About this article Over the years, we at ZATZ have had the opportunity to publish articles by some well known authors and true experts in the field. When we decided to increase our coverage of LEGO personal robotics, we really wanted to find someone who truly understood how it all works. No one could possibly have a better, comprehensive perspective of LEGO's MINDSTORMS NXT robotics system than David J. Perdue, author of The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide. The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide published by No Starch Press, helps you to harness the capabilities of the MINDSTORMS NXT set and effectively plan, build, and program your own MINDSTORMS NXT robots. We're thrilled that David's able to write this article for us. And now, David J. Perdue's article...

Robot uprisings and alien invasions are practically synonymous with science fiction, but the increasing prevalence, complexity, and capability of robots certainly hasn't helped to assuage any fears of a sinister robotic revolution. In fact, robots are infiltrating our lives with astonishing speed and success.

The 2006 release of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set, a powerful robotics toolset, has given great impetus to the spread of robots, thrusting them into bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, backyards, offices, and other equally dubious places. Forget the aliens. These MINDSTORMS robots, equipped with all the menacing power of AA batteries, truly are storming the world. And I'm enjoying every moment of it.

With a price of $250 and the capability to produce thousands of unique, functional robots, the NXT set has enabled multitudes of people -- including children, teenagers, and adults -- to create their very own robotic creatures, contraptions, and contrivances. Figure A shows one of my NXT robots called Tag-Bot, which is a four-wheeled steering vehicle.

FIGURE A

Tag-Bot, a NXT robot, is a four-wheeled steering vehicle. Click picture for a larger image.

Tag-Bot plays a game called "flashlight tag" in which you attempt to "tag" the robot by shining a flashlight into its light sensor for a brief period of time (e.g., three seconds). To escape the beam of light, Tag-Bot dashes around the room while avoiding objects.

Although building may seem to be the NXT set's main purpose (after all, we're talking about a LEGO kit here), you can do far more than simply build with the set. So we'll observe five aspects of the world of NXT: