Provides step-by-step instructions for building a variety of LEGO Mindstorms NXT and Arduino devices.

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 set offers so many new and exciting features that it can be hard to know where to begin. Without the help of an expert, it could take months of experimentation to learn how to use the advanced mechanisms and numerous programming features. In The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory, author Daniele Benedettelli, robotics expert and member of the elite LEGO MINDSTORMS Expert Panel, shows you how to use gears, beams, motors, sensors, and programming blocks to create sophisticated robots that can avoid obstacles, walk on two legs, and even demonstrate autonomous behavior. You’ll also dig into related math, engineering, and robotics concepts that will help you create your own amazing robots. Programming experiments throughout will challenge you, while a series of comics and countless illustrations inform the discussion and keep things fun. As you make your way through the book, you’ll build and program five wicked cool robots: –ROV3R, a vehicle you can modify to do things like follow a line, avoid obstacles, and even clean a room –WATCHGOOZ3, a bipedal robot that can be programmed to patrol a room using only the Brick Program App (no computer required!) –SUP3R CAR, a rear-wheel-drive armored car with an ergonomic two-lever remote control –SENTIN3L, a walking tripod that can record and execute color-coded sequences of commands –T-R3X, a fearsome bipedal robot that will find and chase down prey With The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory as your guide, you’ll become an EV3 master in no time. Requirements: One LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set (LEGO SET #31313)

ARDUINO for BEGINNERS ESSENTIAL SKILLS EVERY MAKER NEEDS Loaded with full-color step-by-step illustrations! Absolutely no experience needed! Learn Arduino from the ground up, hands-on, in full color! Discover Arduino, join the DIY movement, and build an amazing spectrum of projects... limited only by your imagination! No “geekitude” needed: This full-color guide assumes you know nothing about Arduino or programming with the Arduino IDE. John Baichtal is an expert on getting newcomers up to speed with DIY hardware. First, he guides you gently up the learning curve, teaching you all you need to know about Arduino boards, basic electronics, safety, tools, soldering, and a whole lot more. Then, you walk step-by-step through projects that reveal Arduino’s incredible potential for sensing and controlling the environment–projects that inspire you to create, invent, and build the future! · Use breadboards to quickly create circuits without soldering · Create a laser/infrared trip beam to protect your home from intruders · Use Bluetooth wireless connections and XBee to build doorbells and more · Write useful, reliable Arduino programs from scratch · Use Arduino’s ultrasonic, temperature, flex, and light sensors · Build projects that react to a changing environment · Create your own plant-watering robot · Control DC motors, servos, and stepper motors · Create projects that keep track of time · Safely control high-voltage circuits · Harvest useful parts from junk electronics · Build pro-quality enclosures that fit comfortably in your home

Push into new fields of technology using LEGO and Arduino with the projects in this Cookbook. MINDSTORMS EV3 inventions don’t have to be confined to LEGO factory-made sensors. Incorporate a wide range of sensors, displays, LED arrays, actuators, and even a smartphone into your creations. Add amazing capabilities to your LEGOs by building things such as a metal detector, long-range lidar, audio spectrum analyzer, weather station, and a smartphone. Step-by-step instructions bring these new devices to life. You’ll work with the reliable and inexpensive Arduino UNO to take your projects even further and make them truly smart. Learn to set up and program your Arduino UNO. Then learn data communications protocols (I2C, SPI, and PWM) to link sensors to the Arduino. A variety of data communications techniques are also demonstrated on passing data between the Arduino and the MINDSTORMS EV3 Intelligent Brick. Equipped with these new tools, LEGO inventors can build vast new capabilities into their designs. What You'll Learn Interface new sensors, devices, and communications with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Work with communication protocols of pulse width modulation (PWM), I2c, and SPI Convert pulse width modulation to analog voltage with resistor and capacitor components Who This Book Is For Tech savvy fans of LEGO projects and hardware hackers. Also coaches or students involved in a school science/technology project or design competition.

Step-by-step instructions for building 7 realistic LEGO train models. LEGO Train Projects shows you how to build seven detailed train models to get your brick citizens riding the rails in style. Featuring clear, full color, step-by-step instructions, this book makes it easy to build fun, realistic models that will delight train lovers of all ages.

At last, fans of the LEGO BOOST robot building kit have the learning resource they've been missing! Enter The LEGO BOOST Activity Book: a full-color guide that will help readers learn how to build and code LEGO creations that move, explore their environment, grab and lift objects, and more. The LEGO BOOST kit lets younger builders create fun, multifunctional robots by combining bricks with code, but it doesn't come with a manual. With the help of this complete guide to the LEGO BOOST set, you'll be on your way to building and programming BOOST robots in no time. You'll begin your exploration by building a basic rover robot called MARIO to help you learn the fundamentals of the BOOST programming environment. Next, you'll add features to your rover to control its movement and make it repeat actions and react to colors and sounds. Once you've learned some programming basics, you'll learn how to program your robot to do things like follow lines on the ground, scan its environment to decide where to go, and even play darts. As final projects, you'll create two complete robots: BrickPecker to help you organize your bricks and CYBOT, a robot that talks, shoots objects, and executes voice commands. As you advance through the book, optional lessons aim to deepen your understanding of basic robotics concepts. Brain BOOSter sections let you dig into the math and engineering behind your builds while a host of experiments seek to test your skills and encourage you to do more with your robots. With countless illustrations, extensive explanations, and a wealth of coding examples to guide you, The LEGO BOOST Activity Book is sure to take you from beginning builder to robotics whiz and give your robot-building brain that needed boost!

Basic Robot Building with LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT 2.0 ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED! Learn LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT 2.0 from the ground up, hands-on, in full color! Ever wanted to build a robot? Now’s the time, LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT 2.0 is the technology, and this is the book. You can do this, even if you’ve never built or programmed anything! Don’t worry about where to begin: start right here. John Baichtal explains everything you need to know, one ridiculously simple step at a time... and shows you every key step with stunningly clear full-color photos! You won’t just learn concepts–you’ll put them to work in three start-to-finish projects, including three remarkable bots you can build right this minute, with zero knowledge of programming or robotics. It’s going to be simple–and it’s going to be fun. All you need is in the box–and in this book! Unbox your LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT 2.0 set, and discover exactly what you’ve got Build a Backscratching Bot immediately Connect the NXT Intelligent Brick to your computer (Windows or Mac) Navigate the Brick’s menus and upload programs Start writing simple new programs–painlessly Build the Clothesline Cruiser, a robot that travels via rope Program your robot’s movements Learn to create stronger, tougher models Help your robot sense everything from distance and movement to sound and color Build a miniature tank-treaded robot that knows how to rebound Write smarter programs by creating your own programming blocks Discover what to learn next, and which additional parts you might want to buy JOHN BAICHTAL is a contributor to MAKE magazine and Wired’s GeekDad blog. He is the co-author of The Cult of Lego (No Starch) and author of Hack This: 24 Incredible Hackerspace Projects from the DIY Movement (Que). Most recently he wrote Make: Lego and Arduino Projects for MAKE, collaborating with Adam Wolf and Matthew Beckler. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and three children.