Mindstorms: Level 1

Mindstorms: Level 1 — page 1 — (cid:53)(cid:46)(cid:47)(cid:38)(cid:38)(cid:41)(cid:35)(cid:41)(cid:33)(cid:44)(cid:0) GUIDES Chapter 1 What Is Lego (cid:45)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:84)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:77)(cid:83)(cid:31) H ave you ever wanted to bring your Lego creations to life Or to build a robot that can walk Wouldn’t it be incredible for that Lego truck you built to drive around on its own With the help of Lego Mindstorms you can make these ideas and many others a reality You can build amazing things using Mindstorms 4

Mindstorms: Level 1 — page 2 — MINDSTORMS Level 1 An expert builder shows off some of the many robots that can be created using a Mindstorms EV3 kit A Mindstorms kit comes with motors sen sors and a programmable computer These can be combined with standard Lego pieces to build robots that sense their environment and react to it This means Mindstorms robots can follow set paths or even travel on their own while avoiding objects The best part of these projects is that they are easily accomplished once you learn how to work with the Mindstorms system There have been three versions of Lego Mindstorms released so far With each one creators have made changes and improvements to the earlier versions The biggest difference between the 5

Mindstorms: Level 1 — page 3 — (cid:53)(cid:46)(cid:47)(cid:38)(cid:38)(cid:41)(cid:35)(cid:41)(cid:33)(cid:44)(cid:0) GUIDES A Fun Way to Learn One of the purposes of Lego Mindstorms is to help kids learn the basics of engineering and science Engineers are people who design everything from computers and cell phones to vehicles and bridges Working with Mindstorms robots is a great ﬁrst step toward learning how to be an engineer For example building a Mindstorms car will teach you a lot about how real cars work kits is the programmable computer brick The first kit released contained a brick called the RCX Remote Command Execution The building system was more like the standard bricks that Lego originally sold The next brick was the NXT Next Generation The most recent brick is the EV3 Evolution 3 Both the NXT and EV3 bricks are used with Lego Technic building pieces rather than the standard brick construction This change was made to improve the sturdiness of the designs There are two types of kits to choose from for each version of Mindstorms One is the retail kit and the other is the education kit The education kits are designed mainly for use in schools They include more parts than retail kits For example the retail EV3 kit comes with three sensors while the education kit comes with five sensors 6

Mindstorms: Level 1 — page 4 — MINDSTORMS Level 1 Different software has been released for each version of Lego Mindstorms For the RCX there are two main software packages Robolab and RIS The NXT software is called NXTg The software for the EV3 is simply called EV3 software The software is used to program your robots It uses a graphical interface where you drag and drop icons to form your program There will be many references to the kit throughout this book This will always mean the EV3 Mindstorms kit which is the most recent version of Mindstorms The Lego Company believes that kids should learn using hands-on methods This means discovering new things on your own as you work on Mindstorms projects As you go through the rest of this book there will be activities for you to try Before you read the solutions try finding the answers to the questions 7

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