Customer Reviews

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure (Technology in Action)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We purchased this book for my 15 and 9 year old boys who received a Mindstorms NXT 2.0 robot for Christmas. This book is intended for further instruction AFTER the tutorials that came with Mindstorms are completed. It is a great way to keep your robot builders interested and challenged.

The book is well laid out, interesting to read, and easy to follow. As an engineer myself, I really like how the author teaches critical thinking and problem solving. The problem solving sheets included (and downloadable from the publisher's website) are a big help. The author's solutions are in the book, but the kids are encouraged to come up with their own ideas first, and they are taught how to creatively think through the problem. It is similar to having a math book with the answers in the back, except the challenges are great fun. This book is a great buy.

I have reviewed several books on Lego Mindstorms NXT, unfortunately most other books provide the young robotics student with pre-designed
robots to build and insert pre-written code which only allows the Mindstroms NXT system to serve as an interesting toy; but these books provide little to inspire creativity on the part of the young student. This book refreshingly takes a totally different approach; the hobbyist is presented with an interesting story and a set of problems to solve with their Mindstorms Robot; then he or she follows along with the author in designing a new robot that addresses the defined problem;
finally, they construct and interact with their solution (which may differ from the books design). I believe this is exactly the type of learning experimenters in Technology Education had in mind at the MIT Media Lab when they prototypes the Mindstorms system. As a graduate engineer myself, and one beginning to experiment with Microcontrollers I am immensely impressed with this book as a means of teaching young hobbyists engineering design. It deserves my highest recommendation.

--Ira Laefsky
MS Engineering/MBA

The King's Treasure answers one of the most important questions left over from The Mayan Adventure: "Where can I get more?" This book continues the journey using the new version of LEGO MINDSTORMS as the basis for designing and building new robots for Evan and his uncle to solve 5 new mysteries of the Mayan king. Jim picks right off where he left off and makes it easy for both beginners and expert MINDSTORM builders to solve these missions. I plan on using this book as the basis for teaching my Middle School robotics class some key aspects of engineering and hope to share what we've learned with others who follow Jim's work.

My wife teaches robotics to kids in her school's evening clubs and also in various summer robotic camps in Silicon Valley CA, We bought this for teaching kids grades 5 thru' 8 and found that it has excellent resource for the teacher and kids alike.

This book as an interesting storyline to read which gets kids involved into robotic designs rather than cookie cutter instructions that we usually find in other books. Do not get me wrong, this book can be used as a very good instructional manual to get the robot built.

This is a sequel to the immensely popular book, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure (Technology in Action); you get both an engaging story and a personal tutorial on robotics programming. You'll learn about the motors and sensors in your NXT 2.0 kit. You'll learn to constructively brainstorm solutions to problems. And you'll follow clear, photo-illustrated instructions that help your build, test, and operate a series of five robots corresponding to the five challenges Evan and his uncle must overcome in their search for lost treasure.

PROS

[+] Provides an excellent series of parent/Teacher child projects
[+] Builds creative and problem-solving skills
[+] Lays a foundation for success and fun with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 based bricks

CONS:

[-] Wished it was in full color!

As others have pointed out here on Amazon, This is an excellent book and well worth every penny!

I bought this a few months ago and my son has been using it repeatedly. It challenges him but provides enough room for success. Not a week goes by that he does not thank me for it. It is a darn sight better than vegetating in front of the TV.

My husband used this book in his classroom with gifted & talented students. When our eight year old nephew was getting a LEGO MINDSTORM, we purchased the book again for his use. This book seems to be one of the most helpful books available. A good second purchase.

Alright so this book was pretty good but the designs weren't very well thought out. The first design doesn't move very well and I had to modify it for accuracy. The problems are not very complex. It was disappointing and I ended up working around his designs.

The problems and the method which he attacks his problems make this book worth it.

I was a bit surprised how well this book was reviewed for the poor quality of photos in the book. It seems well written but the real content that is of any value would be the images and diagrams. I will still give to my son and hope that he doesn't care, but I was disappointed and regret the purchase.

"Lego Mindstorms NXT 23.0 The King's Treasure" is great for getting started with NXT. It provides 5 projects that you can build. Each comes with design considerations, limitations and sketches. Most importantly there are extremely detailed instructions (with pictures) to build and program the robot. The book also includes templates for you to design your own robots.

The projects are tied together with a cute adventure story. It's a short read which makes the book approachable by both children/parents and "standalone" adults looking to play with NXT.

Whether you are working with FLL (First Lego League) or not, these are great projects to get started or encourage creative ideas.

We have joined the FLL Robot Lego League. This is a group of children that solve problems each year in a team format and learn at the same time. The group is great. The learning is phenomenal. My daughter sometimes has trouble with this type of thinking and sometimes needs some extra tutoring/help to understand everything. This book as been great. She has completely enjoyed reading it and has been talking about it at the dinner table with us and shared some of what she has learned. It seems to be helping.