BrickEngineer: LEGO Design » » DIY http://www.brickengineer.com/pages LEGO Engineering for LEGO NXT and Robot Enthusiasts Tue, 10 Mar 2015 04:45:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.39 Arduino NXT Motor Shield http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2013/02/02/arduino-nxt-motor-shield/ http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2013/02/02/arduino-nxt-motor-shield/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2013 02:02:12 +0000 http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/?p=461 TKJ Electronics has released a LEGO NXT Servo Motor
shield for the Arduino
. This shield can interface with up to two NXT motors as well as the ultrasonic rangefinder. In addition to controlling motor speeds via pulse-width modulation, the shield reads the motor’s encoders so that it knows the position of the motor with a precision of 1 degree.

NXT Motor Shield

NXT Motor Shield for Arduino available from TJK Electronics

The NXT Motor Shield is discussed in the TJK Electronics Blog.
The NXT Motor Shield kit can be purchased at the TJK Electronics Store.

Extra NXT motors and Arduino units can be found here:

]]> http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2013/02/02/arduino-nxt-motor-shield/feed/ 0 LEGO Tribute to the End of the Space Shuttle Era http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/03/15/lego-tribute-to-the-end-of-the-space-shuttle-era/ http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/03/15/lego-tribute-to-the-end-of-the-space-shuttle-era/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:03:43 +0000 http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/?p=365 Raul Oaida from Romania launched a LEGO Space Shuttle (LEGO Model 3367) aboard a 1600g meteo balloon filled with Helium and carrying a GoPro Hero HD camera and SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger. The Balloon and LEGO shuttle reached an altitude of 35000m (almost 115,000 feet or 21.7 miles)!

Enjoy the video:

Brilliant!!!
Congratulations!
Read more here:
http://microblade.blogspot.com/2012/03/2001-brick-odyssey.html

Here are links to the items Raul used:

]]> http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/03/15/lego-tribute-to-the-end-of-the-space-shuttle-era/feed/ 0 DIY Arduino Circuit http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/01/04/diy-arduino-circuit/ http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/01/04/diy-arduino-circuit/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:24:12 +0000 http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/?p=271 Jameco.com has an interesting article on how to build your own Arduino microcontroller circuit.

Image of a circuit board

The circuit relies on an ATMega328 microcontroller, and since it requires only component parts it is cheaper and has a potentially smaller footprint than the popular Arduino Boards.

We have started using Arduino microcontrollers to directly control the LEGO Motors (9842), and expect to post on this sometime in the near future. In the meantime check out posts on LEGO NXT motor control:

LEGO NXT Motor Wiring
Hacking the LEGO Mindstorms NXT Standard Motor

]]> http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2012/01/04/diy-arduino-circuit/feed/ 0 Hacking the LEGO Mindstorms NXT Light Sensor http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2008/04/05/hacking-the-lego-mindstorms-nxt-light-sensor/ http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2008/04/05/hacking-the-lego-mindstorms-nxt-light-sensor/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:59:13 +0000 http://www.brickengineer.com/pages/2008/04/05/hacking-the-lego-mindstorms-nxt-light-sensor/ We are working on interfacing the LEGO sensors and motors to a compact lightweight computer for more sophisticated control.  Aret Carlsen brings us a video demonstrating how one can hack into the NXT Light Sensor:

Additional details can be found in the excellent book Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Technology in Action) by Michael Gasperi, Philippe E. Hurbain, and Isabelle L. Hurbain.

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