LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide [Paperback]

Dave Prochnow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071481478 | ISBN-13: 978-0071481472 | Publication Date: November 21, 2006 | Edition: 1

Build and Program Over 20 Challenging Design Projects in Just 30 Minutes Each with the New Generation of LEGO® MINDSTORMS®

More powerful and intuitive than ever, LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT is a new robotics toolset that enables robot enthusiasts and hobbyists to build and program all kinds of projects. The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Hacker's Guide explores this new generation of LEGO MINDSTORMS, providing a collection of projects, how-to expertise, insider tips, and over 500 illustrations to help readers become expert NXT hackers.

This cutting-edge guide describes new advances that make LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT such a great robotics resource. The book explains the all-new NXT intelligent brick…the interactive servo motors with rotation sensors that align speed for precise control…the ultrasonic sensor that allows robots to “see” by responding to movement…the improved light and touch sensors that let robots detect color and feel…and much more. The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Hacker's Guide features:

• Expert, insightful commentary by a member of the LEGO MINDSTORMS Developer Program
• A hands-on account of the new technologies and expanded sensor capabilities of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT
• A collection of 10 hacking projects with step-by-step instructions for creating things ranging from solar power to ZigBee® technology to tank tread feet [“projects” appears twice.]
• A portfolio of 12 exciting design projects featuring R. Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic Dome, Rem Koolhaas' Seattle Central Library, and the world's first NXT wristwatch
• Complete disclosure about a “secret” game that is hidden inside every LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit
• An in-depth guide to the NXT programming language
• A special LEGO factory kit offer available only for readers of this book

Inside This Groundbreaking NXT Reference

• Your First Robot • Stupid RCX Tricks • Save Your RIS • As Smart as a Brick • MOVE IT! With Servo Motors • Hmm, I Sense Something • Yes, But I Don't Know How to Program • Testing, Testing; Oh, Trouble Shoot • Katherine's Best Hacking Projects • Katherine's Design Fun House • NXT Programming Language Guide • NXT Elements • NXT Resources

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Build and Program Over 20 Challenging Design Projects with the New Generation of LEGO® MINDSTORMS®

More powerful and intuitive than ever, LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT is a new robotics toolset that enables you to build and program all kinds of projects. The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Hacker's Guide explores this new generation of LEGO® MINDSTORMS®, providing a collection of projects, how-to expertise, insider tips, and over 500 illustrations to help you become an expert NXT hacker.

YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT:

• The all-new NXT intelligent brick
• The interactive servo motors with rotation sensors that align speed for precise control
• The ultrasonic sensor that allows robots to "see" by responding to movement
• The improved light and touch sensors that let robots detect color and feel

LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT HACKER'S GUIDE FEATURES:

• 20+ projects that can each be completed in just 30 minutes
• Expert, insightful commentary by a member of the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Developer Program
• A hands-on account of the new technologies and expanded sensor capabilities of LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT
• A collection of 10 hacking projects with step-by-step instructions
• A portfolio of 12 exciting design projects featuring R. Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic Dome, Rem Koolhaas' Seattle Central Library, and the world's first NXT wristwatch
• Complete disclosure about a "secret" game that is hidden inside every LEGO® MINDSTORMS® kit
• An in-depth guide to the NXT programming language
• A special LEGO factory kit offer available only to readers of this book

Inside This Groundbreaking NXT Reference:
* Your First Robot * Stupid RCX Tricks * Save Your RIS * As Smart as a Brick * MOVE IT! With Servo Motors * Hmm, I Sense Something * Yes, But I Don't Know How to Program * Testing, Testing: On, Trouble Shoot * Katherine's Best Hacking Projects * Katherine's Design Fun House * NXT Programming Language Guide * NXT Elements * NXT Resources

About the Author

Dave Prochnow is an award-winning professional writer, editor, and contributor to numerous technical publications including MAKE, Nuts and Volts, and SERVO. He is the author of 26 nonfiction book titles for Addison-Wesley, F&W Publications, McGraw-Hill, and TAB Books; including the bestselling PSP Hacks, Mods, and Expansions (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and The Official Robosapien Hacker’s Guide (McGraw-Hill, 2006). In 2001, Dave won the Maggie Award for writing the best how-to article in a consumer magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 459 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071481478
• ISBN-13: 978-0071481472
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not As Advertised!, December 15, 2006

By 

Railrho (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide (Paperback)

I was GREATLY disappointed, for the following reasons:

1) Most of the hacks in this book are lame. (Sorry, a board game using Lego pieces does NOT count as a hack).

2) There's very little in this book about the Mindstorms NXT. The first 79 pages of the book don't address the NXT at all, and the rest of the book only addresses the NXT tangentially, in most cases using only five or six NXT parts to build the hack. (Some hacks don't use NXT parts at all).

3) The book seems to have had a "first-to-market" strategy, in order to make a quick buck and to take advantage of the interest surrounding the NXT.

Rock-bottom message: it's a slapdash, hodgepodge assortment of stuff that will not advance your knowledge of the NXT one iota.

Save your cash and get another book.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Piece of junk, January 5, 2007

By 

muon (Branchburg, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide (Paperback)

I was too lazy to write any review. The one good thing about this book is that it motivates me to type something here.

The title is completely misleading. What NXT? More than 80% of the book talked about something else. The the few NXT examples were so simple that you don't need to be a "hacker" to do it. The book mostly contained only pictures with short captions (no text). There are often jumps between one picture to the next. So, it is hardly a "guide" at all.

What left to the title is "Lego Mindstorm", but the book is not 100% about that either. (Like, how shipping containers were used to build a building.)

Too bad Amazon doesn't offer reivew of zero stars.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Money, December 25, 2006

By 

opinionated_reader "opinionated_reader" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Hacker's Guide (Paperback)

If one goes by the title alone, the book might have some of what one expects: stuff you can do with a soldering iron to hack stuff with one's NXT. However, the editorial review is very deceptive; it gives the impression that this book is something a more average (non soldering-iron) type of user would find useful.

The book starts with what appears to be a history, but it's too rambling (who wants to know about "One Computer for every Child"). The part about the RIS (older sibling of NXT) goes on and on, and much of it is not relevant. The "Design" chapter has nothing to do with NXT: perhaps someone would like to build a tiny model of a container-house or the Seattle library, but what does this have to do with NXT.

The mentions of NXT Elements and NXT resources is deceptive too, there's nothing there that is both useful and not already available in the NXT package from Lego.

I'm going to list this book for re-sale immediately, and only wrote this review so that buyers know what they're getting beforehand.