LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders: Ten Inventions to Spark Your Imagination [Paperback]

James Floyd Kelly (Author), Matthias Paul Scholz (Author), Christopher R. Smith (Author), Martijn Boogaarts (Author), Jonathan Daudelin (Author), Eric D. Burdo (Author), Laurens Valk (Author), BlueTooth Kiwi (Author), Fay Rhodes (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2008

The creative minds behind The NXT STEP blog are back with a brand-new collection of innovative robots. Whether you're just getting started with LEGO robotics or have been building and programming robots for years, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders is packed with new and exciting techniques, advice, and robots that guarantee awesome results. And best of all, you'll only need one NXT Retail kit to build all ten of them!

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders will make it simple for you to construct even the most complex of these ten robots, all while you learn the ins and outs of the NXT kit. You'll learn to build and program:

• CandyPicker, a candy-picking robot with built-in generator and remote control
• PunchBot, a robot that you program using old-fashioned punchcards
• M, a robot that sorts your M&M candies by color
• NXT Dragster, a super-fast racecar that will take you all the way to the drag strip
• BobBot, a versatile skid-steer loader, equipped with a ball grabber or demolition claw
• RoboLock, a security system for your robots
• The Hand, a robotic replacement hand to protect you from those dangerous cleanup jobs, like picking up your brother's gym socks
• SPC, a robotic vehicle that can park itself between two objects using front-wheel drive
• GrabBot, a robot that finds, grabs, lifts and moves objects autonomously
• The Bike, a two-wheeled robot that can balance and steer

Armed with the knowledge you gain from this book, you'll be inventing your own amazing creations in no time.

Requirements: One LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set (LEGO set #8527). Make sure you have this set, and not the NXT 2.0 set (#8547), which has different building elements.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Kelly was accepted into the LEGO MINDSTORMS Developer Program (MDP) in early 2006 and helped to beta test the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit and software. He is a member of the MINDSTORMS Community Partners, a group that continues to assist LEGO with testing and growing the NXT product.

Matthias Scholz is a member of the LEGO Mindstorms Community Partners Program. His NXT-related Web site is extremely popular. He is also a frequent contributor to the well-known NXT blog, The NXT STEP. He majored in Mathematics at the University of Bayreuth and has held various positions in German IT enterprises.

Martijn Boogaarts was one of the initial organizers of LEGO WORLD. He has built several large demonstration models, including the Road-Plate-Laying-Machine, a working car factory (27 RCXs), and a Pinball machine.

Jonathan Daudelin has been competing in FLL since age 13. In 2007, his team won the First Place Robot Performance and First Place Innovative Robot awards at the World Festival after their robot achieved perfect scores in all three rounds. He is a contributor to The NXT Step blog and a co-author of "The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book" (No Starch) and "The NXT Robotics Competition Workbook" (self-published).

Laurens Valk is a member of the MINDSTORMS Community Partners, and one of his robots appears on the NXT 2.0 box. Valk is the author of The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book, a co-author of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders (both No Starch Press), and a contributor to The NXT Step Blog. He lives in the Netherlands where he studies Mechanical Engineering at Delft University of Technology.

Fay Rhodes is co-author of The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book (No Starch), a 2007 member of LEGO's MINDSTORMS Community Partners (MCP), and the only female contributor to the NXT Step Blog.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1 edition (November 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593271883
• ISBN-13: 978-1593271886
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have to choose one book to go with your NXT, get this book December 5, 2008

By Stan Walker

Format:Paperback

I pre-ordered this as this book had a bike in it.

The book arrived on Thursday - way later than I expected. But it was worth the wait. And yes - it was the autonomous bike that my 11 year old boy built first - and suprisingly (given its complexity) without any adult help. It is such a cool bike that my son does not want to take it apart to build the Bobcat, self parking car and the dragster (which is the model you see on the front cover).

Any way - back to the book:
- Quality of models: very good seletion from easy to moderately hard

- Build Instructions: Extremely good - though it is black and white

- Programming instructions: OK - Might need some help with younger kids - but OK. It would be nice if the publisher had the programs downloadable - it is a bit of a drag following the steps for a 11 year old.

Overall, I love the models even from an adult point of view - a good combinations of machines and vehicles. The right balance of fun and learning through discovery. Only downside is it does not have any animals.

I never given a 5 star for a book before - but this one has earned it! Highly reccomended.

Stan

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but NOT for NXT 2.0 September 25, 2009

By Keith McMillen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This does look like an interesting book with several great projects. I was intrigued enough to order it along with the NXT 2.0 set, based on the Amazon recommendation. This book uses parts that are not in the NXT 2.0 (especially gears). You can not build some of these projects with just the parts in the NXT 2.0 set. As a novice to these kits I didn't know enough about them to even consider the differences. Now I need to find the pieces that I need to actually build these projects, because they are too compelling to ignore. I like the book, just beware of the differences between the older NXT set and the newer NXT 2.0 set.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for a snowy day! January 23, 2009

By Patti R. Schiendelman

Format:Paperback

When Seattle schools were closed for snow (snow!), my son decided to make a project from No Starch Press's new book, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders. We really like this book - it consists of ten projects designed by the contributors to the NXT Step blog. The book is not for absolute beginners, but it's not too advanced if you have some experience with building and programming NXT MINDSTORMS. The projects include an M&M sorter, a NXT version of a Bobcat, and a drag racer.

He chose the robot hand project - it's a hand that fits over your own hand; he liked the silly redundancy of the idea - it takes two hands to operate it! Like all the projects, this one has a parts list, an explanation of the project, pictures of the steps, and the programming code. The only criticism he had was that the pictures were in black-and-white, and a little dark, so it was sometimes difficult to see exactly what parts were needed. You can see the robot hand in action in the video - it rotates in both directions, and it's surprisingly dexterous.

We really liked the fact that each project uses only the parts that come with the basic NXT MINDSTORMS kit; we've started projects from other books that turned out to require lots of other parts only available in really expensive and hard to find educational kits. Since there are nine authors, the projects represent a variety of approaches - it's like learning from a team of teachers. The projects are complete in themselves, but each project has suggestions for modifying the designs, and the authors encourage kids to think creatively and explore further. The book is full of fun projects, and gives kids tools to help create their own designs. We look forward to building more projects!