The Unofficial Guide to LEGO® MINDSTORMS Robots

Jonathan Knudsen

262 pages, parution le 01/11/1999

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Résumé

The LEGO? MINDSTORMS? Robotics Invention System (RIS) is a wildly popular kit for building mobile robots. This book contains all the information you need to get the most out of your kit. Based on hands-on robot projects, the book includes descriptions of advanced mechanical techniques, programming with third-party software, building your own sensors, working with more than one kit, and sources of extra parts.

This book goes far beyond what you'll find in the official documentation to enable you to build and program whatever you can imagine.

The center of the RIS kit is a small programmable robot brain called the RCX. This book explains the software architecture of the RCX as well as the various options that are available for programming it. The book includes:

Hands-on robot projects, with complete building instructions and programs. Different aspects of these projects are used to explore fundmental issues of mobile robot design.
A chapter on NQC, a popular programming environment for RIS. You'll learn how NQC fits into the RIS software architecture, as well as how to write programs using NQC's C-like syntax. Includes copious examples.
A chapter on legOS, an alternate operating system for the RCX. legOS provides very low-level access to the resources of the RCX, enabling complex robot programming. This chapter describes legOS's structure and includes useful sample programs.
A chapter on pbForth, another powerful option for RCX robot programming. The chapter includes sample programs in Forth.
A chapter about building your own sensors. Making your own sensors is economical and educational. This chapter describes how to build several different sensors that will work with the RIS kit.

The book includes numerous illustrations and code examples. Many URLs are listed to serve as an introduction to the thriving online MINDSTORMS? community.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Welcome to MINDSTORMS
What Is a Robot?
Mobile Robots
What Is MINDSTORMS?
What Now?
Online Resources

2. Hank, the Bumper Tank
About the Building Instructions
Building Instructions
A Simple Program
Wheels
Bumpers and Feelers
Gears
Multitasking
Online Resources

3. Trusty, a Line Follower
Building Instructions
Some Tricky Programming
The Light Sensor
Idler Wheels
Using Two Light Sensors
Online Resources

4. Not Quite C
A Quick Start
RCX Software Architecture
NQC Overview
Trusty Revisited
Online Resources

5. Minerva, a Robot with an Arm
Building Instructions
Programming
Directional Transmission
Pulleys
Mechanical Design
Two Sensors, One Input
Where Am I?
Online Resources

6. pbFORTH
Replacement Firmware
pbFORTH Overview
About Forth
pbFORTH Words
An Expensive Thermometer
Minerva Revisited
Debugging
Online Resources

7. A Remote Control for Minerva
Two Heads Are Better Than One
The Allure of Telerobotics
Building Instructions
Programming the Remote Control
Programming Minerva
Online Resources

8. Using Spirit.ocx with Visual Basic
You May Already Have Visual Basic
About Spirit.ocx
Calling Spirit.ocx Functions
Immediate and Delayed Gratif ication
Programs, Tasks, and Subroutines
Tips
Retrieving the Datalog
Online Resources

9. RoboTag, a Game for Two Robots
Building Instructions
Subsumption Architecture
Online Resources

10. legOS
About legOS
Development Tools
Hello, legOS
Function Reference
New Brains for Hank
Development Tips
Online Resources

11. Make Your Own Sensors
Mounting
Passive Sensors
Powered Sensors
Touch Multiplexer
Other Neat Ideas
What About Actuators?
Online Resources

A. Finding Parts and Programming Environments

B. A pbFORTH Downloader

C. Future Directions

L'auteur - Jonathan Knudsen

Jonathan Knudsen - Jonathan Knudsen is a Java developer and noted author of several books, including Wireless Java: Developing with Java 2, Micro Edition(Apress), Mobile Java, The Unofficial Guide to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots, Learning Java, and Java 2D Graphics. Jonathan began his object-oriented programming career in Objective-C on the NeXT OS, soon thereafter suffering through a couple of purgatorial years in Microsoft's Visual C++, before graduating to Java in 1996. He has written extensively about Java and LEGO robots, including five books, a monthly online column called "Bite-Size Java", and articles for JavaWorld, EXE, NZZ Folio, and the O'Reilly Network. Jonathan holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University. You can contact him at www.jonathanknudsen.com

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	O'Reilly
Auteur(s)	Jonathan Knudsen
Parution	01/11/1999
Nb. de pages	262
Couverture	Broché
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9781565926929
ISBN13	978-1-56592-692-9