I like toys.
No, not the kind that you’d hide when folks come visiting, but the kind that kids play with. The kind that bring smiles to your faces.
Lego. Robots. Wind-ups. Action figures. Puzzles. Rubik’s cubes. RC operated thingys. And so on and so forth.
Now, in January, I had heard that Lego had come up with the next generation of Mindstorms — the Mindstorms NXT. Not only that, you could also preorder the Mindstorms NXT online. These were supposedly coming out in August, and I was eagerly awaiting them. However, when I saw them stumbled upon them at the store last week, I was torn between two things — my “mature” adult mind telling me that I was trying to spend $250 on toys which could be better spent on my car payment, and the child in me telling me to just go to heck with it and enjoy myself.
I pondered over it for two days, thinking about all the fun resolutions I had made as a kid about what I’d do when I grew up (when I have money, I will spend it ALL on ALL the toys that I like ALL the time!). And it did not help that the new Mindstorms looked so much like the Replicators from Stargate SG-1. Nor did these high-resolution pictures of the Mindstorms. So, this evening, I called up my friend Rebecca and told her that I was going to buy the Mindstorms. And of course, she accompanied me for moral support — lest I change my mind about it.
And quite obviously, I went into the store — and purchased the only remaining set of the Lego Mindstorms! Boy, wasn’t I glad or what!
Okay, to say that the new Lego Mindstorms NXT are awesome would be like saying that Mount Everest is a mountain. In little more than half an hour, I had a robot up and running. And it was so easy! The software is so easy to use, and the whole set is amazing.
First, a little overview of the kind of equipment that the new Mindstorms have.
The big thing that you see right in the middle is the NXT command centre — the brain behind the whole system. The three similar looking things on the top of the block are the three precision Servo motors. Going right, the binocular-like thing is actually an ultrasonic sensor that helps the robots see things. Going right, the other three are Light, Sound and Touch sensors, respectively.
And to complement the whole thing, you have a set of Technic components that you could use to build the robot of your choice.
From the booklet and the manual, Lego has a few popular models:
Alpharex — a humanoid robot that can walk and can sense distance/movement through the Ultrasonic sensors.
Spike — an animal robot that can be programmed to attack (sting) based on sensor impulses.
RoboArm — a robotic machine arm that can lift, pivot and grasp objects.
Tribot — a vehicle styled robot that can grab balls (the set comes with two balls specifically for this purpose).
For those of you who have played with the Mindstorms RCX, please note that the default block of the Mindstorms NXT is different from the default block of the Mindstorms RCX. In the RCX, the default block was the standard two-by-four Lego block; in the NXT, the default block is the standard “studless” Technic block.
Other than that, the Mindstorms NXT has a command centre that is a 32 bit, iPod-like device with a significantly large LCD display. Wikipedia contains more information on the technical architecture of the NXT command centre. The NXT can also be controlled by Bluetooth devices and has three motors with in-built rotation sensors for smoother operation and six wire digital cables (as opposed to analog cables in case of the RCX).
And of course, the whole set comes with an excellent piece of software, written by National Instruments, to help you program and play with the system. Based on the LabVIEW system by NI, the software is very intuitive and easy to use.
The other big thing is that the previous version of Mindstorms was only for the PC, however this version can work on both PCs and Macs — and Lego has even promised to make the software interface Open Source.
The Lego Mindstorms website also has a tonne of cool things, such as the Mindstorms developer program, a section containing building instructions for the various robots and the NXT’reme, for advanced Lego enthusiasts. Microsoft also has something called Coding 4 Fun, which talks about using a Microsoft .NET interface for Lego Mindstorms.
I could write a lot more, but nothing would quite do justice to what the new Mindstorms actually are. Ars-Technica has an awesome review (with pictures and videos) on what the new Mindstorms can do. There was also a related article on Wired that talked about the evolution of the latest Mindstorms called Geeks in Toyland. As a geek who loves to be in toyland, it was simply an awesome story, and quite nicely summed up how much Lego has been a part of my learning process through life.
Now, forgive me while I get off the computer and play with my Lego! 
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