LEGO MINDSTORMS - The Unofficial Guide to Robots - Jonathan B. Knudsen Part 14 potx

250
RCXJVM, 240

remote control

instructions for building, 147-150

programming, 151-154

RIS (Robotics Invention System), 6-7

history of, xi

software, 9

version 240

web sites, 12

Robolab software, 38

Robosports, 10

RoboTag, 173-188

instructions for building, 174-179

programming, 180-188
web site, 188

Robotic Command Explorer (see RCX)

robotics

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, 4

behaviors, 180

small approach, 5

web sites, 11

Robotics Discovery Set, 10

Robotics Invention System (see RIS)

robots, 2-6

balancing, 112

rotation sensors, 114

legOS, 197

S

SaveDatalog function (RCX), 168

sensor watchers, 36

251
sensors, 216

legOS, 197

mounting, 217-218

passive, 219-221
powered, 221-224

web site, 52

(see also light sensors; touch sensors)

servo motors, 227

shafts, 15

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wire, 227

signal splitter, 222

SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) wire, 227

Smalltalk web site, 171

solenoids, 227

sounds
legOS, 203

pbFORTH, 134

playing, 68-70

sensors, 226

building, web site, 228

Spirit.ocx, 159-171

web sites, 171

standard motors, 34

subroutines, 164

subsumption architecture, 204

web site, 188

symbolic constants, 166

synchro drives, 30

web site, 38

T

tasks, 164-165

behaviors, 180


252
telerobotics, 145-147

(see also remote control)

temperature sensors
building, 221
web site, 228

Test Panel, 48

tethered robots, 3

thermistor, 221

thermometer, building instructions, 137-138

timing, 113

timer values, retrieving, 165-166

torque, 33

touch multiplexer, 224-226

touch sensors, 112

building, 223-224
train motors, 35

treads, 27

triangulation, 114

tri-star wheels, 30

web sites, 37

Trusty, a Line Follower

instructions for building, 40-44

programming, 44-47

in NQC, 77-80

turning radius, 29-30

(see also zero turning radius)

U

Unix, 233

UploadDatalog function (Spirit.ocx), 169

V

View button (RCX), 48

Visual Basic, 159-171



253
Visual C++, 160

W

web sites

challenges and competitions, 158
Hitachi H8, 81

Killough platform, 38

LEGO Group, 11

legOS, 213

LUGNET, 11

MINDSTORMS, 11

NQC, 143

parts, 115

electronic, 229
sensors, 228

pbFORTH, 143

Pitsco LEGO DACTA, 38

RCX, 214

RcxCC, 81

RIS, 12

RoboTag, 188

Spirit.ocx, 171

Windows platform, 214-215

wheels, 27-35

idler wheels, 50

While function (Spirit.ocx), 166-167

Windows platform, 233

legOS and, web site for, 214-215

wire brick, 16

attaching sensors, 217

worm gears, 108

worms, bevel, 32




254
Z

zero turning radius, 27

(see also turning radius)


255
About the Author

''Java" Jonathan B. Knudsen is a staff writer for O'Reilly & Associates. He is the author of Java™ 2D Graphics and
Java™ Cryptography, and has contributed to Java™ Swing, Java™ AWT Reference, and the second and third editions of
Exploring Java™. He also writes a monthly online column called "Bite-Size Java."

This book represents one of Jonathan's lifelong goals: getting paid to play with LEGO® bricks. He hopes this is the start of
something big.

Jonathan works at home with his wife, Kristen, and their children, Daphne, Luke, and Andrew.

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive
covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The image on the cover of The Unofficial Guide to LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ Robots is a mechanical toy rabbit or automaton,
an automated machine. Biological automata, or androids, are imitations of living beings, animal or human, and have captured
the imagination, fears, and hopes of inventors and spectators for many centuries. Especially notable in the long history of
automata are the Chinese and Greek cultures. During the Renaissance, European automata and their mechanics or creators
were viewed as mystical and magical—conjuring lifelike beings through suspect means. Machinery progressed from water-
operated to weight-operated to clockwork structures, incorporating such well-known specimens as dolls who can say "Mama"
and "Papa" (c. 1823) and the bejeweled, enameled eggs created by Russian Court Jeweler Carl Fabergé

Mechanical toys have affected the progress of industry and been intertwined with myth, magic, and literature, from
Prometheus to Asimov, in the process raising philosophical questions about the nature of life and humanity and the many
implications of creating lifelike toys.

Nicole Arigo was the production editor and proofreader for The Unofficial Guide to LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ Robots.
Melanie Wang and Jane Ellin provided quality control reviews. Nancy Crumpton wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Kathleen
Wilson produced the cover layout with

QuarkXPress 3.3 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font. Alicia Cech designed the interior layout based on a series design by

Nancy Priest. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover™, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the pagecount exceeds
RepKover's limit, perfect binding is used.

The book was implemented in FrameMaker by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and
Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano using Macromedia FreeHand 8
and Adobe Photoshop 5. All photos were taken by Jonathan and Kristen Knudsen. This colophon was written by Nancy
Kotary.