LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming Guide (eBook)

James Floyd Kelly is a professional writer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has written numerous books on multiple subjects, including LEGO robotics, open source software, and building your own CNC machine as well as a 3D printer. He is the editor-in-chief of the number one MINDSTORMS NXT blog, The NXT Step (TheNXTStep.com), where he is joined by fellow NXT experts who share their knowledge and designs with other robot fans around the world.

Contents at a Glance 5
Contents 7
About the Author 11
About the Technical Reviewer 12
Acknowledgments 13
Introduction 14
Robots and Programs 15
What Is a Robot? 15
What Is a Program? 15
NXT- G 18
Program Structure 21
What Do I Mean by Structure? 21
Hello World! 24
The DISPLAY Block 24
Data Hubs 29
Get Movin’ 33
The MOVE block 33
Record and Play Back 41
Make Some Noise! 45
The SOUND Block 45
Wired! 50
Passing Around Information 50
True or False? 58
One or the Other 58
Feedback 63
What’s Your Condition? 63
Configuring the Sensors 64
Other Input Types 70
Using the Blocks 71
Wait for It! 73
The WAIT Block 73
Round and Round 81
Do It Again and Again and Again . . . 81
Nested Loops 88
Decisions, Decisions 92
Left or Right? Door 1 or Door 2? 92
Stop It 104
The STOP Block 104
Pick a Card, Any Card 107
The RANDOM Block 107
The NUMBER TO TEXT Block 109
Apples and Oranges 112
The COMPARE Block 112
Inside or Out? 122
The RANGE Block 122
Yes? No? Maybe? 131
The LOGIC Block 131
Title = Anything You Like 138
The VARIABLE Block 138
Basic Text 151
The TEXT Block 151
Basic Math 155
The MATH Block 155
Staying Alive 158
The KEEP ALIVE Block 158
Your Own Filing Cabinet 160
The FILE ACCESS Block 160
Calibration 166
The CALIBRATE Block 166
Get Reset 170
The RESET MOTOR Block 170
Messages 173
The SEND MESSAGE Block 173
My Block Is Your Block 178
Creating a My Block 178
Math Basics for NXT 185
Converting Between Degrees and Rotations 185
Converting Degrees and Rotations into Distances 186
The X/ Y Coordinate System in NXT 187
Index 189