Learning Lego Mindstorms
Overview
Get a LEGO robotics kit? It's time to open the box! Learn how to build a robot with LEGO Mindstorms.
Love LEGOs? The next generation is ready to play. LEGO Mindstorms is a robotics kit designed for all experimenters—not just kids. Its advanced programming capabilities and robust hardware—sensors, motors, and intelligent EV3 brick—make LEGO Mindstorms a fun and challenging microcomputer system for programmers and tinkerers of any age. In this course, Olivia Chiu helps you "open the box" and build your first functional robot with LEGO Mindstorms.
Learn how to unpack the hardware, connect to the programming interface, run prebuilt programs, and control the motors and sensors. Chapter 6, "Adding Flow to a Program," covers advanced programming topics such as transferring data between blocks, using variables to store temporary data, programming conditional logic, and looping actions to run again and again. By the end of the course, you'll have the skills to bring your own robotic creations to life.
Love LEGOs? The next generation is ready to play. LEGO Mindstorms is a robotics kit designed for all experimenters—not just kids. Its advanced programming capabilities and robust hardware—sensors, motors, and intelligent EV3 brick—make LEGO Mindstorms a fun and challenging microcomputer system for programmers and tinkerers of any age. In this course, Olivia Chiu helps you "open the box" and build your first functional robot with LEGO Mindstorms.
Learn how to unpack the hardware, connect to the programming interface, run prebuilt programs, and control the motors and sensors. Chapter 6, "Adding Flow to a Program," covers advanced programming topics such as transferring data between blocks, using variables to store temporary data, programming conditional logic, and looping actions to run again and again. By the end of the course, you'll have the skills to bring your own robotic creations to life.
Syllabus
Introduction
- Welcome
- What you should know
- Using the exercise files
- Install Mindstorms on Windows
- Install Mindstorms on Mac
- Explore the Mindstorms Lobby
- The EV3 brick is the brains
- Motors and sensors
- IR sensors
- Navigate the EV3 brick UI
- Explore the programming interface
- Explore the palettes and blocks
- Connect to the EV3 brick
- Explore the hardware page
- Download and run a program
- Data flow execution
- Program your robot to move
- Coordinate the motors to drive
- Measure a motor's movement
- Feel the environment
- Sense the light
- Calibrate the Light Sensor
- Locate objects and beacons with infrared light
- Use data wires to transfer data
- Variables
- Switch cases
- Switch with a threshold value
- Looping actions
- Follow a line
- Content editor
- Project properties
- Errors and warnings
- Debug unexpected behavior
- Create and edit sound files
- Create and edit image files
- Create custom blocks
- Update EV3 brick firmware
- Next steps
Taught by
Olivia Chiu Stone
Never Stop Learning!
