The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventor's Guide [Paperback]

As a father with two boys who are both interested in science and technology, it seemed a natural choice to check out the LEGO Mindstorms NXT set when it came out. Stepper motors with integrated rotation sensors, sensors for ultrasound, touch, light, and sound, USB and Bluetooth connectivity... well, you get the point! When my boys saw the NXT, they were very excited about it. When the box arrived it was like Christmas and birthday combined!

We built the model in the book first. A fun start. Then we built the models included on the CD. Very nice! After that though, we were on our own. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but our skills could only take us so far!

Fortunately there's an abundance of books about Mindstorms. We're up to five books at this point, and I'm always looking for more. It's not just the models, but also the insight on mechanical design and the new ways of looking at the available pieces. Each book takes a different approach to introducing the models and creating excitement, but unfortunately not all are as effective as others.

The newest book that we have in our collection is The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide, by David J. Perdue. The cover model grabbed me immediately with its interesting steering design. The book itself begins with some very good beginner-level information on the Mindstorms set. If you've only read the documentation included with the set, this is very useful. It includes information on the sensors and motors, the Lego beams and pieces, and the software. From there it moves into a great discussion of working with gears. One could argue that this isn't information that is necessary if all you want to do is build robots, but it's the same philosophy as teaching a man to fish versus giving him a fish. The plans that come later in the book are more useful when you have a solid foundation of construction concepts.

The next three chapters focus on programming -- a basic then advanced chapter covers the programming environment, the various blocks, and how they all fit together. A third chapter moves beyond into unsupported languages. If you are looking to move beyond the LabView toolset, this is good information, but definitely only appropriate for an advanced audience.

Chapter 11 (page 125) begins the first build-it-yourself project. This means that roughly half of the book is background on Mindstorms, and the other half contains the six projects. The projects are good and include ample illustration and commentary. This is important because just seeing the sequence of construction steps isn't very helpful if you really want to understand it -- and, ideally, continue with your own projects. Unlike some books which rely on photos of the build sequence, Mr. Perdue uses LDraw to create professional-looking steps that look like the ones put out by the Lego company.

The programs are laid out with comments next to the blocks. This is nice to see as it sets a good example for budding programmers. There's also sidebar commentary to go into greater detail. The book includes a good variety of basic and advanced programming blocks. Using data wires, variables, math operations, and ranges opens up the door to logic that is more true-to-life -- hopefully without being intimidating to younger readers (my sons are 10 and 12).

One small quibble is that many of the programs are rotated sideways. This is a somewhat necessary approach since the programs get so darned wide! LabView needed to come up with a better way to visualize large programs. For the printed form, it might have worked better to make multi-page pull-out diagrams instead. It's not a big thing, but it did stand out.

Overall I really liked the book. It's a bit scant on the building plans for my own needs, but it really depends on what you are looking for. It's also inline with other similar books. For someone without so many books already in their library (as I have), having a good mix of plans and background is important. Lego did a great job of creating a robotics platform with incredible potential, but largely left it up to the community to realize that potential. Most of the books that I have attempt to bridge this gap by dividing up the book this way, but with varying degrees of success. I was very pleased with the approach taken by this book, the diagrams/illustrations, and the overall tone taken. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to take their Mindstorms experience further.

The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide

Author: David J. Perdue
website: http://www.davidjpredue.com ; http://www.nxtguidedavidjpredue.com
Strengths: Very nice schematics, parts listings and visuals to highlight or the parts for the machines. Easily readable. Good for novice robot builders but also advanced users will find it helpful as well.

Weaknesses: The book has black/white text.

Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Rating: 5/5

reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: (dreric1kansas@aol.com)

Introduction

I have been working with robot kits for many years. I started with the Fischertecknik robot turtle which I built and was able to use with the logo interface with my Apple IIE. Later on I heard about Lego Mindstorms and bought a set to use. It was tough going and after much delay because of the programming and the light issues with the brick, I was able to get legos finally working. Since then, I have worked with several kits and working with PC and Macintosh interfacing. But I was still looking for more a more helpful guides to build more interesting robots. I think I found one in The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide.

This author David J. Perdue knows his stuff and Lego Mindstorms. He has been creating MINDSTORMS since 2001 and just won the NXT Camera Bot Building Challenge competition and is the author of Competitive MINDSTORMS (Apress, 2004). He has received three Special Mention awards for his creations on the official online MINDSTORMS and is a full time student, pursuing a degree in Management information Systems in Texas. So I opened the book to see what else I could find out and how I could use the book for my LegoMindstorms in the future.

In the beginning, it was difficult to use Mindstorms. For me the kit did not work at all. Working with Macintosh was not an option. There were minimal additional information for working with the robots beyond the parts, software and initial schematics. I had to use a PC. This version works with PC (needs Windows XP or higher and will or already have shipped Vista version) or Macintosh OSX (version 103.9 and higher). It was not until later that I learned from a Legos salesman that the light in the room could be an issue. Its little things like this that kept me and possible others, from doing more with robotics.

I was hoping that the book started with novice programmers and robot creators. This books has "novice " beginning information so this book can be used with those who are new to Lego Mindstorms or are upgrading to the NXT version. It is good to know that this advanced robotic author, is "down to earth" with his writing and when "speaking" the language of robots. I have not upgraded to the NXT version yet and so and wanted to see whether it is would be worth upgrading myself but if so how and what ways could the robots be used with this new version.

The black and white screenshots are integrated within the instruction. The visuals are large enough to read and decipher what you need to know. The lack of color does not really hurt. I really liked the screenshots and illustrations listings of the parts for assembly. However it would have been nice if they were in color (the parts are a multitude or colors. Tables do however include numbers, piece names and the place color however. When you need more information about the parts, they are all there listed and illustrated/ photographed.

Throughout the book, there are helpful ideas in the way of bold notes that are "peppered" throughout the tutorials. In addition, there are pointers that go along with the "balloons " which have text inside of them about related to the robot parts. Circles and arrows highlight the illustrated areas in the screenshots that the author is clearly targeting for his instructions. This makes the understanding of the parts even more explicit.

The introduction introduces Lego Mindstorms, NXT, building , programming and starting and working with robotic projects. Here is an outline of the chapters and what is in store for you.

Part I in entitled "Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT". In the Chapter 1, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT starts off with building robots, the programming of robots, activating robots and what can you do with robots and NXT. Chapter 2 is includes solid but easy to understand information about starting with the NXT robotic set.

Part II illustrates the building with 4 chapters. There is electronic pieces, understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT pieces, the need and building sturdy structures, and working with and building with gears

Programming section is in Part III . Chapter 7 introduction has a nice introduction to the NXT-G system. Later 3 chapters involve advanced NXT-G programming a. There is also more in the form of unofficial programming languages for the NXT.

Part IV involves 6 robot projects and that is where your in-depth robotic education really begins. You are taught the author's Mindstorms method, and working with 6 nice in-depth but easy to understand projects.

Appendices are good resources. Appendix A has LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT piece library. The Appendix B NXT-G has nice quick reference guide section that includes information for advanced programming to perform more intricate tasks. The author details a lot of the complexity, not only with words but also visually illustrates how to and in what ways to to complete the array of blocks, sensors and programming information. While it is not easy to learn, this section takes you "once step at a time". Appendix C informs with other internet resources.

Conclusions

I recommend this book highly for its in-depth tutorials, the visual schematics and the quality of the reading that makes the information well understood. No one said building robots was easy but with this book, you will learn and go further than you thought you could achieve. What I like about this book and the way the author has crafted this book is that he actually invited you to build robots in a none intimidating way. The in-depth information, the visual assemblies and tables, and the easy to read information along with the tutorials will allow you not only start but develop your skills in robot building. You will learn to be creative but at the same learning the logic of the machines and how to build robotics. I know there are many books that teach Lego Mindstorms out there but I am glad I chose this one first.

This book is excellent both for beginners and for more experienced Lego enthusiasts. Most of the book is written in step by step instructions that are beautifully illustrated with informative graphics. These images blend both the Lego modeling aspect of building robots and the visual programming side.

The best part of the book is in the robot recipes which is in the second half. There are six different models to choose from and you can use these easily as a base for more complex designs that suit your needs.

For more experienced readers the book covers different ways of hacking the NXT set. There is information on different compilers that you can use to program your creation. As well as a fantastic resources section at the end which is sure to satisfy your craving for more ways to use your NXT system.

This text is well written. The coverage is in-depth but provides a reasonable learning curve. I highly recommend this book.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars