Page 8 - The Unofficial Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots
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Building and programming robots is exhilarating. It's fun to build something that moves and thinks, in a sense; at the same time, you're
learning a lot about how things work, mechanically, and how to write programs that can deal with the real world. This book is designed to
take you to the next level of building and programming, all in the spirit of fun and learning.
This book's chapters come in two basic flavors. Five chapters have robot projects, complete with building instructions and programs. Four
chapters describe various programming environments for LEGO MINDSTORMS robots, including code examples and debugging tips. The
first and last chapters don't fit in either category.
Here's a description of each chapter in this book:
Chapter 1, Robotics and MINDSTORMS, introduces the field of mobile robotics and describes how the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotic
Invention System fits in the larger picture of the field.
Chapter 2, Hank, the Bumper Tank, is the first building project—a tank-style robot that avoids obstacles in its path. This chapter discusses
basic mechanical features like gears and bumpers.
Chapter 3, Trusty, a Line Follower, covers a slightly trickier robot—a line-follower. It uses a light sensor to follow a black line on the floor.
Chapter 4, Not Quite C, introduces the Not Quite C (NQC) language. NQC is an excellent environment for programming robots. The chapter
includes descriptions of NQC's functions as well as many examples.
Chapter 5, Minerva, a Robot with an Arm, contains another building project—by far the most complex robot in the book. You'll learn about
directional transmissions and other neat stuff.
Chapter 6, pbFORTH, discusses an innovative programming environment based on a language called Forth.
Chapter 7, A Remote Control for Minerva, is another project-based chapter. Using a second robot kit, you can build a remote control for the
robot from Chapter 5.
Chapter 8, Using Spirit.ocx with Visual Basic, talks about how to control and program your robots using Microsoft's Visual Basic.
Chapter 9, RoboTag, a Game for Two Robots, shows how to create a pair of robots that play tag.
Chapter 10, legOS, discusses legOS, a programming environment that enables you to program your robots with C, C++, or assembly code.
Chapter 11, Make Your Own Sensors, describes how you can build sensors for your robots easily and inexpensively.
