Sneak Preview of Our Tape Reader

Can you afford one extra NXT motor? Then sometime this Fall you'll be able to build a dedicated paper tape reader to load programs directly from paper tape into an NXT robot! We're working on this prototype, and will open source it when it's done.

Not only does it feel great to hold a copy of your actual program, but it also enables you to program your robot with no computer at all! And many kids can write their paper tape programs at once, again without needing their own computers.

However, the programming language we're currently developing with these office supply stickers is not as complete as NXT-G. But it will be a fun, useful first paper-tape language. How will you use it? There's an "interpreter" program that goes in your brick. And a "loader" program that reads in the paper tape and stores the data (sticker colors) in a file. Then when you're ready, at any time you can run the interpreter to process your file, interpreting all the instructions in it.

Plane Parts Were Laser-Cut Tonight

The parts for everyone's plane designs were laser-cut tonight, out of 1.2mm presentation board. Big thanks to Richard at Metrix Create Space, who got it done for us super quickly!  Friday in the club meeting we'll see if the pieces assemble correctly.  It's our first laser cutting, and our first stab at making slots and tabs, so it might need adjustment.

LaSER at Seattle Mini Maker Faire

On Sunday we gave a short presentation about LaSER at the Seattle Mini Maker Faire. Some slides, and then some of the kids demonstrated our MindCuber. It had only one scan error, and then on the second try it solved the cube!

3D-Printed Models

Our 3D models of Mars habitats came back from Ponoko.  After we designed them in Tinkercad, coach Matt hollowed them out and tweaked them for printing. Maybe we'll print one larger, but cost goes up roughly by n cubed!

MindCuber works!

The club finished its MindCuber!

MindCuber Test This Friday!

We're almost done with building all of MindCuber's sub-assemblies. On Friday we should be able to finish assembly and do our first test run.  Be prepared for it to have trouble working at first :-)  That's part of being engineers on a big project.

Also, soon we will post our discoveries about how school groups can work together on MindCuber.  We've also been in touch with the creator, David Gilday, who offered some useful thoughts which we'll discuss this Friday.

MindCuber Build Steps on Friday

Last week we started designing our own Rubik's Cube-turning robot, and some ideas came out of it.


This week, we're bringing in building plans for David Gilday's MindCuber!  

We can build up to two copies of this bot, but kids who want to continue with their own designs can do so.

To Mars

We decided to first Design a Martian Habitat, since there's a contest that ends April 6th.  We sketched some design ideas on paper, but now have to go back and find ways to make them practical.  We're going to use Tinkercad.com for 3D design, so ask your parents if you can use it at home to practice during the week, between meetings.

Picking Spring Projects

This week we'll discuss several possible projects, and tie-ins to this June's Seattle Science Festival.  Ideas:

* Laser cutting - building system?  Simple & repeatable.

* Rubik's Cube. Solve the cube, and build a Mindstorms solver.

* Contest: Design a Martian Habitat.

We'll also update this blog regularly, so check in here every couple of days.

Robotics Teams Finish Season Strong

Great job everyone!  

Here's what should appear in the bulletin next week:

"Lafayette robotics teams had a great showing at the South Seattle FLL robot tournament on Saturday, Dec. 2nd.  The Mystic Mindstormers and Lego Minds, a mix of 2nd and 3rd graders, were the youngest teams there and outscored a number of older teams.  The girls team, the Go-Go Bots, scored well and won a Core Values Award for Gracious Professionalism.  Congratulations to all the team members."

* Remember, we have no team meetings in December.  We'll pick up again in January with new projects and activities.  But pop back here to the blog through the month, as we'll be posting some ideas and cool links.

* Parents, we still need your good photos from the tournament, so we can pick a nice one for the yearbook.

Shirt Mockups Ready

Here's a mockup of what the LM & MM shirts will look like when printed:

Thanks to Dylan's dad, Chris, for getting our shirts made!

MM & LM: Remember Research for Friday

Lego Minds and Mystic Mindstormers, please remember to do your research and bring to Friday's meeting (day after Thanksgiving).

You want to find at least one source (books, articles, web pages, interview) that gives details about your team's problem (Salmonella in eggs, or Trichinosis in pork) or your solution (warning label, or independent inspectors).

Beside the problem area itself, look for related problems where the solution was tried (for example, where have warning labels been used before? Where are independent inspectors used?).

Navigating with "Forward" and "Turn"

Get Ready: This week Lego(r) Minds and Mystic Mindstormers(r) will use the "Forward" and "Turn" custom blocks being developed for navigation.  This makes programming a mission much easier.  With them, your robot can get anywhere on the table with just a few steps.

You just need to measure a distance with a tape measure, and enter the centimeters into the Forward block.  When you need to turn, use a protractor to measure the angle, and enter the degrees in a Turn block.


If you need to move around objects, break up your path into a small number of simple steps. Then measure the distance and direction of each step, using a new Forward and Turn block to do the moving.

Mystic Mindstormers' logo

The logo for Mystic Mindstormers has been scanned, and will get printed on shirts when the Lego Minds logo is ready.  Nice work, Owen!

Remember, both teams need to choose a color for their shirt. Since the shirts won't be printed in time for this Saturday's Coe Robotics Festival, see if you can pick a color which everyone on the team has at home. That way, you can all wear a regular shirt of the right (approximate) color on Saturday, and we can give you temporary stickers with your team logo to stick on.

Mindstorms Powers the World's Fastest Rubik's Cube Solver!

These guys took a bunch of Mindstorms kits, and a cell phone's camera, and programmed it to be the world's fastest machine to solve the Rubik's Cube. Amazing :-)

Video - FLL Game Designer Gives Hints

Scott Evans is FLL's Game Designer. Here he shows each of the missions you can attempt, and drops some hints about what to watch out for.

Video of Food Factor Missions

This video shows what each mission involves.

Coe Robotics Festival in a Week

Both the Lego(r) Minds team and the Mystic Mindstormers(r) team will participate in the FLL scrimmage at the Coe Robotics Festival, 9am-3pm on Saturday, November 12th. Details here.


Time Slot      FLL team Activity
9:00–9:30AM    Teams arrive, sign-in and setup pit and display
9:30AM         Opening Ceremony
10:00-12:00AM  Each FLL team will have 20 minute practice slot Competition Table
1:00-2:30PM    FLL Robot Competition
2:45PM         FLL Robot Competition Recognition Ceremony
3:00PM         Closing Ceremony and team clean-up

Mindstorms(r) Programming with Cards

Here's a two-minute demonstration of designing a program using our paper cards.  This helps teams share the available computer(s) better.

First Post

This is the blog of LaSER -- Lafayette Science, Engineering, and Science.