Lego Segway!

One of the coolest things about the way Lego rolled out its new Mindstorms NXT product line is that the code and APIs are all public, to encourage third party and open source contributions. The basic Lego kit ships with light, sound, touch and ultrasonic sensors, but you can now buy several other senses from third-party NXT accessories suppliers, led by Hitechnic. Color, compass, and acceleration/tilt are already available, and a cool gyro sensor is coming.

Why would you need a gyro sensor? To create a balancing robot, for starters. Check out this cool video of a Lego Segway: 

(Thanks the the NXT Blog for the pointer)

Comments

[iridescent cuttlefish]

Hi there,

I know that some of the following commentary might seem somewhat extraneous to your current post, but there is relevance to all of it, if in a slightly roundabout fashion. Please forgive the meandering nature of my observations.

I thought you might enjoy this cross-reference of your work with the foresight of everybody's favorite Uncle Frank: Frank Zappa on iTunes & The Long Tail. Now if only someone in the music biz could do a compare & contrast piece on Frank & Bono...you'd have egalitarianism and elitism on the half-shell.

(Btw, I think that having access to some music which some people might not like as readily available as the gruel that everyone's been programmed to like is a very small price to pay for diversity.)

The basic fact of our existence is that the free flow of information (including music, political, economic, and scientific theory) is the greatest danger faced by those in whose interest it lies to control, control, control. Economies of scarcity are based on that type of control; economies of abundance are the antithesis of that regimentation.

We could implement Frank's vision right now, if we were allowed to. I could order that Ultimate Spinach album I haven't heard in 30 years and the surviving remnants of the band could actually get paid...or, going a little macro on you now, we could read Edwin Black to find out why we think we need oil (and hegemony and all the current controlling crap that defines our way of life)...or maybe Dave West to see why the science for life refined by George Washington Carver can't be used...or possibly even my own amateurish stuff on why regime and (cliche warning!) paradigm change begins, not "at home," but "in" the home.

The Long Tail is long overdue. Here's a little, well, maybe a lot more on what the world to which it will ultimately lead does & doesn't look like. Then there's the science & philosophy behind all of this stuff, but I won't burden you with even more imponderable links, at least for now.

Peace & Jah-love, mon.

[joshlee]

I hope that the next step for the builders of that robot involves adding an audio component to it, so that it can giggle like the Pilsbury dough boy when you poke it.

[Ben Schwartz]

Just saying, a friend and I totally built a working Lego Segway about three years ago, with the old RCX. We used rotation sensors and a free-spinning weighted disc with various colors aligned to a light sensor so it could track verticality. It worked surprisingly well.

Ben

[Chinatronic.com]

I am really confused. Is this about being able to watch the debates or about democracy or about copyright. To those who merely want to watch the debates, I would suggest you block the time out of your calendar and tune in and watch. In lieu of that, set your VCR to record it.
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[wow powerleveling]

video and audio should have been added in my opinion, which would add more fun and function to your project:)
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[ayse]

thank you

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[xmas presents]

I will try to clear this up.The HiTechnic Gyro Sensor measures change in angle. It's units are roughly degree/sec. So it does not measure tilt, more like change in tilt.
The Acceleration Sensor does not give velocity, it gives you acceleration, i.e. the change in velocity. The HiTechnic sensor operates on three axis at the same time. Since gravity feels like a 1g acceleration, it can be used to measure tilt since different angles will give different readings on the three axis.