Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3

Your guide to building and programming your very own advanced robot using LEGO Mindstorm EV3

Overview

• Step-by-step instructions that will help you to build and program your own robot
• Utilize all the sensors in the EV3 kit
• Write programs with all of the essential programming commands

In Detail

LEGO MINDSTORMS is more than just a toy. With a multitude of gears, pins, and beams, you can build fantastic, complex designs. The programming brick is Linux-based, and with dozens of available sensors, it allows you to make incredibly sophisticated robots. Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 goes beyond the example projects that come with the box and helps you to produce a more advanced and functional robot.

"Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3" is a practical guide that shows you how to advance from the basic lessons included in your EV3 kit, combine core programming commands, and implement tested design principles when building your robot. You will build a basic robot and download a program to make the robot move. You will also write several increasingly complex programs to add functionality to the robot and use a proportional algorithm to track a line with an optical sensor.

"Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3" will teach you how to make a LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 robot that can navigate and interact with its environment using sensors. You will first be guided through how to make your robot interact with its environment using touch sensors. You will then program the robot to navigate and change direction using a gyro sensor. Next, using a proportional algorithm, your robot will maintain a given distance to a stationary or moving object. You will then be shown how to change parameters using on-board buttons and finally how to use an optical sensor to track a line. "Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3" is full of step-by-step instructions and illustrations designed to help you build a robot with ease.

What you will learn from this book

• Design a robot for optimum navigation and place sensors for optimal calibration
• Account for weight and balance issues in your design
• Write programs in a visual programming language and tweak your code visually using MyBlock subroutines
• Calibrate the sensors using buttons on the robot
• Utilize loops, case structures, calculations, variables, and arrays

Approach

A concise guide full of step-by-step recipes to teach you how to build and program an advanced robot.

Who this book is written for

"Instant LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3" is for both the adult tinkerer who has never touched LEGO before and the experienced LEGO engineer who has evolved from MINDSTORMS NXT to EV3. If you are interested in entering or advising students in robot competitions such as the FIRST LEGO League, the Wold Robot Olympiad, or RoboGames, then this book is a must for you. Even if you haven’t purchased your MINDSTORMS EV3 kit yet, this book will give you a good introduction to the platform.