Lego Mindstorms NXT

For kids (and others!) interested in the world’s future in the field of robotics, Mindstorms NXT Robots are an amazing opportunity to combine the fun of creative building with easy-to-use software programming and robot creation available in 2010.  It’s no wonder that Mindstorms NXT tops some “Best 2010 Christmas gifts”  lists.

There’s no such thing as a single toy that makes the best gift for any child.  Part of choosing the best toy for your child always involves taking that boy or girl’s interests and personality into account.  If you’re shopping for a child who is a science or technical inventor in the making, Mindstorms is definitely one of the 10 best Christmas gifts for 2010.

Mindstorms NXT takes building with LEGOs to a level you never thought possible.  Easy enough to make an excellent children’s toy, these 600+ piece toys are sophisticated enough to create a variety of unique and interactive ROBOTS.  Combining the LEGO building system with a microcomputer chip of a brain and easily intuitive software to program that brain, the Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit lets you construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move.  Designed for ages 10 and up, the 2.0 robotics tool set features everything you need to create and program your first robot in approximately one hour. After that, you can create an endless lineup of robots that do what you want–if you can dream it, you can build it.

Mindstorms Robots

Creating MINDSTORMS robots is challenging — but not too difficult — with an illustrated step-by-step booklet and software showing the way. The booklet gives you instructions for building a basic “Quick Start” robot only, which is an easy introduction to the MINDSTORMS experience. This robot took our two adult testers about 30 minutes to build and 30 minutes to program. After that, they spent a lot of time just playing with their creation and testing its abilities.

Once you master the basics of MINDSTORMS, you’ll need to use the included software to get instructions for more advanced creations. You can also use the MINDSTORMS web site to find instructions for many other robots, or you can create robots on your own. No matter what you choose to create, the principles are the same: just build the robot using the LEGO elements in the kit, and program it on your computer using the software. Then watch your robot come alive.

WithMINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, you can construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move. Use the included software to program your robot and watch it come to life.

MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0

The Good: Brings LEGO to life.

The Challenging: Booklet only includes instructions for one basic robot.

In a Nutshell: Everything you need to build and program robots — jump starts inventive play.

Originally posted 2009-10-19 22:12:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter