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Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains
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| List Price: | $32.95 |
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Product Description
LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ NXT is an incredible new kit for building and programming your own robotic inventions. Maximum Lego NXT introduces a diverse set of projects, building tips, programming code, complete 3D rendered building instructions and hundreds of illustrations to help you realize your robotic dreams.
Using Java™, the most popular and easy to use programming language available, this book will give you endless entertainment and exploration. It introduces the new LEGO® NXT kit, including the NXT intelligent brick and Bluetooth™.
• Meet NXT • leJOS NXJ • Java for Primates • The leJOS NXJ API • LEGO Parts • Building 101 • Bite into Bluetooth • Grabby Robots • Sound • Robots with Vision • Standing Tall • Localization • Mapping • Path-finding • Hands & Exoskeletons • Network Robotics • Scanning • Behavior-Based Robots • Expanding the NXT • GPS & Harsh Terrain • Speech • Appendices • Index
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #90362 in Books
- Published on: 2007-04-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 524 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"[This book] succeeds brilliantly in the difficult tasks of introducing the reader to the Java language, to the Mindstorms system, and to some programming techniques peculiar to robotics . . . in such a pleasant way that [the reader] doesn't even realize [he or she is] learning new concepts." —Mario Ferrari, author, Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms
About the Author
Brian Bagnall is the author of several computer books for Variant Press, McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall PTR, and Syngress Publishing. He is a key developer of leJOS, the Java SDK for LEGO MINDSTORMS. Brian is the author of the groundbreaking Core LEGO MINDSTORMS Programming, which has been translated into French and Japanese. He is a Sun Certified Java Programmer and Developer and co-author of the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Study Guide.
Customer Reviews
A Great Start
Although the book sounds otherwise, it is in fact a good start for advanced programmers. A lot of the code does not work right out of the box, but provides a good starting point for advanced programmers to build on. If you are a beginning java programmer, this book probably is not for you because it deals with concepts that are incomplete as described in the book, but an intermediate-to-advanced programmer can take these concepts and modify them as need be and quickly make easy projects more advanced. Overall, I think this is an excellent book but should be used by individuals with experience in programming in contemporary languages.
Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains
If you are one of those Java guys, hands on, and a mechanical control lover, this is a book you don't want to miss.
From programming point of view, some very useful topics are Bluetooth setup (both Window and Linux), Serial Communication setup, Vision detection, and Voice Control. You will be amazed of how you can realize those technologies into controlling an NXT.
There are still many other interesting subjects from machanical/control point of view. This includes using GPS receiver(where you can learn NMEA Data format). It also shows you a NXT versioned Rocker-Bogie for rough terrain (I was really amaized how it works once I built a prototype). There is one special section to show you how to build a differencial gear using standard NXT parts. This really comes handy for a new Lego user who do not have an old differencial gear.
This book also includes quite some attractive design like R2me2 (resemble R2D2), Moon Buggy, Beckhambot, Mapping Robot, and number 0.5 (resembles number 5). I do like their 'abstract' concept of the design.
However, there are also negative part about this book.
1. Some photo pictures is not very clear to follow. Either too small or too dark to see the details.
2. Some mechanical design does not make it turn well (like Mapping Robot). But I guess this is due to lack of proper parts (such as differencial gear which was not included in the NXT package).
Excellent Book
Despite the nasty reviews surrounding this book, I strongly dis-agree. I thought this book was extremely helpful. I am a java programmer but my work is in the data integration area. This book really helped me to step out of the box and start programming movement between motors,sensors,etc. I enjoy all of Brian's writings, blogs, books, etc. You won't find a better book about programming NXT bricks with Java. And who expects a 12 year old to pick up this book and understand? It's a book most suitable for experienced java programmers.
