The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots [Paperback]

Jonathan Knudsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1999

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ Robotics Invention System (RIS) is a wildly popular kit for building mobile robots. This book contains all the information you need to get the most out of your kit. Based on hands-on robot projects, the book includes descriptions of advanced mechanical techniques, programming with third-party software, building your own sensors, working with more than one kit, and sources of extra parts. This book goes far beyond what you'll find in the official documentation to enable you to build and program whatever you can imagine.

The center of the RIS kit is a small programmable robot brain called the RCX. This book explains the software architecture of the RCX as well as the various options that are available for programming it.

The book includes:

• Hands-on robot projects, with complete building instructions and programs. Different aspects of these projects are used to explore fundmental issues of mobile robot design.
• A chapter on NQC, a popular programming environment for RIS. You'll learn how NQC fits into the RIS software architecture, as well as how to write programs using NQC's C-like syntax. Includes copious examples.
• A chapter on legOS, an alternate operating system for the RCX. legOS provides very low-level access to the resources of the RCX, enabling complex robot programming. This chapter describes legOS's structure and includes useful sample programs.
• A chapter on pbForth, another powerful option for RCX robot programming. The chapter includes sample programs in Forth.
• A chapter about building your own sensors. Making your own sensors is economical and educational. This chapter describes how to build several different sensors that will work with the RIS kit.

The book includes numerous illustrations and code examples. Many URLs are listed to serve as an introduction to the thriving online MINDSTORMS™ community.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Using a project-oriented approach, The Unofficial Guide to LEGO(r) MINDSTORMS Robots introduces programming and constructing robots using the popular robotics invention. While presenting four complete and progressively more capable robots, the author cover the usage of sensors, motors, the Infra-red (IR) port, and programming languages. Programming topics are covered well, particularly the languages NQC and pbForth, and installing replacement firmware.

Although the book is stronger at covering the software than the mechanical aspects of robot design, the assembly plans incorporate many useful features that can be used in your own designs, including a directional transmission and a single-motor grabber.

Two projects provide clear demonstrations of using the IR port for communication. One involves creating a remote control and using it to communicate with a robot; the other project creates tag-playing robots to demonstrate inter-robot communication.

The series of step-by-step, robot-building photographs are helpful, but they are in black and white and are without a lot of accompanying text. For the simpler robots this isn't a problem, but for Minerva (which is somewhat complicated and a very good learning example) they are a little difficult to follow.

The last chapter of the book includes an informative discussion on building your own sensors, getting sensor input to the RCX, and configuring sensor inputs from your programs.

A thorough introduction, this book even provides links to many online resources. If you specifically need a detailed, organized tutorial on robot mechanical issues, this book may not suit you. If, however, you are looking for a book that introduces building MINDSTORMS robots with useful examples and covers programming them, replacing their firmware, and introduces building sensors for them, this is a perfect book. --John Keogh

Topics covered: Building robots using the Robotics Invention System, programming the RCX using RCX Code, NQC, pbForth, and C, using sensors and actuators, gears, transmissions and pulleys, obtaining and installing pbForth and legOS replacement firmware, communication with and between robots using the IR port, and making your own sensors.

From Library Journal

This is an exceptionally cool book on robotics. Knudsen discusses the concepts behind the LegoR Mindstorm Robotics Invention System, a kit for building robots, and then explains where to get the robot hardware and software. He presents in detail four hands-on robot projects (robots that will follow you, robots that play tag, etc.) from the simple to the more advanced, with building and programming instructions.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (October 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565926927
• ISBN-13: 978-1565926929
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,586,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly poor production values for O'Reilly, December 2, 1999

By 

Gary Rosen (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots (Paperback)

Given my good experiences with O'Reilly books in the past, I was extremely surprised by the very *poor* production values in this book.

I can't figure out what parts go into the robots based on the pictures which are too dark and poorly focused.

A much better book with great pictures is "Dave Baum's Definitive Guide To Lego Mindstorms" which is also less choppy and I think explains things better.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Mindstorms, November 13, 1999

By 

E. Freeman (Bainbridge Island, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots (Paperback)

As someone with no experience with Lego Mindstorms, but fascinated by the topic, I found this book an excellent introduction to not only the mindstorm kit itself, but also, at a very basic level, the issues of robotics. The book also does an excellent job of surveying the landscape of programming platforms that can be used to program mindstorms and points to many online resources for every aspect of building and programming lego robots.

If you are a professional robotics researcher or an experienced Mindstorms developer this book might be a bit basic for you, but for a new comer this book provides a very nice introduction. While in general I like many of the O'Reilly titles, I don't think I've ever had so much fun reading one.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A treasure=trove of information, but unsatisfactory pictures, November 5, 1999

By 

Peter F. Guenther ([e-mail]) (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots (Paperback)

Although my enjoyment of this book is tempered by flaws in its illustrations and instructions, it is well worth buying.

The book offers a number of strong points. First, it brings together a wide range of information on MindStorms from sources other than Lego. The chapter on building customized sensors is thorough and enlightening. Throughout the book, information on user-created programming languages and environments and URLs for on-line resources are helpful.

Second, the robot designs offered by the author are fantastic. For instance, Minerva, a robot designed to pick up and return objects, has an elegant drive train that takes it straight forward but turns in reverse. It also has a forward grabber which, with one motor, both grabs and lifts. These robots are creative, educational, and fun.

However, the instructions to build them leave something to be desired. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs, labeled with colors where necessary, that in many cases don't provide enough contrast to easily see what has been done in the step. Additionally, there are some mistakes in the photos, showing pieces which aren't added until future steps.

Although this makes building the robots more difficult, it doesn't make it impossible, and the book's other features more than make up for it. This is indeed a worthwhile guide for anyone who wants to take MindStorms "beyond what's in the box."