Got Questions About Mindstorms NXT? (Hopefully) Get them Answered!

Jim Kelly, over at our favorite LEGO Mindstorms NXT blog, , and the Mindstorms Development Program (MDP). Jim is one of the lucky few that actually made it into the program. However, the MDPers are under an official gag-order until May 1st, but after that, be prepared for a deluge of information! Jim writes, So, hop on over to and ask away. Also stay tuned for a special weekly column that Jim is going to be writing for GoRobotics.net about Mindstorms NXT. Exciting stuff!

The NXT Step
is putting together a "shopping list" of questions that folks have about Mindstorms NXT

Given that the MDP won't be kept quiet forever, I wanted to give you the opportunity to list some of the things you would like to know regarding the NXT. I cannot promise that all of your requests will be answered, but I'll do my best to present a list around May 1st to the MDP group.

The NXT Step




Related:

• 
  Pre-Order LEGO Mindstorms NXT on April 1st
  

• 
  LEGO Chooses Mindstorms Community Developers?
  


• 
  The NXT STEP - Lego Mindstorms NXT Blog
  


• 
  WIRED Tells Development of Mindstorms NXT
  


• 
  LEGO Creates New Version of Mindstorms!
  

Robot Magazine Takes a Look at Robotis Bioloid Kit

Tom Atwood, over at , has put a . You can also find more information on , though, be warned that it's a Korean company and the "English" version is a bit confusing. ROBOT's article also has of the kit in action. This looks like a great kit with lots of potential. We'll see how it stacks up against Mindstorms NXT which is .

Robot Magazine
review of the Robotis Bioloid "edutainment" robot kit on their website
Robotis' website

ROBOT Magazine recently took a close look at two Robotis Bioloid educational / hobby kits. These were announced at the Consumer Electronics Show and created quite a stir owing to their versatility and projected U.S. price points, which may be the most competitive yet in the expanding robo-One humanoid category. The Bioloid main kit enables you to create far more than just humanoids, though: dogs, dinosaurs, excavators, crabs, Johnny5-like house bots, spiders, snakes, you name it.

two
videos
due out in 2 months

Wowwee and Evolution Robotics Team Up

A partnership between and was just announced today. You can . The release says that WowWee will be incorporating some of Evolution's technologies, specifically their software and their , which uses project infrared light-spots on surfaces to detect where the robot is. This news comes after WowWee's annoucement last October that they were partnering up with Segway, the makers of the . So, if you put it all together, you get robots that have machine vision capabilities, awesome movement and balancing, and know where they are all the time. So, what exactly is WowWee up to? Something amazing, or are they just hedging their bets against impressive newcomers like and their ? Exciting times.

WowWee Toys
Evolution Robotics
read the official press release here
Visual Pattern Recognition (ViPR)
localization technology, Northstar




Seqway Human Transporter




Tilden-esc
Ugobe
Pleo

Articles on Intelligent Pathfinding

I recently found two interesting articles on pathfinding. The first one, , is specifically targeted to video games, but easily applicable to robots. The second one, , is platform agnostic and is a good primer to the popular A* pathfinding algorithm.
Using Genetic Programming to Evolve a Better Pathfinding Algorithm
A* Pathfinding for Beginners

Bionic Muscles Powered by Alcohol

Researchers at the University of Texas have created artificial muscles that are 100 times more powerful that human muscles. The two different types of muscles both consume Oxygen and release the energy in hydrogen and alcohol to do work. One version converts the chemical energy into heat which contracts at shape-memory allow. The other version converts chemical energy into electrical energy which contracts a series of carbon nanotubes. Next up is a circulation system to let the muscles "breath." would be impressed.

"The muscle consumes oxygen and fuel that can be transported via a circulation system; the muscle itself supports the chemical reaction that leads to mechanical work; electrochemical circuits can act as nerves, controlling actuation; some energy is stored locally in the muscle itself; and, like natural muscle, the materials studied contract linearly."

Jack LaLanne

RoboGat Firefighter for Tunnels

for tunnels. The tunnel between France and Italy that . The robot will travel along the top of the tunnel and shoot a stream of water at the hottest part of the fire. Of course, this doesn't solve the ventilation problem of having the fire suck out all the oxygen from the tunnel. But, it's still a good idea.
RoboGat is a robotic fire-fighter
aim is to prevent disasters like the fire in the Mont Blanc
killed 39 people

Cicerobot Gives Museum Tours

Next time your in the mood for Sicilian archaeology, and you're in the vicinity of the Agrigento's Regional Archaeological Museum, . This 1.5m tall (5ft) robot gives guided tours of the museum. On board sensors allow him to autonomously navigate and avoid obstacles and people. Cicerobot is also equipped to give "virtual" tours over the internet. You can (starting at page 51). It looks like all those retired museum docents might be looking for new employment. Sigh. And I had such high hopes for my golden years.

ask Cicerobot for a tour

"Cicerobot is able to plan out tours in accordance with the needs of individual visitors," explained Antonio Chella, head of the Palermo University robotics laboratory that invented the mechanism.

read an academic publication on the robot here

Testing

TEsting