Basic Robot Building With LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0

1. Unboxing the LEGO Mindstorms NXT Set

When you drooled over product photos on the Mindstorms box or dug through the parts inside, no doubt you found the breadth and complexity of the parts a little unnerving. Looking at all those LEGO beams and connectors can be a little intimidating, not knowing what they’re for or how they fit together. In this chapter, we look at every part that comes with the set and talk a little about each one.

The Box

The LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 box (see Figure 1.1) intrigues with all the cool possibilities you can imagine are inside, not the least of which are the great—albeit complex—models LEGO shows you how to make with the set. The headliner is Alpha Rex, the humanoid robot in the center of the box. There’s a little ...