Lego Robotics(Build Stage)
- 1. Robotics: Lego Mindstorm NXT Introduction and Building
- 2. What is a Robot? A robot is simply a machine that is programmed to operate a task on its own.
- 3. Changing Views When you’re building a robot, you have to think of it as a machine to serve a function. Understand how computers think with algorithms when you program. And become very, very patient.
- 4. Stage 1: Building We will learn more about programming in stage 2, but the first steps to making our Lego NXT robot is the building phase. Building is usually the most fun, as with any Lego model, but there are a few things to learn about building an NXT robot.
- 5. Watch the Base! Actually watch the NXT brick! The main brick in building our robot is the NXT brick. It is the programmable computer that will tell our robot what to do. This also means it has to be the base of our robot, we must build everything around the NXT brick for our robot to function. (Be sure not to block access to the control buttons on the NXT brick)
- 6. But you can see that the NXT brick doesn’t limit what you can design for your robot!
- 7. Movement and Sensors We use servos any time we are building something that needs to move. Servos are simply small motors. They are the only power source of the robot, and become just as essential as the NXT brick in our robotic system.
- 8. There are various sensors that the Lego Mindstorm sets use. Sensors are not essential to every creation we make, but they can serve valuable functions depending on what we want our robot to do. Realize that robots don’t have senses like organic creatures, they have to rely on sensors to see, touch, or hear. So there might be times that you will want to use the Touch, Sound, Light, or Ultrasonic sensor.
- 9. Time to Start We have just seen the basic components of the NXT system, so now is the time to jump right in and Build! Let’s take a look at the Build Ins tio Ha o ing truc ns nd ut You will now be grouped into teams to begin making your first robot. Once you have been grouped you can make a name for your team if you like.
- 10. Keep in Mind This is just Stage 1. We will learn how to program our robots in Stage 2. And Stage 3 we will have a friendly obstacle course competition to test out your robotic design prowess. But don’t forget the basics of how you need to design your robots, because after stage 3 your teams can design whatever you like to be creative!
- 11. Complete and move on to Stage 2:Programming