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The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide—New from No Starch Press
A user’s guide to the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics kit
San Francisco, CA—The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set includes an impressive assortment of electronic parts and building elements as well as powerful software. Users can invent thousands of functional robots with these components, but the set’s potential can seem overwhelming to many. With so many possibilities, where does one begin?
For users who need a leg up, San Francisco-based No Starch Press (publisher of such best-selling LEGO titles as Forbidden LEGO and The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide), offers The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide (Nov 2008, 320 pp., ISBN 978-1-59327-154-1). “This is the sort of guide to building with the NXT set that should come in the NXT box,” said No Starch Press publisher Bill Pollock.
The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide helps readers young and old harness the power of the NXT set as they plan, build, and program their own robots. Author David J. Perdue’s goal was to write a guide to help owners of the NXT set invent NXT robots while having lots of fun in the process. Perdue, a veteran robot builder, introduces new users to the basics of the NXT set and then launches into a detailed discussion of the building elements and construction techniques. After a crash course in the official NXT-G programming language and a brief look at several unofficial programming languages, he offers step-by-step instructions for building, programming, and testing six robots, all of which can be built with the parts found in the NXT set:
- Zippy-Bot, a two-wheeled vehicle with a ball caster
- Bumper-Bot, a robot that explores a room and avoids objects
- Claw-Bot, a robot that searches for objects and pushes them away
- Tag-Bot, a vehicle that plays tag with a flashlight
- Guard-Bot, a six-legged walking robot that launches a ball at intruders
- Golf-Bot, a stationary robot that hits a ball into a target
With a NXT set and a copy of The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide, the creative possibilities are endless!
For a review copy or more information please email [email protected]. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
David J. Perdue is the author of Competitive MINDSTORMS (Apress, 2004) and has written for BrickJournal. He has been inventing with MINDSTORMS since 2001 and has received three Special Mention awards for his creations on the official online MINDSTORMS invention gallery. He lives with his family in Round Rock, Texas, and maintains his website at www.davidjperdue.com.
Additional Resources:
Table of contents
Excerpt
Companion website
Large cover image
Videos:
Golf-Bot Gets a Hole in One
Tag-Bot and the Great Escape
Guard-Bot on Duty
David J. Perdue
ISBN 9781593271541, 320 pages, $29.95 USD
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Available in fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or directly from No Starch Press (www.nostarch.com, [email protected], 800.420.7240).
About No Starch Press:
Founded in 1994, No Starch Press is one of the few remaining independent computer book publishers. We publish the finest in geek entertainment—unique books on technology, with a focus on Open Source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, and LEGO. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about. See www.nostarch.com for more information and our complete online catalog. (And most No Starch Press books use RepKover, a lay-flat binding that won’t snap shut.)
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