Page 7 - The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots

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Preface

This is a book for people who build and program LEGO® robots with the Robotics Invention System (RIS)™ set. This book is the answer to
the question, "How can I push this thing as far as it will go?" Once you've built a few robots and written a few programs, you'll probably be
itching for more: more complex robots, more powerful programming environments, more sensors, and more fun. This book will take you
there.

About This Book

For many of us, plastic LEGO bricks are the best toy money can buy. When I was five and broke my leg, a little LEGO set was the high
point of my six-week convalescence. I grew up building spaceships and planetary rovers, wearing grooves in the ends of my fingernails from
endlessly putting together and taking apart my creations. In high school, I shifted into the TECHNIC™ product line—what could be better
than cars with real shifting and pistons that worked?

In the Fall of 1998, The LEGO Group released the Robotics Invention System (RIS), a set that was part of a new product line called
MINDSTORMS™. This set entered the world like a lightning bolt—finally, the chance to make LEGO models that moved, sensed, and
thought! The LEGO Group made 80,000 of these sets in 1998 and sold every one. Although The LEGO Group was aiming for young adults,
11 and older, the RIS has also hypnotized many people in their 20s, 30s, and beyond.

A vibrant, inventive online community sprang up around MINDSTORMS robots. In some ways, this book is an introduction to the most
important developments in that community—alternate programming environments and advanced building techniques. But this book goes
farther than that, painting a backdrop of the theories and practices of mobile robotics.