Ive seen people on youtube do this but i dont know how. I am making a car that drives all by its self and i dont want it to fall down stares

I don’t know for sure but it seems logical that if the sensor points downwards and is extended a bit then when over ground it will see darkness but when it starts to go over a drop (the stairs) then it will be opened up for it to detect light.

im going to buy a mindstorm NXT but i want to know about the sensors in each one of them , thanks .

I only have the NXT minstormer 1.0. This one comes with:
1 Touch sensor
1 Sound sensor
3 Moters
1 Some sort of light sensor (not sure what it is called never really used it)
1 There is also the eyes (forgot what it is called) and they measure how far away things are and detects things.

I do know that the NXT 2.0 has two touch sensors and not a sound sensor though. The NXT 2.0 is not really better to me, it is just a different version. Pick which one has that parts you want. Hope this helped.

Is the Lego Mindstorms (e.g. LEGO 8527 Mindstorms NXT Robot) a good idea to introduce someone with basic engineering & advance programming knowledge, into building robotics? (Yes, No & Why?)
Or would you suggest to build simplier robots from scratch and expand on those? Any step-by-step site for build your own robot?

Thanks.

Sure. I used the Mindstorm kit through elementary and college. It’s a good way to start understanding different programming structures (i.e. real-time vs state machines) and how different servos and sensors work. It’s a fast track way of starting robotics.

I also recommend joining a Lego competition, micromouse contest, or a even robowars. They’re great way to keep you motivated and give you something to head towards.

Down the line I recommend working with micro controllers, or get something here: http://www.robots-dreams.com/

Good luck!

i am doing a project of making self balancing NXT segway robot using gyro sensor balance on two side way wheels so if any one can know how to integrate the output plz tell me….

There are various forms of integration. Perhaps more important is to state the reason for this. I guess you want a servo system that balances the robot based on the gyro angle and a "set point"..

This type of feedback control is called PID control, short for Proportional Integral Derivative. Sometimes it is called a 3 term controller. This is a large subject, but on the other hand there seems to be web sites that include software that implements such control for NXT Segway robots available. See the links below, and maybe follow further links to find something that suits your setup. You may need floating point arithmetic to make the calculation easier. This type of control is also known as a position servo. I am not sure this is the ideal way to do this, but there are examples that do, so that means it works. PID control is widely used in industrial systems.

The PID type of control relies on the error between the set point and the actual position to move the motor that corrects the position. Proportional control closes on the desired position, slowing as it gets closer to the set point, till the motor stops when the error is small. Integral is used to learn from previous history. It is like manually re-adjusting the set point once the robot is positioned, to get closer to the desired position. Derivative anticipates, by determining the position is close to the set point, so the motor can slow and be ready to stop just before it actually gets there. These controls are usually performed on the error signal, the difference between the required position and the actual position. There will be a setting (constant) for each of these 3 terms, which has to be tuned for best operation, such as fastest settling, minimum overshoot and smallest error.

While the second link uses a light sensor to measure distance for vertical, it is not much to translate to angle from a gyro. The set point is of course the angle that is read when the gizmo is balanced, or maybe slightly off balance will work too, with a lot of jiggling around..

If you want to integrate for some other reason, it might be something like adding all the changes in angle (starting from some reference point) to get the current angle, but I would think the gyro has absolute angle outputs which give the current angle. Integration is often used to find "the area under the curve".

I made a bot, then put some software on it. When I set the distance of moving to unlimited, the motor lasts about two seconds, then the program stops.

http://mindstorms.lego.com/askthenxtperts/default.aspx

I don’t exactly know, but u can ask the nxtperts,on the link…..

Good Luck!!

next week, my parents are getting married again for their 25th anniversary. im planning to have a party for the whole clan. hehe. but i need ideas for games and prizes and programs.. please help. i really have no idea. thanks a lot you guys.

It depends on the age range. For the little tykes, how about Pin the Tail on the Donkey, or Spin the Bottle?

For the midrangers, how about cards? Poker. Blackjack. Everyone loves those.

For the old people, how about Bingo, or Scattergories, or Scrabble.

As for prizes, you can hit the dollar store and buy tiny things like a candle, a nice little pen, etc. They have good gifts for a buck, I’m not kidding.

Also, you could always order the HOT COPS from Arrested Development. They spice up every party.

PEACE OUT LOVER.

i been trying to get lejos because i have a compitition next sat and i need a lego nxt program to program the bot. i have ubuntu 9.10 and ive read a bunch of stuff saying extract the the tar.gz then cd to its directory then do ./configure but when i do configure it says "bash: ./configure: No such file or directory" so i was wondering what to do and if anyone knows of some other program i can use or anything.

thanks in advance

You need to cd to the directory and look at what’s there. Files that end in .sh are script files that can be run, so that’s a good place to start. Also look for a Readme file that has updated instructions.

i was hiding from my black pimp in a dumpster then my sister was suddenly at home but i dont understand y my granny was crying but at first it was like us making out then my nanna was in the corner of the room crying she has dementia and lego-optimism but i dont understand why my white sister walked in and she was naked but i was only with her boy friend she shouldnt be mad at me or anything but how can i explain it to her? we were found in a dumpster after she kicked us out. and she treats my nanna like aa CAT! it is so mean we were just laying on the couch humping and she thinks that babys are born and they come out your butt whole… how do i break it to her than it dusnt happen that way. her mother wasnt very ‘into’ that area of education.

HELP ME

humping and bumping is good for your soul you should tell her then if she trys to eat pickles beat her with ur grannys denture cream then steel an asian cat babys pickle jar and insert it into the key hole at the back one acctivated press the key on ur left then suddenly icecream will eject forcefully out of her eyes

hav fun with her boyfriends shes just over reacting but shell get over it i hope he pleasured ur treasure like a real man shood or else fill him out then beat him with ur nana

I read about it in a magazine and I think it looks awesome and ive read its very simple so is it worth it? Its something over 300 but under 400 dollars and its my money ( Im a teen and have a job )?

In my opinion it is not worth it. I wouldn’t spend that much of my own money on it.

So I am hoping to get one for my birthday, but I am not that sure what cool things you can do with them?Are they hard to program? If you can give me a link to a tutorial on how to program and think of stuff to build, that would be great too, thanks for all answers!

well you can get to do some pretty amazing things such as, grab a ball, walk around places, clean up rooms (jk), and do lots of other things, here’s a link: http://www.nxtprograms.com/