Lego Mindstorm
Build your very own robot with a Lego Mindstorm kit. This line of Lego kits comes with bricks you can program using sensors, electric motors, bricks, and Technic pieces. Lego Technic pieces include axles, beams, and gears so each robot can be customized to meet the needs of the individual inventor.
Make any brickfilm unique by including your very own robotic character as the good guy or the villain. Or both. Use them in a production of your own invention, too, or introduce them as a new character of your design into films utilizing classic Lego sets, such as Batman, Star Wars, or the Lego Island series.
The Lego Mindstorm series is a spin-off from the popular Lego Dacta line of toys used in educational settings. The educational line was such a success in the schools that the Lego Mindstorm sets were developed for private use at home.
The earliest release of Lego Mindstorm sets designed for retail sales was the Robotics Invention System (RIS) that launched in 1998. The latest version, now using the Lego Mindstorm name is the 2006 release of Lego Mindstorm NXT.
The first version of the Lego Mindstorm RIS system included two touch sensors, two motors, and one light sensor. The 2006 version now includes four sensors that detect light, sound, touch, and distance and it includes three servo motors, too.
Educational Lego Mindstorm kits are still available under the designation "Challenge Set." It includes an extra light sensor and a few more gears than the "Inventor Set," marketed to the individual consumer.
Programming for the Lego Mindstorm kits uses a Renesas H8/300 microcontroller as the central processing unit (CPU). It can be programmed by downloading any one of several programming languages from a PC or Mac computer to the brick that contains the CPU, which is called an RCX brick.
Once a program has been developed, the Lego Mindstorm robotic creation can function independently, with no hardwiring to another source necessary. Internal and external stimuli can be programmed and communications via an infrared (IR) interface are possible, too. The IR interface means one inventor's creation can work in conjunction with or in competition against someone else's Lego Mindstorm creation.
Lego Mindstorm creations can use programming languages supplied by Lego - RCS Code and ROBOLAB - or they can run from some of the more popular third-party languages, including Java, NQC, Visual Basic, and C or C++.
