The dawn of NXT robotics has lead masses of robotics fans around the world to implement this powerful development kit into their hobbies. Through its evolution from simple, rudimentary autonomous assembly projects to highly elaborate and versatile projects with diverse utility, this Lego robotics platform has become the robotics introduction tool for schools and clubs around the world. Since its birth over a decade ago, the system has dramatically been enhanced because of the explosive demand that quickly followed after its initial release. It is quite astounding the sheer number and the quality and complexity of kits to build robots projects that exist today, and the evidence is all over the web.
The Sudoku Solving robot built using graphical programming for Lego is one amazing example that illustrates the limitless potential of this pragmatic education tool and entertaining hobby kit. This particular bot does exactly what the name implies; it can actually solve a Sudoku puzzle. Sudoku is a number puzzle where a person is to fill in numbers in squares to finish the nine by nine square that has some of the little squares already filled out to begin with. The nine by nine squares are sectioned off in three by three squares. The puzzle is printed on regular paper and placed on the ground, and the autonomous vehicle built using NXT robotics utilized its sensors and motors to drive a pencil. It uses a pencil to fill in the squares with the appropriate numbers where only digits one through nine can be used, and each digit can only be used once in three by three squares.
Another one of the toy mechatronics examples is the Rubik’s cube solver that also does exactly what it says. This Lego Mindstorms robot uses an optical sensor to detect the different colored squares in its field of vision, and it then flips the cube to take an initial record of each face of the cube. After it has indexed the original, random configuration of each side of the cube, it then begins to use its actuators to manipulate the cube to begin solving it. Its optical sensors tell the NXT Intelligent Brick what colors are where and keeps track of them as the motors or actuators turn the sides of the cube. It takes nearly ten minutes for this robot to solve the cube which is shorter than some human beings.
One of the more intricate designs of cool projects is that of the robotic artist. In one video, one of the Lego robots draws a very accurate and distinct replica of the Mona Lisa. This type of construction of the mechanical design does not seem terribly complex; however, the level of programming involved certainly requires a great level of experience. This type of project would also require a lot of time and effort because of the level of advanced mathematics that are necessary for creating an NXT program such as this. These types of NXT programs definitely provide the world of science and technology something outstanding that other can build upon.
When users become more confident and experienced with mindstorms robots, there are a plethora of projects that can be undertaken. The wealth of resources and information that exists in books and on the web is immense, and it certainly provides users with plenty of support. The Lego website will have plenty of tutorials and project instructions, and there will be directions for basic projects that come in the kit. This support does not only come from Lego directly, but there are a huge variety of websites and videos that provide tons of Lego Autonomy tutorials and information.
Sudoku solver information can be found here.