Video tutorials -

• LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT

In this lesson we build a simple LEGO Mindstorms NXT calculator program that sums, multiplies, subsctracts or divides two numbers between 1 and 50.

To win the FLL robotics competition you should surely use light sensors for navigating on the field. But the performance of the light sensors is affected by the surrounding light which means you might get different results on the training and on the competition table. This is where calibration is useful. In this video I will show you an easy way to do calibration along with a few examples.

This is not the standard video lesson. We have always wanted to just destroy the field and see how easy it would be. We would prepare a detailed lesson in the next few months, but this was one of the first tries on completely destroying the FIRST LEGO League Seniour Solutions field.

The scorpion is one of the most famous robots build with the NXT kit. In this lesson we are showing how to use the rotation sensor to program the scorpion and its strikes. The main challenge is how to return the spike for the same amount of degrees after it strikes. The other topic is how to use variable to keep the state of the scorpion. Both of this techniques are very valuable during the competition.

The last thing you want to lose during every robotics competition is time for changing the programs on the brick. This could require seconds and as we all know every second counts. There are a few ways to improve the way of choosing programs. In this video lesson we will show you how to program a menu directly in your program. 

This lesson shows how you could use the rotation sensors of the motors of a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot. This technique is very powerful during the competition. We give ideas on how to show the value of the sensor on the display, how to check if you have completed a given job or you are still doing it and other even more advanced topics. Understanding the rotation sensor is a must if you want to use the full capabilities of the motors.

This is a fun video with robots doing the Harlem Shake. We thought about posting the programs for the robots, but actually the whole Harlem Shake is so awkward that we decided not to do it :) Enjoy the video

In this video we are solving one of the most important challenges on the FIRST LEGO League competition, i.e how to cover your Mindstorms NXT light sensors so that they are not affected by outer light sources at the day of the competition. Once again you would find 3 solutions and more will come in the next videos.

Positioning your MINDSTORM robot precisely on the FIRST LEGO League competition field is one of the first things you should learn while preparing. In this video tutorial, we will show three different attachments you could use when aligning to the walls of the competition table. We will show other ways and attachments in some of the next videos.

In this video we are showing how to use two light sensors to do basic aligning on a black line. This is always needed at the competitions. We also show an example for following a line with two sensors. 

In this video I am building the five minute robot from LEGO Mindstorms and I am doing a short introduction on how to make the robot move forward and turn around. Throught this series I will be using mostly NXT-G as a programming environment.