Customer Reviews

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

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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!

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

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).

My eight year old son was invited to go to an FLL demonstration last August, he loved it so I enquired about the nearest team for him to join. It turned out to be me and I ended up coaching not one but two of the 23 teams entered in New Zealand's first ever FLL tournament! I knew absolutely nothing about NXT so had a VERY steep learning curve. The Help on the NXT software is great - if you know what you are looking for. I struggled for 4 months to upskill myself enough to help the kids answer their questions. I must have been partially successful in that one of my teams won the NZ competition and qualified for Atlanta. Atlanta was awesome but only made me realise how little I know and how much more I have got to learn. My team is determined to get to St Louis next year and this marvellous book will help us on the way.
This book doesn't assume you know anything about NXT but also takes you far beyond what my team needed to know to get to Atlanta. It is not just a beginner's guide.
If you are totally new to NXT or self-taught like me then this is the book for you. I got it two days ago and have already read through it once. My 9 year old son is also reading it and keeps saying "Did you know....."
A must have for anyone who is new to NXT or knows a bit and is wanting to move beyond basic programming.
When is the next book coming out Laurens?

I have a precocious 6-year old who is crazy about LEGO and robotics. When he finished kindergarten and did a ton of extra math work with me, I rewarded him with LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0. I decided on a whim to buy Laurens' book at the same time, and I'm very glad I did. Mindstorms is fantastic, but it really throws you in the deep end. This book is really the missing manual, taking you through the system step-by-step, carefully teaching you each aspect of the programming language one block at a time.

We are about halfway through the book now, and my son has learned the programming environment quite well. I'm thrilled that this book has really helped him become a fledgeling computer programmer and robotics experimenter at such a young age. It gets my highest recommendation.

I purchased this book to encourage my 9 year old son to explore the robot he and his sister had received as a gift. Although my 11 year old daughter was trained in basic building and programming of the robot through a semester-long middle school robotics class, my inexperienced son felt overwhelmed by the task and confused by the programming.

This book has been helpful and encouraging for him. We started the book together so I could ensure he understood the format of the book and the types of terms used. Though I expected the book would need to be a mother/son project, he quickly was able to read the sections and complete the programming tasks on his own.

Each section gave him a simple task to learn the basic programming, then a challenge or two to figure out on his own using the programming skills he was mastering. In this first part of the book, he is able to complete two or three challenges before getting tired of trial and error (for example, to determine the correct degrees of axle rotation to make the robot turn 180 degrees) or bored with the robot. This takes him 20 to 45 minutes (including the time it takes to demonstrate the robots new skills for me), depending on the challenges he is completing. By the end of the third chapter he was designing "tasks" for the robot to complete and planning his own simple programs.

At 9, he is able to build the robots in this book by himself or with very minor assistance. He is also using his newly developed skills to plan small modifications to the basic robot designs in the book, but not creating robots alone. He is not yet at the second half of the book (robot designs and programs increase in complexity as the book progresses), but the style of the directions for building the robot are the same regardless of the complexity of the robot, so I do not foresee any difficulties there.

As for reading difficulty, my son received this book the summer between 4th and 5th grade. He reads at grade level only when forced to read (he hates reading), and he is able to be successful with this book without reading help.

Because it is a book about programming a robot the reading skills must be coupled with a basic grasp of math and science concepts for the child to be successful on his/her own. The explanations of basic programming terms are simple, for example a "switch block" is used when the robot has to make a decision. Yet, from the beginning, programmers must be able to understand the difference between rotation of the axles and rotation of the robot; must be able to understand concepts of distance, degree of rotation and how power level affects speed; must comprehend the sequence of events in the program is as important as the events in the program.

Most of the programming is done through the challenges, so the child designs the program themselves. These are generally adaptations of the samples, but do not expect pages of programs to key in to make a robot do cool things. The programmer is expected to learn the programming and be able to put the individual pieces together, in the correct order, on their own. My son may have been able to understand most of the technical knowledge a year earlier, however he would have struggled with the reading of the words in the book and had no patience for the work it takes to program.

My daughter has not shown interest in the book yet, however she pays attention to the programs her brother tries and says she intends to program with him when he reaches the part of the book that teaches her new things too.

The Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Discovery Book by Laurens Valk is a beginner's guide to building and programming robots. It is the perfect handbook for anyone who owns the new Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 set (Lego Set #8547), which is designed for ages 10 and up to enjoy learning about robotics and engineering while building an actual working robot. The book details step by step with excellent pictures and simple instructions just how to create many different robots from the kit. The kit, however, is just under $300, so it is not just a toy but a real classroom learning experience, which can be done with a group or at home. The author, who helps design NXT robots for Lego, is an instructor of robotics in the Netherlands. (The book and kit are in English.) The technical reviewer for the book is Dr. Damien Kee, who is an electrical engineer and robotics expert who has designed many forms of robots, including humanoids. He is editor in chief of the NXT classroom at [..] , a website that provides support and resources for teachers. The book excellent and clear, like having the teacher right on the table with you, for anyone who wants to learn robotics from this fun building kit.

I am a 4-H Tech leader and have been involved with Lego Robotics RCX and NXT for some time. The book is a great getting started source or as help to fill in the blanks for the self taught. New and experienced members enjoy the book and want to start building as soon as they see it. The reference chart inside the front cover will save the novice builder many hours searching for the correct part.

I would say it is my son himself who chose to buy this book. He is a crazy fan of mindstorms lego. Since he owned a set of mindstorms lego kits the end of last year, he has build up over ten models using his mindstorms leg kits. The Lego Mindstorns NXT 2.0 is the book he is eager to have. I ordered this book as a price for his good job, and now this book is his most favorate book. By following the instruction of this book, he programed and built an artificial hand which can grab things depending on the objective color. As a school project he showed it in his school. It is so wonderful and his teacher recommendated him to show it to the predident of his school for his work. This book is carried in my son's backpack everyday, he said he would read it in his reading time in school and on the way to school in his school bus.

This book is just perfect for a parent that needs to get familiar with this robotic set.
I started out with the quick build out that comes with the Mindstorms package and from there I have been following the book. Results are great since I can show my kid how to build his robots and I don't have to be looking around the How To.
This book is a great aid for parents.