An NXT robot that sees!

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

At last! The first example of autonomous NXT with vision! This robot, published on pob-technology blog, uses the POB-EYE to see and responds to its surrounding. There is a video here.

Posted in news | No Comments »

Problems downoading firmware? Bricked your NXT?

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

Numerous questions have come to Lego regarding problems downloading firmware.  Lego has put this together to help those having difficulty with performing an update:

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Firmware download procedure:
 

Make sure the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is connected directly to the computer/Mac using a USB cable (Bluetooth connection will not work).

1. Press the hardware reset button on the NXT brick for at least 3-5 seconds. The hardware reset button is a tiny little button at the bottom of the pinhole on the bottom of the NXT case, just under the USB connector. You can push it with an unfolded paperclip but a LEGO antenna works to.
2. If the NXT is clicking before you press the hardware reset button, it will stop clicking after you press the hardware reset button. Continue to press on the hardware reset button for a few seconds longer until it clicks one time. Now release the hardware reset button.
3. Wait for the NXT to start clicking continuously again (It will take approximately 2-4 seconds).
4. Now go to the menubar within the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software and select Tools->Update Firmware and select a firmware version and press Download.
5. If the software is unable to download the firmware correctly after having gone through the above process, please verify that you have the correct USB driver version installed:
1. Open an explore window
2. Go to the folder called “WINNT” or “windows”
3. Go to the folder called “”system32”
4. Find the file called “fantom.dll”
5. Right click on file and select properties
6. Under the version tap, the file should have the following version number: 1.0.2.49152. If it has version number 1.0.1.49152 you need to update the USB driver.

i.      To update the USB driver please go to http://mindstorms.lego.com/Support/Updates/ and download the MINDSTORMS NXT Driver V1.02 and install the driver. Just follow the installation instruction. Before running the installation, close the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT software and unplug the NXT from the computer.

Alternate Language - FR Version  (MS Word)

Alternate Language - DE Version  (MS Word)

Posted in news | No Comments »

Fixed-Point NXT-G Block

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

As you all probably know, the NXT firmware does not have built-in support for non-integer numbers. I’ve built an NXT-G block which allows working with non-integers using “fixed-point” representation. I did not have time to thoroughly test and document the block as I plan to before an official release. If you like to get this block for testing and review email me guy@nxtasy.org.

UPDATE: Here’s a nice written review and code samples by Louise Dade.

Posted in personal, news, software | 32 Comments »