We've recently begun exploring the world of LEGO robotics and the LEGO system. In this helpful article, we cover three essential guides that'll get you started.

The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set includes a variety of powerful electronic parts (motors sensors and the programmable NXT microcomputer) and lots of building elements. With these parts you can create thousands of unique intelligent robots. The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide helps you to harness the capabilities of the NXT set and effectively plan build and program your own NXT robots.

The first part of the book contains a brief introduction to the NXT set. You'll then examine the pieces in the NXT set and the roles they play in construction. Next you'll learn practical building techniques like how to build sturdy structures and work with gears. Then it's time to learn how to program with the official NXT-G programming language (and learn a bit about several unofficial programming languages). You'll also learn what author David J. Perdue calls the MINDSTORMS method: a strategy for creating your own robots. Finally you'll follow step-by-step instructions for building programming and testing six sample robots (all of which can be built using only the parts found in one NXT set).

Computing Unplugged's evaluation
You may be familiar with David's name because he's written for Computing Unplugged before. This book is an excellent introduction to LEGO robotics and, frankly, is what should have come in the box with the NXT kit. If you want to learn about NXT robots, you need to get this book.

The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide by David J. Perdue, published by No Starch Press, is 300 pages and has a retail price of $29.95. We give The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide a rating of 4 out of 5.

OUR RATING: 4 of 5