New NXT Wallpaper Available

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

Want to dress up your desktop a little bit? National Instruments is now offering wallpaper sets that highlight the LabVIEW-powered LEGO Mindstorms NXT.  Enjoy.

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Toy for Tomorrow Award: LEGO Mindstorms NXT

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

Hamleys, one of the world’s largest toy shops, has announced what it considers the best toys of the year. The new LEGO Mindstorms NXT has taken the top spot in the Toy for Tomorrow category.  Congrats!

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NIDays 2006 - Savoy Place, London

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

The UK semi-equivalent of NIWeek, National Instruments will hold a one-day conference called NIDays that will feature all the coolest innovations in virtual instrumentation. The LEGO Mindstorms NXT, powered by NI LabVIEW, will definitely be on exhibit.

To get an idea of what one might see at NIDays, see Dick Swan’s NIWeek trip report.

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LEGO Education Focus Group Survey

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

The folks over at LEGO Education are searching for a few teachers to participate in a product development focus group.  Those who are interested are instructed to take a survey.

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Toy Companies Push High-Tech Robotic Toys

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

There is an interesting article in this week’s Time about the push from toy companies this holiday season to wow young consumers with high-tech toys.

With young consumers growing out of toys faster and preferring iPod digital music players and video games, the nation’s toy makers are working harder to come up with more high-tech products, particularly robotic playmates.

Towards the end, the article makes mention of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT and how it will allow LEGO to enter alternative channels that in the past would not normally sell their products.

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Bricksmith 1.5 Now Available

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

Bricksmith 1.5, a Macintosh LEGO modeling application based on the popular LDraw library, is now available.

New Features

* Minifigure Generator
* Move and Rotate panels
* Pressing x,y, and z keys rotates parts

Bugs Fixed

* Holding option while nudging parts reliably selects the third axis
* Circumvented problem on Intel iMacs preventing selected parts from being displayed

If you don’t have them already, here is the link to the unofficial LDraw parts for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT.

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2006 FLL Challenge: NANO QUEST

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Per David Levy, the new FIRST LEGO League challenge for 2006 has been announced. The theme this year will be nanotechnology. As you can see, the board and obstacles look pretty awesome.

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PC Magazine Reviews LEGO Mindstorms NXT

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine gives a pretty extensive review of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT as he takes it for a spin with his 11 year old.

Bottom Line:
LEGO Mindstorms NXT is an excellent upgrade to an already worthy robot-building kit.

Pros:
Well-built. Easy to follow instructions. Fun and learning for all ages.

Cons:
Some instructions are all visual. Similar-looking parts can lead to confusion. Bluetooth lacks detailed instructions.

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Press Release: LEGO Embraces 3rd-Party Development

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Official word has now been published regarding the LEGO/HiTechnic collaboration.

The LEGO Group today announced partnership with HiTechnic to allow the manufacture and sale of hardware accessories certified by the LEGO Group for the newly-released LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robotics toolset. This debut partnership represents the evolution of the company’s commitment to community-driven innovation and open-source development surrounding the launch of its next generation robotics system.

See our report when the news first broke at BrickFest 2006.

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Robotics Investigation Force - 1st Mission Available

Friday, September 15th, 2006

In case you’ve missed it, the Robotics Investigation Force site has been updated and the first mission is available. I must say that this is a wonderful way to expand the LEGO Mindstorms NXT beyond the standard kit robots. Please check it out.

The Robotics Investigation Force was created to investigate the Unusual, the Unexplainable, and the Unimaginable. Using a Mindstorms NXT Robotics kit, agents can elect to take on certain missions for the Robotics Investigation Force. Mission Details are downloaded by an agent in the ‘R.I.F. Mission File’ — a collection of PDF files that contains everything the agent needs to fulfill a mission’s objectives. Completion of the assignment is left to the agent, and there is no deadline or required completion time. Each mission typically involves the agent using a MissionBot to assist with the investigation.

Thanks for the email Rick!

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