More Info on the Bionic Helmet

Sorry for the delay, folks... here's more details on the Bionic Helmet. The Helmet fits on one's head (or rather, my head - it probably wouldn't fit on anyone else's!), and provides lights and SONAR. The Light Sensor provides the headlights (they actually aren't used for telling you when you're looking at the sun :-), and you can switch them on or off by pressing the Enter button. The US Sensors provide the SONAR capabilities. When you move close to an object on your left, a low-pitch sound will turn on, while an object directly in front of you would cause the NXT to make a medium-pitch sound, and an object on your right, a high-pitch sound. It works quite well actually, in terms of avoiding objects near your head - all objects lower than that become the shins' job of detecting (that's what shins are for, anyway - detecting furniture in the dark!).

You're probably wondering what good the SONAR capabilities would be when you can simply flip the headlights on. Well, one reason is to let you move around in the dark [ominous music]without being seen.[/ominous music] Of course, that brings up the obvious problem of being heard, but it's fun to pretend anyway. :P

The other reason for having the SONAR was the main cause of my building the helmet. Ever since I saw the US sensors, I've thought they could be used for helping blind people navigate on their own, by using the US sensors as guides. So with the helmet, a blind person would (theoretically at least - I guarantee you it wouldn't work in reality :P) be able to know if there was an object in his way, and which direction he would need to turn to avoid the object.

Here are some pictures of me wearing the helmet - front, side, and back views:

There are a couple things you can notice from the pictures. (1), the front view shows how I positioned the US and Light sensors to fit around the field of view - this adds a neat sort of look to the robot without inhibiting (too much!) the view. And (2), the back view shows how the tires are used to provide a cushioned strap in the back. I actually didn't have this at first, but after I put the NXT Brick on the front of the helmet (you really find how heavy that thing weighs once you try wearing it on your head!), the technic beams pushed too hard on the back of my skull for comfort, so I added the tires. Now I wish I had used tires for all the contact points of the helmet, because they help A LOT in making LEGOs more wearable and comfortable.

-Jonathan

MINDSTORMS Retires!

2023 is the 25th Anniversary of the MINDSTORMS brand. For 25 years, MINDSTORMS has educated and inspired a generation of robot builders, both children and adults. Unfortunately, the LEGO Group decided to end the line on December 2022. Many ROBOTMAK3RS have been passionately involved with the development of MINDSTORMS through the MUP and MCP programs. Even with the newest Robot Inventor line, several ROBOTMAK3RS were invited to submit additional bonus models that were included in the official app. Regardless of the retirement of a major LEGO robotics product line, ROBOTMAK3RS continue to MAKE-SHARE-INSPIRE using all LEGO robotics platforms available to us. Here is the official statement from LEGO. Since its launch in September 1998, LEGO MINDSTORMS has been one of the core ‘Build & Code’ experiences in the company’s portfolio, carrying with it significant brand equity and becoming a stand-out experience for the early days of consumer robotics and leading to current Build & Code

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix Part 1

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we asked ROBOTMAK3RS to combine a LEGO set of their choice with a MINDSTORMS set. Here is what these five ROBOTMAK3RS came up with. MINDSTORMS Chess Assistant by Arvind Seshan Overview: When you are new to chess, it can be a challenge to remember which pieces go where. Now, you can use machine learning and LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor to build a tool to help you learn where all the chess pieces go on the chess board. Sets used: LEGO® Iconic Chess Set (40174) and MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor (51515) Review: I really like how the chess set base can store all the pieces underneath and that the board neatly splits in half for handy storage. The chess pieces themselves are very sturdy and well built. My only criticism is the building of the box itself. It was quite difficult to see what pieces to use and since the entire box is made mostly of thin plates, it took a lot of time and patience. I would have liked the storage area to be sliding dra

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