Monocle, a trendy new upscale magazine has posted a video of an interview with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the CEO of the Lego Group. While he doesn't speak at all specificly about Mindstorms, he does provide alot of information on where he plans on taking the Lego Group. The plan is unlike any I've ever heard for a big multi-national company, in that they don't plan on growing thier userbase, and instead plan on trying to sell more Lego to the people that like Lego. It seems that since it is a privately owned company they are able to get away with such an approach. I would imagine that anyone reading this already likes Lego and therefore tis good news for us. It means that Lego will try to produce more actual kits and less things like Lego cars, that are really just hot-wheels made of Lego. Jørgen also says that Lego is trying to involve its fanbase in the design of its future products, which is clearly evident in the NXT development. Once again this is great news for those of us who think we have great ideas for new Lego designs. Check out the whole video over at Monocle's website.
» Read more: Monocle Interview of Lego CEO
Archive for February, 2007
Monocle Interview of Lego CEO
February 28th, 2007Tasty Beverage Fetcher: Part 1
February 27th, 2007
When I first got my Lego Mindstorms NXT, and was talking to my friends about it they were somewhat unimpressed with what it could do. Follow a black line around.. Meh. A little humanoid that walks and dances… Meh. An arm that can pick up a ball… You get the idea. They wanted to know if it could do something useful, like go and get a tasty beverage from the fridge. At first I didn't think it would be possible. However as I am quickly learning, nothing is really impossible to make with Lego's, somethings are just harder than others (or require more pieces). Now that I've got some good experience under my belt, and have amassed a healthy Lego collection, I'm ready to begin building my Tasty Beverage Fetcher. I'm looking forward to the day when I can sit on my couch watching the game, and summon my robotic Lego contraption to bring me some refreshments. In Part 1 I'll discuss the progress so far, and what challenges I am anticipating in the future. Read the whole article after the jump, or check out some pictures in the Gallery.
» Read more: Tasty Beverage Fetcher: Part 1
Chimney Climber Bot
February 21st, 2007
This is a rather unique bot designed by Laurens200. Unlike almost every other NXT Bot I've seen instead of going sideways it goes up. It uses a pair of motors pressing on two parrel walls (such as a Chimmney) to go straight up. Not a very complex bot, but its quite an intresting idea. Check out some more pictures and a video over at Laurens's site.
Rover 2.0
February 20th, 2007
After realizing the limitations of my previous camera bot platform, Rover 1.0, I've rebuilt the camera bot into a new version, aptly named Rover 2.0. I've completely redesigned the frame, with the intention of keeping the bot small and stable. Since I wanted to allow the camera to rotate with the front wheels, I needed to develop a steering mechnisim, and since the Lego Snowmobile set has such a nice one I decided to use that. As a bonus this setup also includes a nifty suspension. Sadly after slapping a motor onto it I realized that while the setup works well when its not loaded, it isn't robust enough for my needs. Everytime the motor over turned a bit, the entire thing fell apart. Of course this could be solved by using a sensor to prevent this, I decided it would be better to rebuild the steering mechanism to somethign that coudl handle the forcces involved a bit better. Also while I was hoping the suspension would help stabilize the camera, it was way to stiff to actualy be of use. Check out all the pictures in the gallery.
» Read more: Rover 2.0
New Issue of Brickjournal
February 19th, 2007
Issue 6 of BrickJournal has been released. For those unfamiliar with BrickJournal, its a Lego magazine that is only avalibe online as a pdf. Its written by a small staff that seems to have a good realtionship with the Lego Group. This means that its got lots of good articles about the inner workings of the company. For instance in this issue there is an interview with Lego CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, as well as a interview with Steven Canvin, the director of the Mindstorms NXT program. Steven gives a ncie inside look as to how the NXT project was developed with the help of the community. For those of us that are new to the hobby its great to hear that Lego really seems to value the thoughts and opinions of the adult user base. Theres a bunh of other good information in this issue, and I highly recommend checking it out. You can download it from the various mirrors linked over at Lugnet.
» Read more: New Issue of Brickjournal
Rover watching a Ball
February 16th, 2007{youtube}DtRFylIC7_I{/youtube}
A video of Rover 1.0 tracking a red ball as it moves on a string. As detailed in the full Rover 1.0 writeup, its using Roborealm software to track the ball as it moves back and forth. The next iteration will be to roam around a room and actulay find the ball and bring it back. Yes this will turn my NXT into a slightly less cuddly, significantly less cute, but much less hairy Golden Retriever.
222Doc’s Biped
February 15th, 2007
The most feature filled NXT BiPed I've seen so far, 222Doc has built a BiPed using two NXT bricks. It has a total of six motors three powering each leg. Although this adds a significant amount of weight to the project, it allows the BiPed all sorts of neat functionalitiy. Not only can it walk in a straight line, it looks like it can pivot on a single foot. It also has a camera as well as a ultrasonic sensor. No other information on its programing is given but with these sensors it can probaly self-navigate a room. Check out all the pictures in his gallery.
Rover 1.0
February 14th, 2007
Rover is my first sight enabled bot. Rather than using a plain light sensor He's got a full camera, allowing him to not only see objects, but colors as well. Well thats the plan anyway. Things are turnign out to be somehwat more difficult than I excpected. However I was able to build a very simple bot and program him (with some PC help) to be able to follow a red ball around. Rover has a camera that is attached to the steering wheels, which allows him to see which way he is going. He also has a seprate motor that powers the rear wheels and allows him to move forward and back. After working with this simple design for a few weeks, I've decided that its not really the best, and I am going to completely rebuild it. Check out all the pictures in the Gallery. Read more about the camera, and the bot after the jump!
» Read more: Rover 1.0
Got a Spare $500 to spend?
February 12th, 2007
Lego has just announced the biggest, baddest (and most expensive) Lego set ever made! Clocking in with almost 2000 more pieces than the previous heavy weight (the Death Star II) the Ultimate Collector Series Millenium Falcon has 5195 pieces is almost 3ft long and costs and astounding $500. It also comes with all the cool Star Wars Mini-figs, Han, Leia, Luke, and of course Chewy. Built to the Mini-Fig scale, this means that the Mini-Figs actualy fit inside the cockpit! It doesn't sound like it will be shipping for awhile, but its avalible for pre-order on the Lego site today.
» Read more: Got a Spare $500 to spend?
New Version of Robolab
February 12th, 2007
A new patch has been announced for Robolab. The new version number is 2.9.3 and appears to be quite substantial. Besides for the additions to teh desktop software, there is also a new firmware version (7.07) for the NXT which adds a slew of new features. The NXT motors now synch better, allow for flipped orentation, and have improved braking and lfoating. The NXT can also now draw ellipises on screen, calculate sine and cosine and allows for onscreen programming. The desktop software adds support for a bunch of 3rd aprty sensors from Mindsensors and HiTechnic. It also improves datalogging, music and icons, as well as a numbr of bug fixes. Check out the full release notes, and download the patch over at LegoEngineering.com
» Read more: New Version of Robolab
