LEGO
Mindstorm
The LEGO MindStorms
Robotics Invention System 2.0 is easy enough for kids, but powerful enough
for advanced users. No programming experience is needed!
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LEGO Mindstorms is the name given to the consumer version
of the LEGO Company's product line that includes programmable bricks (called
RCX'es) along with electro-motors, sensors, LEGO bricks, and LEGO Technic pieces
(gears, axles, beams, pneumatic components etc.) to build robots and other automated
or interactive systems.
Although technically a toy, LEGO Mindstorms can also
be used (as originally planned by LEGO and MIT) as an educational tool; it is
a good example of an embedded system with computer-controlled electromechanical
parts. Almost all kinds of real life embedded systems, from elevator controllers
to industrial robots, may be modelled using Mindstorms.
The RCX programmable
brick contains a Renesas H8/300 microcontroller as its internal CPU. The brick
is programmed by downloading a program written in one of several available programming
languages from a PC to the brick's CPU via a special IR interface. After program
downloading and starting, an RCX-enabled Mindstorms creation may function totally
on its own, acting on internal and external stimuli according to the programmed
instructions. Also, two or more RCX bricks can communicate with each other through
the IR interface, enabling inter-brick cooperation or competition. In addition
to the IR port, there are three sensor input ports and three motor output ports. |
