It’s hard to believe it’s been 2 years since I finished the first edition of the textbook Engineering with LEGO Bricks and ROBOLAB. We have made many changes to the first edition and, of course, added two more chapters. The book has grown from 188 to 342 pages with over 500 examples and images. I’ve taken what I call the National Geographic approach in the development of this book. Simply stated, a student can get the gist of what’s going on simply by looking at the pictures and reading the captions. Of course, the narrative contains more details, but in terms of learning styles, the graphical approach is important because most of us are visual learners.

My original intention was for this book to be used by first year engineering students to introduce them to the design process, engineering fundamentals, and computer programming. However, much to my surprise, many (okay, about half) of the readers have turned out to be K-12 teachers and students. Thus, I’ve tried to add material that pertains to both teachers and students who may be using this book as a resource to help them conduct science experiments or compete in competitions like the FIRST LEGO^® League (FLL).

I was just getting started in the field of engineering education when I first met Chris Rogers, the creator of ROBOLAB.  In late 2001 the Frontiers in Education conference was held in Reno, NV and Chris and I developed the idea for the book over dinner at a local casino. A few months later, I found myself flying to the East Coast to meeting the folks at LEGO^® and National Instruments to discuss the book. The result of that meeting was a textbook that contained the first draft of the first four chapters of this second edition. Released in late 2002, the first edition was received very well and everyone immediately asked when the full book would be completed. It took 2 more years but it’s finally finished. Will the 3^rd edition be out soon? Let’s just say there are a lot of things that I wanted to include in this edition but didn’t have time to write up (multimedia in particular).

 

CHAPTER 1: LEGO & ROBOLAB Basics  

 

    1.1    ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK

    1.2    CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

    1.3    ENGINEERING AND THE DESIGN PROCESS

    1.4    LEGO MINDSTORMS HARDWARE

   1.4.1        The Programmable Brick: the RCX

1.4.2        Output and Input Devices

    1.5        ROBOLAB SOFTWARE

1.5.1        Administrator

1.5.2        Programmer

1.5.3        Investigator

1.5.4        ROBOLAB Version 2.5.4

1.6      Design Skills

1.6.1        General LEGO Building Tips

1.6.2        Gears and Axles

1.6.3        Getting Around on Wheels

1.6.4        Getting Around on Legs

1.6.5        Bumpers and Sensors

1.6.6        Multiplexing Sensors

1.6.7        Stepper Motors

1.6.8        Grippers and Claws

1.6.9        Check your Progress

1.7      Creativity & Aesthetics

1.7.1        Creative Blocks

1.7.2        Structured Creativity

1.8      Online Resources

1.8.1        Robotics Academy Video Trainer

1.8.2        Official ROBOLAB Materials and Information

1.8.3        Where to Buy

1.8.4        Groups

1.8.5        Resources

1.8.6        Examples and Cool Projects

1.9      References and Further Reading

1.10    Design Challenges

1.10.1      Team Communication

1.10.2      Drag Race

1.10.3      South Pointing Chariot

1.10.4      Heavy Lifting

1.10.5      Crash Test Dummy

1.11    Summary

 

CHAPTER 2: GREEN LEVEL  

2.1      Green Challenges

2.1.1        Going the Distance

2.1.2        The Steepest Incline

2.1.3        Tug-of-War

2.1.4        Tunnel Vision

2.1.5        Wallace & Gromitä

2.1.6        Line Follower

2.1.7        Speed Walking

2.1.8        How Fast is That?

2.2      Pilot Basics

2.3      The Basic Pilot Badge

2.3.1        Outputs

2.3.2        The “Wait For” Functions

2.3.3        Modifiers

2.3.4        Sample Pilot Level 4 Programs

2.3.5        Notes About Using the LEGO Light Sensor

2.3.6        Steps, Run Mode, Printing, and Saving

2.4      Relation to Text-Based Programming

2.5      Limitations of Pilot Programming

2.6      Inventor Basics

2.6.1        The Functions Palette

2.6.2        The Tools Palette

2.6.3        Getting Help

2.7      The Basic Inventor Badge

2.7.1        Outputs

2.7.2        The “Wait For” Functions

2.7.3        Modifiers

2.7.4        Getting to the Source

2.7.5        Sample Programs

2.7.6        What’s Next?

2.8      The Basic Programming Badge

2.8.1        Making it Look Nice

2.8.2        Making it Understandable

2.8.3        Figuring out What Went Wrong

 

CHAPTER 3: WHITE LEVEL  

3.1      White Challenges

3.1.1        LEGO Cockroach

3.1.2        Wall Follower

3.1.3        Remote Control

3.1.4        LEGO Brick Recycler

3.1.5        Stupid Robot Tricks

3.1.6        Fetch the Light

3.1.7        Robot Zoo

3.1.8        Edge Detector (a.k.a Barcode Reader)

3.1.9        Round and Round (a.k.a. Shaft Encoder)

3.1.10      Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

3.1.11      There and Back Again

3.1.12      Swinging with Gravity

3.1.13      Going the Distance with Data Logging

3.1.14      Tomb Raider

3.2      The Structures Badge

3.2.1        Jumps

3.2.2        Loops

3.2.3        Forks

3.2.4        Looking Forward: Advanced Structures

3.3      The Containers badge

3.3.1        Container Basics

3.3.2        Container Sub-Palette

3.3.3        Container Wait For, Loop , and Fork Functions

3.3.4        Integer Math

3.3.5        Generic Container

3.3.6        Container Examples

3.3.7        Looking Forward: Advanced Containers

3.4      The Tasks Badge

3.4.1        Tasks Splits

3.4.2        Conflicts, Containers & Jumps

3.4.3        Starting and Stopping Tasks

3.4.4          Looking Forward: Advanced Tasks

3.5      Investigator Basics

3.6      The Basic Investigator Badge

3.6.1        Program Area

3.6.2        Upload Area

3.6.3        View and Compare Area

3.6.4        Compute Area

3.6.5        Journal Area

 

CHAPTER 4: BLACK LEVEL  

4.1      Black Challenges

4.1.1        LEGO Slot Machine

4.1.2        The Sound of Music

4.1.3        Bionic Bat

4.1.4        Speed Walking (revisited)

4.1.5        Simon Says

4.1.6        The Almost Demolition Derby

4.1.7        Marching Band

4.1.8        Animal Behavior

4.1.9        Feeding Frenzy

4.1.10      Can You Hear Me Now?

4.1.11      Code Master

4.1.12      Reverse Engineering

4.1.13      Virtual Spring

4.1.14      Stay Away From the Light

4.2      the Events badge

4.2.1        What’s an Event?

4.2.2        How to Program an Event

4.2.3        Stopping and re-starting Event Monitoring

4.2.4        Multiple Events

4.2.5        Events and Tasks

4.2.6        Event Examples

4.2.7           Looking Forward: Advanced Events

4.3      The Music Badge

4.3.1        Basic Notes

4.3.2        Piano Player

4.4      The RCX Communication badge

4.4.1        Mail

4.4.2        Set Display

4.4.3        RCX Communication Examples

4.4.4          Looking Forward: Advanced RCX Communication

4.5      The Direct Mode Badge

4.5.1        Begin and End Direct Mode

4.5.2        Wait for RCX to Be in View

4.5.3        Read Value

4.5.4        RCX Battery Power

4.5.5        No Mail in Direct Mode

4.5.6        Running Direct Mode on Top of Remote Mode

4.5.7          Looking Forward: Advanced Direct Mode

4.6      The Internet badge

4.6.1        Nomenclature: Remote, Direct Internet, and Local

4.6.2        Configuring the ROBOLAB Internet Server

4.6.3        Internet Begin and End

4.6.4        Internet Direct Mode

4.6.5        Controlling Two RCX’s Simultaneously

4.7      The Advanced Output Badge

4.7.1        Advanced Output sub-palette

4.7.2        Pulse Width Modulation

4.7.3        Controlling Motor Power

4.7.4        Power Versus Speed

4.7.5        Motor Forward or Back

 

CHAPTER 5: BLUE LEVEL  

5.1      Black Challenges

5.1.1        How Fast is That (revisited)?

5.1.2        Feeding Frenzy (revisited)

5.1.3        Bulls eye

5.1.4        Brick Recycler (revisited)

5.1.5        Brick Recycler #3

5.1.6        Dice Jukebox

5.1.7        Dice Checker

5.2      The Advanced Structures Badge

5.2.1        Loop Counter

5.2.2        Creating and Using Subroutines

5.2.3        Creating and Using SubVI’s

5.2.4        Subroutine Versus SubVI

5.3      The Advanced Containers Badge

5.3.1        Formula Container

5.3.2        Local and Global Variables

5.3.3        The Container’s Container

5.4      The Advanced Tasks badge

5.5      The Advanced Data Logging Badge

5.5.1        Step 1: Initialize the Sensor

5.5.2        Step 2: Start Data Logging

5.5.3        Step 3: Stop Data Logging

5.5.4        Uploading Data

5.5.5        New Data Logging Functions and Modifiers

5.5.6        Sampling at Irregular Intervals

5.5.7          Data Analysis: Compute Tools 4 and 5

5.6      The Camera badge

5.6.1        Launching the Vision Center  

5.6.2        An Electronic Cookie Jar

5.6.3        Seek the Brightest Spot

5.6.4        Counting non-Red Bricks

5.6.5        The Image Window

5.6.6        Communication Speed

5.6.7        Image Processing Methods

5.6.8        The Image Plane

5.6.9        How to Define a New Sensor

5.6.10      Additional Vision Center Help

5.7      The Basic G-Code Badge

5.7.1        Your First VI

5.7.2        Using the Front Panel in Compute Tools 4 & 5

5.7.3        Using the Front Panel in Programmer 4 & 5

 

CHAPTER 6: RED LEVEL  

6.1      Red Challenges

6.1.1        Simon Says (revisited)

6.1.2        Psychic SumBot

6.1.3        Remote Controller (revisited)

6.1.4        Fast Line Follower

6.1.5        Whistling Brothers

6.2      The Advanced Events Badge

6.2.1        Event Fork and Event Container

6.2.2        Forcing and Clearing Events

6.2.3        Advanced Event Characteristics

6.2.4        Checking your Progress

6.2.5        Event State Container

6.2.6        The LEGO Cockroach

6.3      The Advanced RCX Communication Badge

6.3.1        The Button Commands

6.3.2        Fill Remote Container

6.3.3        Direct Communication

6.3.4        Remote Programming

6.3.5        Putting it All Together

6.4      The Advanced Direct Mode badge

6.4.1        Delete Tasks & Delete Subroutines

6.4.2        Memory Map

6.4.3        Read Value

6.4.4        Using Direct Mode with G Code

6.5      The Scout Badge

6.5.1        Power Mode with ROBOLAB

6.5.2        Direct Mode

6.5.3        Using the Scout Events

6.5.4        Scout Subroutines

6.5.5        Using Mail

6.5.6        Programming the Microscout using VLL

6.6      The Control Lab Interface (CLI) badge

6.6.1        Setting up the CLI

6.6.2        Programming the CLI

6.6.2        Data Logging

6.6.3        Direct Mode

6.7      The LASM Badge

6.7.1        The Begin LASM Command

6.7.2        The VBrick Window

 

 

APPENDIX A: Information about LEGO^® Kits

 

A.1     The Future of the Mindstorms Product Line

A.2     RCX-Based Kits Available

A.2.1       Team Challenge Set

A.2.2       Retail RIS 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0

A.2.3       ROBO Technology Set

A.2.4       Other Bundled Sets

A.3     Who Should Buy the Kits

A.3.1       Student Owned

A.3.2       Institution Owned

A.4     The Other Programmable brick kits

 

APPENDIX B: Tips for Teachers

 

BOTH EDITIONS OF ENGINEERING WITH LEGO BRICKS AND ROBOLAB ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE.  PRICES AND ORDERING INFORMATION ARE PRESENTED BELOW.