls the MINDSTORMS method: a strategy for creating your own robots. Finally, you'll follow step-by-step instructions for building, programming, and testing six sample robots (all of which can be built using only the parts found in one NXT set). These six robots include:

Zippy-Bot, a two-wheeled vehicle with a ball caster

Bumper-Bot, a version of Zippy-Bot that explores your room and avoids objects

Claw-Bot, a version of Zippy-Bot that searches for objects and pushes them away with its claw

Tag-Bot, a four-wheeled steering vehicle that dashes around while you try to "tag" it with a flashlight

Guard-Bot, a six-legged walking robot that launches a ball at intruders

Golf-Bot, a stationary robot that finds a target and then hits a ball into the target

You'll also find an NXT-G Quick Reference, which provides information on the 30 types of standard programming blocks, and the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Piece Library, which features detailed information and images of the more than 80 types of LEGO pieces in the NXT set.
So go ahead. Grab your NXT set, fire up your creative mind, and see what you can invent with The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide.

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Product Details

Author:	David J. Perdue
Paperback:	300 pages
Publisher:	No Starch Press
Publication Date:	October 29, 2007
Language:	English
ISBN:	1593271549
Package Length:	9.9 inches
Package Width:	8.0 inches
Package Height:	0.8 inches
Package Weight:	1.35 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 23 reviews

Features

ISBN13: 9781593271541
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 5.0

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Another great one Aug 16, 2010
My son loves this book, too. Again, he has had it for almost 2 years and still loves it. He has sucessfully created several of the robots without trouble. He was 8 yrs old when I bought it and is now 10. He sneaks and reads it under his covers at night as well.

Does it come in Color :-) Apr 19, 2010
This book does a good job by starting out with an introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics, introducing to the pieces and letting the users know about the potential of the kit and what to expect.

Building the robot essentials are also very well laid out and tell you how to make strong and useable robot designs, Author also has attempted to use high quality drawings which are used to help illustrate its uniquely intuitive layouts, but I feel that it could have been even better if the drawings were in full color for kids to know their pieces and put them together faster by looking at the drawings alone.

The chapters in the book are partitioned into four areas, the first three parts comprises the first half of the book. The Parts one through three focuses on an introduction, building and programming. It is actually part four of the book that provides the reader a chance to exercise the knowledge gained in previous chapters with extensive, quality project guides. A total of six different robots namely Zippy-bot, Bumper-bot, Claw-bot, Tag-bot, Guard-bot, Golf-bot with detailed building and programming instructions are presented.

And for those who aren't so sure why building a robot is a worthy pastime, Check out my another favorite Author Jim Kelly who offers excellent Adventure based robot design books like LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure (Technology in Action) and the sequel LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure (Technology in Action)

If you have recently purchased a LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547) the book is *must have* to go with the kit, This book definitely has excellent value! - Buy one!

Great book to learn more about Mindstorms NXT Mar 13, 2010
The book provides a great overview of NXT platform and teaches how to build more complex robots using several projects. The first sections provides an introduction to what is in the kit before going into how to build common components. The middle sections contain several robot projects that teach how to build more complex robots, both with the bricks and sensors and how to create programs for them. I found it very useful quickly learning how to build complex robots and understanding how the graphical programming language works.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Helpful book Feb 06, 2010
Very good book, helps getting started with Mindstorms. Easy to use for my 11 year old.

0 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Great overview book of NXT Oct 22, 2009
Even though I have been working with the NXT as a teacher since it came out, I learned things about how to better build or program the NXT. Since I teach mostly introductory robotics using the NXT, I explored some additional concepts using this book.

If you are new to the NXT, this is for sure a great first book to read. It begins with explainations of the LEGO pieces used in the NXT kit and then explores all of the basic programming blocks.

For someone who has used the NXT, but just jumped into it without any previous Mindstorms experience or training, this book will help you fill in the gaps you probably have with the NXT. Some more advanced concepts are also covered for someone wanting to reach a little further in their NXT knowledge.