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Lego - Mindstorm |
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Lego Mindstorms is a line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric
motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears, axles, and
beams). Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the Lego
Dacta line of educational toys. The first retail version of Lego Mindstorms was
released in 1998 and marketed commercially as the Robotics Invention System (RIS).
The current version was released in 2006 as Lego Mindstorms NXT. The original Mindstorms
Robotics Invention System kit contained two motors, two touch sensors, and one light
sensor. The NXT version has three servo motors and four sensors for touch, light,
sound, and distance. Lego Mindstorms may be used to build a model of an embedded
system with computer-controlled electromechanical parts. Many kinds of real-life
embedded systems, from elevator controllers to industrial robots, may be modelled
using Mindstorms. Mindstorms kits are also sold and used as an educational tool,
originally through a partnership between Lego and the MIT Media Laboratory.[1][2]
The educational version of the products is called Lego Mindstorms for Schools, and
comes with the ROBOLAB GUI-based programming software,
developed at Tufts University[3]
using the National Instruments LabVIEW as an engine. The only difference between
the educational series, known as the "Challenge Set", and the consumer series, known
as the "Inventor Set", is another included light sensor and several more gearing
options.
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The first generation of LEGO Mindstorms was built around a brick known as the RCX.
It contains a Renesas H8/300 microcontroller as its internal CPU. The brick is programmed
by downloading a program (written in one of several available programming languages)
from a PC or Mac to the brick's RAM via a special infrared (IR) interface. After
the user starts a program, an RCX-enabled Mindstorms creation may function totally
on its own, acting on internal and external stimuli according to the programmed
instructions. Also, two or more RCX bricks can communicate with each other through
the IR interface, enabling inter-brick cooperation or competition. In addition to
the IR port, there are three sensor input ports and three motor output ports (also
usable for lamps, etc). There is also an LCD that can display the battery level,
the status of the input/output ports, which program is selected or running, and
other information. Version 1.0 RCX bricks feature a power adapter jack to allow
continuous operation instead of the limited operation time when using batteries.
In version 2.0, the power adapter jack was removed. Power adapter-equipped RCX bricks
are popular for stationary robotics projects (such as robot arms) or for controlling
Lego model trains. In the latter context, the RCX needs to be programmed with Digital
Command Control (DCC) software required for automated model train operation. Each
RCX, including 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0, has a unique number printed on it. Little is known
about the reasoning behind this number, except for the use of technical support
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