Video tutorials

In this tutorial we will build our first 3D LEGO model using LDraw. I will build it using two different programs based on the LDraw library - MLCAD and LeoCAD.

In the previous part of the video lesson we showed how imprecise a chain LEGO Mindstorms robot could be if its positioning does not rely on sensors, but only on the use of move block. In this tutorial we will show the same thing, but using robot on tires.

You are not using sensors?! You are positioning the mindstorms robot only by moving forward, backwards and rotating it. That`s one of the BIGGEST mistakes teams make on the FIRST LEGO League competitions. In this video we are showing a robot with chains and how imprecise are the results are when you are not using sensors. 

Learn how to set up LDD and Ldraw on your Windows computer. Get one step closer to building your first 3D LEGO Model.

A human being walks with an average speed of about 5 km/h (3 miles/h). In this video tutorial we will develop a block for LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, that measures the speed of the robot in distance/time units where time will be configurable and could be 1 second or 0.5 seconds or any other number of seconds you pass as a param to the block. Measuring the speed of the robot is very powerful if you start building an Artificial Inteligence for your robot and is quite fun :)

Have you even tried to move the robot not in rotations or degrees or seconds, but in metres. In this episode I am building a new block that could be used to move the robot a specific number of millimetres (mm). You could directly download and use it in your programs.

We are showing the basics of communication between LEGO Mindstorms NXT Bricks using a Bluetooth connection. In the next few minutes we will build two programs - one for the master and one for the slave brick, while explaining the essentials for building such programs.

In this episode of the Basic NXT Programming series I will cover the sound sensor. I will explain how to program the sound sensor, stop on common problems faced, when the sound sensor is used and finally we will build a program that will allow us to control the robot's speed through the volume of the sound.

In this episode I will show you how to program the touch sensor part of the LEGO Mindstorms education robotics sets. I have given answers to questions like - how the touch sensor works or how you can use it.

In this video we are solving part of the FIRST LEGO League Senior Solutions challange missions (FLL 2012) using LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots. I make a step by step explanation of each move I make. The goal of this video is to help you with ideas and suggestions on how one should look at the missions.

In this video lesson I will show you how to follow a black line using just one sensor, but fast enough so that you could use it during any robotics competition without wasting any time.

In this tutorial we will go through a solution for three of the missions from 2012 FIRST LEGO League competition using only one attachment. By accomplishing the medicines, strength exercise and cardiovascular missions we earn 55 points. You can download the programs from the link in the Materials tab. 

In this video tutorial I give a step-by-step explanation of how to implement a block for aligning to a line. The block was first used in lesson 28. Aligning to lines is probably the most powerfull way to know the position of the robot on the FLL Competition field and to be able to execute the missions precisely at 100% of the time.

In this video we are solving Senior Solutions missions: Stove, Gardening, Similarity recognition, Ball game and Wood Working. We will make step-by-step of everything we do on the FLL field.

In this episode we are showing the great similiarity between the sensors in NXT Mindstorms. We are solving a common problem - How to make a robot that do not fall from the table. We are using the Ultrasonic sensor, Light Sensor and Touch Sensor to solve the same problem, but with three different sensors.

Robotics competition is a large part of the FLL Competition. The field contains missions which give points and the main purpose is to gather maximum number of points for 2:30min. FIRST LEGO League competitions have different themes every year but the tasks have similar functionality. In this video tutorial we will give a brief of missions in Senior Solutions (the theme for 2012).

An advanced but understandable description of how to program the mindstorm robot to move in a regular n-gon like pentagon, hexagon etc. (Yes, we know math). We have also included notes on the used formulas. A must see for each of you who would like to master the robot movements.

In this tutorial, I will cover the adjustments of the display and the color lamp blocks from the LEGO Mindstorms NXT-G. Today I will show you how to use the color lamp in order to make your robot more interesting or how to display sensors values or try to draw something on the screen of the brick.

During the FIRST LEGO League competition you can hardly use the sound block, because of the noise from the excitement around the tables, but it has a few interesting applications. I this video lesson I will show you how to use the sound block and build a program that makes the robot say which color it sees.

If you look at the properties of the move block and the motor block LEGO Mindstorms NXT, you will see that they have much in common. Still they have several differences. You should be aware of these differences in order to choose the appropriate block for your needs.

In this episode I would like to show you how to enable the communication between the computer and the NXT brick, through the USB and using the leJOS project. Starting leJOS on Windows is pretty easy. But starting the samples and achieving the communication is the actual problem.

Starting leJOS might be very problematic, since you need to install a few libraries and make some configurations. In this video tutorial I am showing a step-by-step guide on how you could install leJOS on your Ubuntu Linux. And it is quite easy.

In this episode I would like to show you a way to solve the FLL 2012 Medicine mission using an LEGO Mindstorms NXT Ultrasonic Sensor and a system of gears that converts circular motion to linear.

In this video tutorial we will show you three ways for making your robot stable on the field. We will present each one of them with their advantages and disadvantages - it's up to you to choose which one is the best for your case.

In episode 11 we looked at one of the most important topics for the competition - calibrating the light sensors. In this video I would like to show you how to use a more programmatic approach. This means letting the robot do the calibration on its own. Automatically.

In this lesson I would like to show you how to build a LEGO Mindstorms competition robot and tell you how we have designed the construction used in the videos so far. Surely it isn’t perfect, but it is a good start.

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