Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots
 
 

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots [Paperback]

Laurens Valk
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 37.95
Price: CDN$ 19.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
You Save: CDN$ 18.20 (48%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Tuesday, May 29? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.

Frequently Bought Together

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots + The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Inventor's Guide + The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming
Price For All Three: CDN$ 59.25

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details

  • The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Inventor's Guide CDN$ 19.75

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details

  • The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming CDN$ 19.75

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details


Product Description

Product Description

Description

Discover the many features of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 set. The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book is the complete, illustrated, beginner's guide to MINDSTORMS that you've been looking for.

The crystal clear instructions in the Discovery Book will show you how to harness the capabilities of the NXT 2.0 set to build and program your own robots. Author and robotics instructor Laurens Valk walks you through the set, showing you how to use its various pieces, and how to use the NXT software to program robots. Interactive tutorials make it easy for you to reach an advanced level of programming as you learn to build robots that move, monitor sensors, and use advanced programming techniques like data wires and variables. You'll build eight increasingly sophisticated robots like the Strider (a six-legged walking creature), the CCC (a climbing vehicle), the Hybrid Brick Sorter (a robot that sorts by color and size), and the Snatcher (an autonomous robotic arm). Numerous building and programming challenges throughout encourage you to think creatively and to apply what you've learned as you develop the skills essential to creating your own robots.

Requirements: One LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 set (#8547)

Features

  • A complete introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0
  • Building and programming instructions for eight innovative robots
  • 50 sample programs and 72 programming challenges (ranging from easy to hard) encourage you to explore newly learned programming techniques
  • 15 building challenges expand on the robot designs and help you develop ideas for new robots
Who is this book for?

This is a perfect introduction for those new to building and programming with the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 set. The book also includes intriguing robot designs and useful programming tips for more seasoned MINDSTORMS builders.

About the Author

Laurens Valk is a member of the MINDSTORMS Community Partners who help test and develop new NXT products. He has been inventing robots with the MINDSTORMS NXT sets since their introduction, and one of his robot designs appears on the NXT 2.0 packaging. Valk is a co-author of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders (No Starch Press) and a contributor to The NXT Step Blog (thenxtstep.blogspot.com). He lives in the Netherlands where he teaches robotics.


Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Everything so well explained, May 15 2010
By 
Richard Garceau "Coco" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots (Paperback)
I have purchased a Lego Mindstorms NXT2.0 set. The instructions included with the set were insufficient for me to program the robot. This book explains it all, step by step. Plenty of small exercices allow the reader to gain confidence in his programming skills. Excellent book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, July 1 2010
This review is from: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots (Paperback)
This book is exactly what I was looking for.
My daughter (11 years old) and I are enjoying learning about NXT
The simple and useful examples and small projects after-Each new concept makes funny and easy to learn.
I am teaching to my daughter the self learning and this book help me to do it, my role is just tutor and answer questions from my daughter.
I am a software architect and I am also learning about NXT, I recommend this book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.9 out of 5 stars (34 customer reviews)

88 of 89 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Take the NXT Step, May 27 2010
By Richard P. Murnane "vk2sky" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots (Paperback)
I (a hardware/software developer and radio ham for some 30 years) bought LEGO Mindstorms for my now eight-year-old son last Christmas. Being a LEGO nut since he was old enough not to swallow the pieces, he's had great fun with Mindstorms since then.

But after you've built the models detailed in the Mindstorms kit, where do you go next? The Mindstorms online help is pretty good, but tiresome to read on the screen, and not the best medium for a youngster. The Alpha Rex etc. are impressive but it's hard for a child to try to make his own models of a similar complexity on the basis of the models in the Mindstorms kit. There is a huge gap between copying ready-made models and learning to create real robots from scratch, and Laurens Valk's book fills that gap perfectly.

As "the missing manual", this book thoroughly explains the NXT hardware and NXT-G software, in enough technical detail to satisfy a seasoned programmer like me, but without overloading someone who is completely new to the technology. That is no mean feat!

The building instructions are of a similar quality to those provided in the all-too-slim Mindstorms manual, and my son was able to follow them and the programming instructions with only minimal guidance from me (usually because we hadn't yet read the accompanying text! :-)

Now, there are several ways to approach this book. To get started quickly, you or your child genius can simply follow the detailed building and programming instructions to create any of the eight robots detailed in the book. My son had almost no trouble doing this: in fact, he first went after the more complex models like the Strider featured on the cover, followed by the very impressive Chimney Climber. If, like us, you're new to the LEGO Technic and Mindstorms systems, you'll be surprised how they can be made to do such remarkable things.

The program instructions feature a simplified overview - essentially a flow diagram - that lets you follow the basic structure of the program and learn about loops, "if-then-else" blocks, etc. Your young robotics engineer can learn about the how-and-why of the programs, and gradually improvise to deepen his/her understanding of what the NXT controller is "thinking", and then devise clever ways to change it.

Then there are the challenges, or "discoveries" to use Laurens' word: 87 of them in all. Once we have settled down to reading the book together start-to-finish (give us a chance, we've only had this book for a week!), the discoveries will provide many new paths to explore and consolidate our understanding of robotic systems.

I would have expected to pay three times what Amazon is charging for this book, based on similar books aimed at software developers. At under $20, it is excellent value for money and an essential "NXT" step on any robot designer's path of discovery. Buy it!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Tremendous NXT Teaching Accomplishment By A Young Roboticist, Jun 30 2010
By Ira Laefsky "Ira Laefsky" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots (Paperback)
From his infectious enthusiasm for the Mindstorms NXT System it might be easy to guess that Laurens Valk was introduced to Lego Robotics at age 13 just five short years ago. But, from the careful logical pedagogy of this book and his interesting approach mixing successively more advanced robots intermixed with a clearly arranged taxonomy of parts, programming tools and motor/drive train and sensor categorization, I would have imagined that this book was written by an excellent teacher with many years of experience bringing engineering concepts to youthful learners. Not only does the book offer a clear top-down beginning to end approach to both the NXT Parts Architecture and NXT-G Programming Language while combining this end-to-end approach with interesting projects of increasing difficulty, but he stimulates the reader with building and programming challenges to increase their skill at independent thought in robot building and programming. Just how far and how thoughtfully Laurens' teaching approach goes is indicated by by his unique system of flowcharting/state diagrams which both provides the logical decisions involved in programming this system with a graphical correspondence to the NXT-G Programming language.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough as an aid to using the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 robotics system, and bringing a
new generation of roboticists and engineers to a deep and intuitive understanding these sciences. This handbook should be included in every Mindstorms NXT Set to insure that the recipient will learn, absorb and extend the concepts which this powerful educational system can teach.

--Ira Laefsky
MSE/MBA I.T. Consultant and Former Senior Staff Member Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Are you ready for a journey of discovery?, May 10 2010
By Xander Soldaat - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots (Paperback)
This book is the culmination of more than a year's work and it shows. It's broken up into 4 parts and will guide you through a journey of discovery. On your route to becoming a robotics master you will build no less than 8 different robots and learn about every aspect of NXT-G programming with the help of 50 sample programs. If that's not enough, you can test just how good you've become with any one of the 85 building and programming challenges.

The building and programming instructions are really nice, clear and clean; it's not hard to tell the author has done this before. Learning to program and build with your new NXT 2.0 kit will be so much more fun with this book by your side. It will knock your socks off (don't worry, there's a robot in the book that can help you pick them up again).
 Go to Amazon.com to see all 34 reviews  4.9 out of 5 stars 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges