LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Thinking Robots

It may look like one, but the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set is not a toy.

Whether you've been building with the original LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set for years or you just picked up a 2.0 set, you'll love this book. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT thinking Robots will show you how to build and program two robots that think. You'll be awestruck when the TTT Tickler ties you at tic-tac-toe and amazed when the One-Armed Wonder solves a Rubik's Cube in just a few minutes.

These robots aren't child's play. The models are challenging, and you'll have to do a bit of thinking yourself to get them work. But once you get the hang of it, your efforts will be amply rewarded.

In addition to providing detailed instructions for building each model with either the original or the NXT 2.0 set, authoer Daniele Benedettelli takes you inside robots to show you how they're designed, waht makes them think, and how to use them. You'll learn how to:

- Control and calibrate you robots for best performance
- Dig into tic-tac-toe strategy to see how the TTT Tickler always plays to win
- Use the CubeSover program to solve a Rubik's Cube with the One-Armed Wonder
- Better understand artificial intelligence as it relates to robotics, problem solving, and gaming

So go ahead, put on your thinking cap and get building!

Requirements: A computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, one complete LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or NXT 2.0 set, a webcam, some marbles, a couple of rubber bands, and an Internet connection (to download the programs).

Zielgruppe:

• • Any owner of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit, 1.0 or 2.0 • Builders looking for more challenging and complex robots using AI

Autor / Autorin:

Daniele Benedettelli was born a quarter century ago in Grosseto, the capital of the beautiful Maremma area of Tuscany. He spent his childhood and adolescent years composing music and playing the piano. When not playing the piano, he could often be found playing with LEGO.

His passion for LEGO waned a bit when real-life interests (read "girls") got the better of him and his plastic creations. AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO) usally refer to this period as the "dark age of LEGO". But then, in 2001, he purchased a LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System and began a career in the LEGO community.

In 2006 Benedettelli was selected by The LEGO Group as a member of the MINDSTORMS Developer Program, and he was a MINDSTORMS Community Partner from 2007 through 2009.

And in 2007, he gave birth to a LEGO NXT robot tat could solve a 3 x 3 Rubik's Cube in under one minute, the result of his LEGO Rubik Utopia project.

Benedettelli holds a B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering (specializing in Automation) and an M.Sc. degree in Robotics and Automation form the University of Siena, Tuscany. He works as a researcher in mobile robotics, and occasionally composes songs and music for spots and short movies.