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LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Review (918)

LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Review (918)

By Sammie Fields

The beauty of the Mindstorms NXT 8547is you can foresee, make and program your own robot. But there's more..

Over time you'll determine new methods of construction your machines and new ways of programming them, so you can get them to do some impressive things. The only restriction is your imagination.

Your LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 robot isn't going to be the next Terminator, but with all the things you can do with it, you'll never get bored.

It's a hefty price for a Christmas gift, but as a present you can go on using again and again into your old age, the Lego Mindstorms NXT completely lives up to the price tag.

Who Should You Get The LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547) Set For

The Mindstorms set is designed for all who are more than 10 years old. Making your first robot is easy when you follow the simple instructions in the guide book.

You'll be forgiven for thinking making a robot with NXT is perplexing, given the use of the term 'programming', but it can really just involve a few clicks here and there with your P.C. mouse and a few taps on your keyboard.

A younger audience will surely be able to discover their own way to enjoy playing with their robots, while on the other hand someone more senior or more experienced can practice more complicated programming to make more complex robots.

What Do You Get Inside The Package?

The LEGO Mindstorms 8547 consists of a whooping 619 parts. This is mostly comprised of connectors, wheels, rods, beams and sensors.

The Standard Block

The Mindstorms construction is in the form of beams as opposed to the usual brick as used in LEGO, producing a Meccano look. Not like Meccano however, you can easily put the pieces together without the need for any screw drivers or spanners - just use your hands. All you need is the contents of your box, and ofcourse... a PC.

Due to a huge number of pieces that look almost identical, it may be a little difficult at first and perhaps somewhat frustrating trying to find the pieces that you need. But after some time you'll know where to find just what you need and what it looks like, so it'll take you no time at all to make those robots.

Motors x3

These motors will cause your robots physical motions.

Sensory Units

The sensors enable the robot to gather information regarding its environment so that it may then process it and act accordingly. You'll find the following sensors with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0...

1. A light sensing unit, which is sort of like the eyes of the robot, allowing it to see different colors..

2. A kinesthetic sensor, which lets the robot react to touch.

3. A sound sensor, which allows the robot to respond to several volumes of sound, although you can't get it to obey exact vocal commands.

4. An ultrasonic sensor that makes use of simple echolocation to determine how far away it is from a solid object.

The Intelligent Brick Of NXT

Your robot's core processing unit, a tiny computer-like device that you put all your programming into and depending on what programming you put in, orchestrates compound movements in your robots by controlling the 3 servo motors, whether this is through the robot going forward, driving about on its wheels, streaming water into a cup..... and so on.

User Manual

The instruction manual Guideis great to get you started, with step-by-step details on how to build a shooter bot, robogator, color sorter and alpha rex.

Beyond that you're left to use your own vision to create whatever you desire. If you think you've spent your creativity, you can give your mind a rest and purchase guides written by experts on how to build some phenomenal robots.

Be warned though, you may face some frustration from not having enough pieces to construct absolutely anything you want. Fortunately the Lego Technique range uses the same unit, and you can always get a Lego Technique set if you need the parts. Lego was designed to go together.

Can I Get The Mindstorms Set Any Cheaper Than The RRP?