Nxt Project Instructions

Kids get excited by just hearing the name of robots and watching robots work in front of them just leads them to the top level of enjoyment. Studying of different scientific concepts and facts by theoretical means only leads to decrement in the interest of kids. But if the learning is accompanied with a practical approach and demonstration of the different concepts, then definitely the kids enjoy the scenario and the facts are clarified to them in a good way. Robotics provides a very good platform where all the four pillars of STEM are explored in a practical manner.

Educational robotics helps the kids to understand the very basic and higher concepts of Science and Math in a very lucid and practical manner. With the help of robotics, kids get a chance to enhance their creativity, logical and technical thinking and problem solving skills. Best teacher is curiosity and with the help of robotics kids get a chance to explore many more things. Kids also get a chance to make new friends and learn to work in a team and know the importance of the team work.

Out of the many different educational robotics kits, one of the best robotic kits is LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. The kit contains many plastic building block parts which can be interconnected, different types of attachments which are used for interlocking the building blocks and parts, an array of gears, servo motors and servo motors. Servo motors are the motors which have the feedback mechanism and that is why they provide more accurate and précised movement. The programming of the robotic projects made from the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is done in GUI platform. The robotic kit itself contains software for the GUI. It also contains the building instructions and programming steps for different robotic projects.

This article is particularly dedicated to let you know about instruction of some of the NXT robotic projects:

a.       WELL BOT: Wellbot is a robotic project built with the help of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT designed by ROBOGALAXY. This project is basically designed to make aware kids to the working of pulley. Pulley is a simple machine and can be defined as a wheel interconnected to a wheel and it is used for lifting heavy objects.

This robotic project uses only one servo motor to which the wheel is attached. Let’s discuss the building steps for this particular robot.

1.       Take a servo motor, one 3-m beam and two 3-m connector pegs. Attach the connector pegs to the second and last hole of beam such that one connector peg is inserted fully for connecting one more block at the outer side. And the other connector peg such that it can be attached to the motor and support to another part attached from another side. Then connect the attachment to the motor.

2.       Take a 5-m beam and four small connector pegs. Attach one peg to the inner side of the beam which is supposed to be connected to the motor. Other pegs are connected in the second, fourth and fifth hole of the beam.

3.       Take 15-m beam and connect it to the above beam’s outer side and then connect the whole attachment to the motor.

4.       In this step you have to take another 3-m beam and one 3-m connector peg and connect it to the first hole of the beam. And in turn connect the attachment to the other side of the motor.

5.       Take a 5-m beam and four small connector pegs. Attach one peg to the inner side of the beam (third hole) which is supposed to be connected to the motor. Other pegs are connected in the second, fourth and fifth hole of the beam.

6.       Now take 15-m beam and connect it to the above beam’s outer side and then connect the whole attachment to the motor.

7.       Now it’s time to form a pulley. Take a rim, 9-m axle, three full bushes and one half bush. Insert the axle into the middle groove of the motor, on one side of the axle fix one half bush. On another side of the axle firstly put all the three half bushes and then attach the rim to it. 

8.       Take a 13-m beam, two cross axle pegs, two connector pegs and two flippers. Attach the flipper and cross axle peg to the first and second last hole of the beam and connector pegs to the fourth and eighth hole of the beam.

9.       In this step you will need one 3x7 angular beam, three connector pegs and two cross axle pegs. In the first row hole of the angular beam attach cross axle peg and in the next two rows attach the connector pegs (all at the outer side). At the last column hole of the angular beam attach the other cross axle peg and at the third last column. Connect this attachment to the above made attachment.

10.   The whole attachment needs to be connected to the previously made motor attachment part.

11.   Repeat step number 9 and 10. After the proper attachment is formed connect it also to the mo tor attachment part.

12.   Now it’s turn for the Lego NXT Brick to come into the scene. Take the brick and four 3-m connector pegs. Attach one each of the connector pegs to the first and last column hole of the brick (all slots).

13.   Take four 5-m beams and connect it the brick in the sideways manner.

14.   Attach four 7-m beam to the previously made attachment vertically, each beam connected to the single connector peg from the outer side.

15.   Finally it’s time to give the finishing move to the robotic project, connect the NXT brick to it.

In the above mentioned way you can make a robotic project “WELLBOT”.