AS-ST's!

as promised, i've got some pix..wish they were higher quality but hey ..
thanks to Daniele Benedettelli for the work and inspiration.


there were 5 in this picture and a sixth being built since one of the kids had to catch up ..he missed a class. I was able to download the pre-written program into all of them, and we had a great time watching them walk around. After all that, i tried getting the kids to write the program using NXT-G, man this was tough. It was hard to get the 'magic built in limit switch' working right. The theory was there, but i hadnt had enough time to test it before giving it to the students. It should've been easier than what it was, but you can definitely see the speed limitations of NXT G under the speed of NXC.

heres some more small thumbnails of the robots, which all got some custom treatment from each kid.




















As you can see, i've got some imaginative kids. Most had enough to build the full model, but some had the retail kit limitation. Others had the educational kit and the resource kit together so all their beams were grey instead of white. what a great project.

A room full of ATSTs

My robotics classes are winding down, but i thought i'd share an experience

For my BYOB (Bring your own bot) Advanced Robotics class, I decided to use Daniele Benedettelli's 'Creating Cool Mindstorms NXT Robots for the second half of the class. For the first half i wanted to touch on structural building and touch on making state machines using NXT-G. The kids came up with some great robots and i really wish i took some photos before those robots got taken apart (save for one that was built using my parts). And despite some technical issues with Version 1.0 of NXT-G, we were able to get some basic SUMO programs using a finite state machine.

So on to the second half, I really wanted to keep the theme of getting a strong structure and have them program using state machines and such. We built the ATST out of the book and it took about 1 and 3/4 classes to build verbally. While very difficult, this can be quite rewarding. Since my kids were at a level where they all understood the parts, speaking in LEGO was really easy and i didnt have to backtrack to explain parts. But man, what a great feeling to have 7 NXT at st's walking around at the end of the class. The kids had promised to take their creations home and seriously modify them. I cant wait to get some shots of possibly modified Atsts.

The challenge now is to convert Danielle's NXC program to an NXT g Program. There's already a nice 'servomotor automagic built-in limit switch' already made by LEGO in their Education NXT (software) set. And i think i can manage some of the walking machines, but since there's no real support for array's, a lot of the number plugging will be manual. I'll see about posting when i get that ready (preferably before class next Tuesday).

So next week..watch out endor..atsts are coming

LEGO Classes (round 2 for the year)

Well, i'm still trying to figure out what i wanna do with this blog, hence not adding anything in a while but here's an idea

Monday began the 2nd round of Creations classes for 2008 at LHVCC.
for the first session i'm using Maxilos and Spinax, LEGO Bionicle -- what a great set. You can really build quite a bit with it. Its got one of the best piece/price ratio for a bionicle set out there. With what's inside you should be able to build at least 2 figures and add some great detail or make it pretty functional. The set itself is built pretty well. With the piston construction not only for the back part of the legs but also for the shoulder. It gives this set a nice organic and muscular feel.

My kids had a great time with the set. There's a little bit of a learning curve with Bionicle parts, but they can get it. I introduced the socket joint first, it just seemed the easiest thing and one of the most identifying parts to bionicle, coupled with the right angle ball joint in red ( I love that piece..made loci ..(and another idea comes to mind) ). Some of the kids had trouble socketing in, but once they got it it was easy to let them go. I had them do the same to a 2 ball, hip type joint to start making legs .or torso if they desired. I led them to axles by putting a socket joint, axle connector side in to the hip joint - simple, and most of them got it. Lastly were pins and axle/pins and i let them go from there.

Veterans in my class went right at it, but on monday i had mostly new kids. They're pretty good, i'd like to see them finish off their figures in the next week . Pix coming within the week. And i guess i should start thinking about sets for the next class. Indy maybe?