New Gyro Sensor announced by HiTechnic
Wednesday, February 7th, 2007
A new product announcement by HiTechnic:
“The HiTechnic Gyro is a single axis gyroscopic sensor that measures the rate of turn in the plane of the sensor. Using the HiTechnic Gyro Sensor Block for Mindstorms NXT-G, the program will get a signed value that represents the rotation rate in approximate units of one degree per second. The maximum rotation rate which can be measured is +/- 360 degrees per second.
The sensor is housed in a standard LEGO sensor housing.”
Together with the other products announced earlier this week (IR sensor, IR link and motor and sensor multiplexers), it seems there will be a lot more options for NXT in the near future!
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Controlling Extra Motors
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
The little electronic circuit in the picture allows the NXT to control two extra motors. The circuit is connected to one of the sensor ports of the NXT, leaving the three motor ports on the next available. Like the NXT itself, this motor controller can power both the NXT servo motors and other 9V Lego motors (using converter cables). The controller allows the NXT to turn the motors on and off, in both direction, but it does not provide speed control in hardware and it does not use the feedback from the NXT’s servo motors. With this circuit, the NXT can control up to five motors. But its batteries do not have enough power for five motors. Also, the sensor ports do not have enough power for even one motor. Therefore, a separate 9v battery box provides power to the extra motors.
It is essentially home made and it is certainly hand made. It may look semi-professional because it was constructed on a printed-circuit board, but it is possible to build it without a printed-circuit board.
See the full report for details.
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JennToo Radar
Monday, February 5th, 2007
Krystian Majewski made a new version of his NXT Radar, this time using Brian Davis’ JennToo model. The NXT-G code allows 360 degrees scanning and display the results on screen just like regular radar displays. Don’t miss the impressive YouTube movie! See this page for more…
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NXT-G blocks for Mindsensors.com products
Monday, February 5th, 2007Mindsensors.com has started a repository for NXT-G blocks. These blocks allow NXT users having mindsensors.com PSPNx PS2 controller interface sensor, or the mindsensors motor multiplexer, to use these devices in NXT-G. The blocks are available for download here.
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