Review of the new Lego Mindstorms NXT Robotics Kit

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Deepak Kumar of the Institute for Personal Robots in Education has a nice review of the new Lego Mindstorms NXT robotics platform. If you are using Lego or thinking about using robots in your curriculum you will want to read this review. There is nothing like having a review done by someone who knows that they are doing with robotics in education. Deepak lists the contents:

For $250.00 the kit includes the following:

  • the NXT brick,
  • a sonar sensor,
  • a sound sensor,
  • a touch sensor,
  • an IR sensor that can sense color as well as proximity,
  • three servo motors (yes servo, so they offer precise control)

Each sensor is approx 0.75inch x 0.75inch x 1.75inch in dimensions, with the exception of sonar which is bigger and has a T-shape for 2 sonar mounts.

The box also comes with an assortment of LEGO pieces that resemble a collection from one of custom LEGO kits as opposed to the generic LEGOs. There are the standard pieces...connectors of various kinds, and there are also oddly shaped ones (elbows, bent beams, etc.) mostly in gray, black, or white color schemes with some orange accents.

I’m going to get one of these for myself. I’ll pretty excited about the sensors that are supported. Rumor has it that there will be add-ons to the Microsoft Robotics Studio for this kit.

[By the way. I’m on vacation this week so this was written earlier for display later. Response to comments will be slow.]