Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length:: 2:37 Mins

If you're interested in LEGO Mindstorms NXT, you should take a look at the robots in this video review. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders has the building and programming instructions for these robots, and many more.
There are no parts needed other than those in the NXT kit, making this book the ideal expansion to your Mindstorms NXT set.

::IMPORTANT NOTE::
This book is written for the original LEGO Mindstorms NXT (#8527) set, and requires the LEGO parts from just this one kit.

As a result, it is NOT COMPATIBLE with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547) version which has a different selection of LEGO parts, and came out in 2009.


When we (the authors) wrote this book in 2007-2008, we were not even aware of a possible new version of the MINDSTORMS NXT system, the NXT 2.0 in this case. We couldn't anticipate on this new kit, so the robots in this book were simply designed for the NXT (#8527). Unfortunately, the difference isn't well advertised, and NXT 2.0 set owners buy this book. It turns out that this leads to negative reviews which do not review our book, but rate the unexpected difference between the LEGO kits.

Before you buy any LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT book, carefully check which kit version you have, by following the links in this review above. If you still have the paper box that the set came in, you can tell the difference between the kits as well. The older NXT box is mostly orange (and says 8527), and the new NXT 2.0 (8547) is mostly blue. Note that if you do have the MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, you are still able to buy an appropriate book for the kit. Just search on Amazon and check whether the book title contains "NXT 2.0". If it does, get such a book with your NXT 2.0 kit.

If you have the MINDSTORMS NXT (8527) kit, get this book!

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

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.

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!

It's dangerous to recommend an nxt book when you haven't built any of its models, but I'm going to take a chance and give "nxt One-Kit Wonders" an enthusiastic recommendation. (For those who might be confused, this book was originally titled "The LEGO MindStorms nxt Idea Book volume 2".)

Quality-wise, nxt books are all over the place. There are near-disasters ("LEGO MindStorms nxt Hacker's Guide") and bitter disappointments ("Advanced nxt -- the Da Vinci Inventions Book" -- where are the robot knight and autonomous cart?). Rare are the books that actually deliver on their promises, such as "Creating Cool MindStorms nxt Robots". (The failure to provide a JohnNXT parts list showing which additional parts are needed is my only gripe. Coming up with your own list will drive you crazy.)

"nxt One-Kit Wonders" is one of the best. The Candy-Picker is the first nxt device I've seen that doesn't use the computer brick. It exploits the high efficiency of the nxt motors (the RIS motors are similarly efficient) to allow a human-turned motor to power the picker.

The SPC (self-parking car), GrabBot, and "the bike" are particularly appealing because they're excellent examples of autonomous behavior, the thing that (for most people) distinguishes a true robot from other machinery.

Each project ends with a "further exploration" list of modifications or enhancements readers might wish to challenge themselves with.

The printing quality is very good, lacking the muddy grays and blacks that afflict too many RIS and nxt books and make assembly drawings hard to interpret. The programming panels are small, but related blocks are almost always on the same page.

Strongly recommended.

Very Inspiring book, a must for any serious NXT fan who love to learn from the masters by inspecting every aspect of the designs for fun and inspiration (like i do) then it doesn't matter what NXT set you own or is available at school but if the book owner plans on building the actual robots (10 of them) and has little LEGO TECHNIC available beside the parts in the NXT, then you need the first RETAIL NXT kit that has been on sale since 2006. TODAY LEGO repackaged the same NXT brick in a new version 2.0 and changed the parts in the box!

So this book may not be the best one to get along with a the new NXT 2.0 kit, the WHITE and BLUE box
It is however a great gift to give someone with the original NXT 1.0 (GREY and GOLD box) or someone who just loves any NXT ideas!

I'm a high school computer science and robotics teacher. This book is perfect! The projects can each serve as the centerpiece for discussion of a particular aspect of robotics, whether exhibiting autonomous, remote control, assembly-line, or human enhancement behaviors. Wonderful job!

Having just gotten the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit, I was very excited to see this new book on the market. One-Kit Wonders offers ten new projects that can be built with just the NXT kit - no extra parts necessary.

This book provides detailed layouts and step-by-step instructions for building each project (including illustrations). It also gives thorough information on programming each robot. This is very important for users like me who do not have any programming background.

One great aspect about One-Kit Wonders is that it features something for eveyone in the family. The projects included range from an M&M Sorter (my kids favorite) to a dragster (my husbands favorite) to a bike that steers and moves by itself (my personal favorite).

Adding color to the illustrations is the one thing that I found I would change about One-Kit Wonders. At times it is hard to tell which pieces needed to be used because the pictures are various shades of gray. This would make it much easier to use, especially for kids who might be trying to do these projects on their own.

Another useful feature about this particular book is that it is bound using RepKover so that it will lay flat. This comes in handy when you're snapping lego together and need both hands. I won't say that this worked perfectly, but it was definitely better about staying open than the standard book.

Overall, however, I was very pleased with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders. It provides hours and hours of entertainment and was fairly easy to use despite the lack of color. I had a blast with my kids building some of these great projects, and we'll definitely be on the lookout for the next book of this type.

I've used up my toy budget for this year, but this book makes me want to do some deficit spending.

These projects were extremely well chosen for interest and learning opportunity. Really great job!

The only complaints I'd have is that I wish it were in color (I realize that would have been horribly expensive) and that the programming diagrams were a bit larger - 60 year old eyes have trouble with small details.

I liked the book, but it assumes that you are using the NXT 1.0 set and it turns out the sets have different parts. So when I purchased the book I found out that I could only make a few of the items. I have since purchased the additional parts I needed and can build them all now, but it was a little bit of a let down when I received the book and could not build them all.