Rating:  -
It is so easy to assemble, and it is very intuitive handlig.
I highly recommend it. My six years old son did it with very little help from me.
I am very pleased with the way how the product is made and how organized the instructions and software are.
Rating: -
Le regalé a mi sobrino de 9 años este juguete y en muy poco tiempo ya lo había aprendido a programar. Es magnífico como algo que los adultos tuvimos que estudiar para aprender, ellos lo aprenden mejor y más fácilmente solo jugando. Además es un juguete muy bonito y el software lo es mucho más.
Rating: -
Introduction to Lego and the Mindstorms NXT
The Lego Group is a manufacturer of toys and construction kits which has been around for exactly 50 years as of this writing. In the 1990's, Lego created a line of basic robotics design and programming sets (deemed "Mindstorms"). These sets generally consist of a processing unit and various Lego pieces for building, motors for moving, and sensors so that the processing unit is able to know what's going on around it. When the Mindstorms series was created, no other company offered a do-it-yourself robotic creation kit, and as of today there is no other product out there that offers a kit like this that includes everything needed to create simple to mildly complex robots.
The latest of these sets is the Mindstorms NXT, which is the second set in the series that allows for complete programming on a personal computer. With a slogan of "Build and Program Robots that Do what You Want," the Lego Group advertises that the set includes 577 building pieces and a new "intelligent brick" with a 32-bit microprocessor and more FLASH memory for storing programs and other files. It also advertises a new ultrasonic sensor and sound sensor, as well as built in rotation sensors for each of its three included motors. At $249.99, this kit may sound pricy, but educational and scientific products with similar capabilities to the components of this set often sell for more.
General Design and Function: Neutral Statements
The first aspect of this product that I noticed, and also one of the more important changes to be aware of compared to past Mindstorms sets, is that everything about this set is larger. The processing unit is about 20% larger and the sensors are on average about twice as large. The motors are about 3 times as large as the previous motors. This makes for larger and more powerful robots (with more sensitive sensors), which can be both good and bad.
In addition, traditional Lego stud-based building has been all but completely done away with. This means that Lego "Technic" pieces (a system of rods, pegs, axles and gears) will be what robots are made of. As a result, I felt that this system has a tendency to produce vehicular robots rather than robots that rely on stationary structures or mounts. Again, this design decision can be both positive and negative, depending on what types of bots you're thinking of creating.
One last important but not necessarily good or bad design decision is an all new programming language. Though it is still an icon based drag-and-drop language (like the last installment of Mindstorms used), it was reworked from the ground up with more advanced features specifically for the NXT. Dragging icons around to make robots behave differently may be easier to understand for young users, but as an icon-based language it still seems trivial to me (although less so than did the last set's language), and it will seem especially trivial to anyone with other programming experience.
Performance Evaluation: The Good
* Older Lego and Lego Technic pieces are easy to incorporate into the design of robots, and a large assortment of additional sensors is available for purchase from either Lego or other manufacturers, adding large amounts of opportunity for all kinds of robots. In addition, adapters can be purchased so that sensors from the previous Mindstorms set can be used with the NXT.
* All included pieces (electronic and mechanical) were well designed and without defects (showing that a lot of thought went into their design and manufacture).
* Although bulkier, sensors are sturdier and more accurate, and motors are stronger and can sense rotation to the degree. In addition, motors can rotate an axle that goes all the way through or parts that attach to other peg holes on the motor.
* The NXT has Bluetooth for connecting wirelessly to home computers.
* Parallel programming (telling two or more strings of code to run at the same time) is made possible for the first time, and is easy to accomplish with the built in language.
* Third party programming languages like C and Java are available for the NXT, and a new data logging feature offers something advanced users will enjoy.
* An available (but not included) rechargeable battery eliminates the need for 6 AA's every time the NXT runs out of power, and the ability to turn off "sleep mode" has been added so that programs can run for a long time if you want them to.
Performance Evaluation: The Bad
* The programming language included is useful for learning but not useful for very detailed projects. A large part of this problem could have been avoided if Lego had added some more advanced "programming blocks."
* Advertised flash memory is incredibly limited for a device of this size. Even a few megabytes (which is tiny by today's standards) would be enough, but the device offers less than 100 kilobytes for program, sound, and data log storage. To compensate for the lack of space, the software automatically compresses programs, making even very large programs fit, although storing multiple programs is still a problem.
* The set is packaged like traditional Lego sets, meaning storage and sorting of various pieces is a problem (with this type of set, you'll constantly be disassembling and reassembling different robots, and it's necessary to have a place to put the pieces between these times.)
* The models that the set comes with instructions to build are clunky, slow, and somewhat poorly designed (unusual for Lego). The flashy appearance of these models adds to the feeling that Lego is really trying to attract kids to this product and neglecting advanced users, even though the system as a whole has such advanced capabilities.
Conclusion
I recommend the Lego Mindstorms NXT set with reservations. The functionality of the product is much more than what you might expect from a toy manufacturer, but as a "toy" this product can be a bit child-like. Advanced users will have to find ways around its issues (such as using other programming languages), but for the most part everything you need to make a robot is right in the box.
Rating: -
All the LEGO positives - modularity, durability, design - are there. On board memory is somewhat limited, but this should help in learning to write creative and efficient programs - to design bot's for very specific tasks. It's still somewhat new - so I've yet to build to my own designs; the models & programs that come with the kit definitely help understand the possibilities. A good investment - expandable and with tremendous potential.
Rating: -
The system is perfect for robotics beginners. It's simple, easy to get going, durable, and highly expandable. I would recommend this for anyone interested in studying/playing robotics.
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