Tic-Tac-Toe Robots and a Demolition Derby

Something that we've done a couple summers in a row now is LEGO Robots. Mr. B is a local programmer, and he has fiddled with LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robots in his spare time. He has been good enough to develop a couple programs that he started presenting at the Hayden Library each summer, and the programs have spread to a couple other local libraries as well =D

With the success of the LEGO Robots program we had our first summer, we have expanded it to two programs, each presented two times in the same day. The two programs this year were "What is a Robot? with Demolition Derby" and "What is Binary? with Tic-Tac-Toe Robot."

Each program started with a powerpoint that gave a brief overview of the topic, and then the participants had a chance to assemble the robots and see how they worked. During the Demolition Derby, four robots scored points by activating touch sensors on the other machines, and during the Tic-Tac-Toe, two LEGO brains were attached to a LEGO crane that would move your pieces to where you wanted them. Mr. B had programmed the robots ahead of time (it takes a long time to work it all out), and they worked like a charm.

In addition to the fun of seeing LEGO Robots do things on their own, the participants had a chance to learn more about the computer technology that surrounds them. 

These programs are hugely popular because the robots themselves are amazing, and because Mr. B does a great job putting them together. Thanks!

If you would like to know more, you can visit Mr. B's website, legomyrobo.com.

Robots are Invading :)

Hey everybody :)
Since last Fall, we've had a Ka-Boom: Science Experiments program going on at the library. For the past two summers, we've invited Greg Braileanu to do a special program on LEGO NXT robots. We just had the last robot program yesterday, so I figured I'd talk a little about cool things to do with these robots.
Greg has a blog that he just started http://www.legomyrobo.com/, and he is planning on filling the blog with resources and cool things to do with robots.
There are a couple schools and clubs that have formed around building these robots, so if you are interested, there are places to get involved.
Obviously, this is a LEGO product, so LEGO has set up a page that has videos, a funzone, and information on the robots at
http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx?icmp=COFranchiseUSMINDSTORMS
There are also summer camps that the Discovery Institue offers that deal with robots and engineering. You can catch the Discover Technology folks at many of the city days in the area and at the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo. This is a link to a calendar of events. http://discovertechnology.org/calendar.html
Just to let you know, these robots are super cool, so if you haven't played with one, figure out some way to get one :)