Advanced NXT: The Da Vinci Inventions Book by Matthias Paul Scholz

About the Author     xi
About the Technical Reviewer     xiii
Acknowledgments     xv
Preface     xvii
Introduction     1
An Invention-Driven Tour Through the Life of Leonardo da Vinci     2
Renaissance Man     2
Five Designs     4
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT     15
Hardware     16
Software     23
The NXT Community     25
The MINDSTORMS Developer's Program     25
LEGO.com MINDSTORMS Community NXT     25
MINDSTORMS Education NXT     25
The NXT Step     26
nxtasy.org     26
mynxt.matthiaspaulscholz.eu     26
Summary     27
A 3,000-Foot Look at NXT Programming Environments     29
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     30
NXT-G     30
IDE     35
Example Program Snippets     39
RobotC     42
IDE     44
Example Program Snippets     46
NXC     47
IDE     48
Example Program Snippets     50
pbLua     51
Example Program Snippets     52
leJOS NXJ     52
Example Program Snippets     53
Summary     54
The Armored Car     55
Historical Background     55
Special Challenges     57
Interpreting the Design     57
Building the Gearing Mechanism     58
Building the Armored Car     59
Programming the Armored Car     97
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     98
RobotC     99
NXC     100
pbLua     101
leJOS NXJ     103
Summary     105
The Catapult     107
Historical Background     107
Hardware Challenges     109
The Double Leaf Spring     109
The Crank Mechanism     109
Building the Catapult     111
Programming the Catapult     147
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     149
RobotC     152
NXC     155
pbLua     157
LeJOS NXJ     161
Summary     165
The Revolving Bridge     167
Historical Background     167
Hardware Challenges     168
Building the Revolving Bridge      169
Programming the Revolving Bridge     210
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     211
RobotC     214
NXC     217
pbLua     219
leJOS NXJ     222
Summary     226
The Aerial Screw     227
Historical Background     227
Hardware Challenges     231
Building the Aerial Screw     231
Programming the Aerial Screw     260
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     262
RobotC     264
NXC     267
leJOS NXJ     268
pbLua     272
Summary     275
The Flying Machine     277
Historical Background     277
Hardware Challenges     278
Building the Flying Machine     280
The Wires That Lower the Wings     306
The Wires That Lift the Wings     307
Building the Remote Control     309
Programming the Flying Machine     318
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software     319
NXC     324
Summary     329
Outlook: What NXT?     331
Enhancing the Five Robots     331
The Armored Car     331
The Catapult     332
The Revolving Bridge     332
The Aerial Screw     333
The Flying Machine     333
Remotely Controlling the Robots     333
Making Other Inventions of Leonardo with LEGO     334
The Theater Stage for Orpheus     335
The Canal Excavation Machine     335
Recommended Web Sites     336
Web Sites on Leonardo da Vinci     336
Sites on LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT     337
Recommended Books     338
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure     338
The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book     339
Maximum LEGO NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains     339
Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed     339
Installation and Configuration of the Programming Environments Used in the Book     341
Leonardo's Letter of Application to the Duke of Milan     357
Glossary     359
Bibliography     363
Index     365