Lego Mindstorms NXT

[harmonyartmom]

My boys have had Lego Mindstorms for a number of years and now that they are entering into high school I want to incorporate their love of robotics into a class.

 

My husband and I have decided to go ahead and purchase the LEGO Mindstorms NXT for them to use as part of their robotics curriculum.

 

My question is for anyone who has purchased this. Where is the best price for this rather expensive kit? The best price I have found is around $250. If that is the going rate, I will go ahead and purchase it but I was just hoping :thumbup:to find it at a lower rate.

 

We are not interested in doing a team this time around. We have done that in the past and we just don't have the time for it right now.

 

Any suggestions would be great!

Barb

[MI Mom]

We bought ours back at Christmas time from Lego. It seems like we paid a little more for our set but I can't remember for sure.

 

I would love to use this as part of a robotics curriculum. Would you please tell me how you are going to do this? My kids would love it but I don't know where to start.

 

 

Thanks a bunch!

[harmonyartmom]

I plan on using this in conjunction with this book:

The Unofficial LEGO Mindstorms NXT Inventor's Guide

 

My boys already have a really good understanding of Mindstorms so they are ready to move on up the scale a bit.

 

I plan on having them keep a notebook of projects with photos.

 

My oldest son is very much "into" robotics in college so he is going to help me with any technical stuff they need to know with the programming of the robot.

 

Nothing fancy but it will be a good fit for them.

 

Barb

[MI Mom]

Thanks for the info.

 

I ask my husband if he remembered exactly what we bought and what we paid. He said we paid around $300 for our set which is this one

 

http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?CategoryID=178&by=9&ID=1263&c=1&t=0&l=0

 

but our kit came with the NXT education software that this kit lists as being sold seperately. He doesn't remember where he bought it. He said it may have been amazon but he couldn't remember. I wish I could offer more help.

[Cinder]

The best price I have found is around $250. If that is the going rate, I will go ahead and purchase it but I was just hoping :thumbup:to find it at a lower rate.

 

Barb

 

 

Your post caught my eye because this is what we're planning for science too. Wish it weren't so pricey though. I wondered if you saw the product review where the reviewer recommended getting the battery pack too.

 

Lego + Robotics = FUN!!! Posted: March 22, 2008

 

"This is a lego set you do not want to miss! The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set is a great buy! I got this set for christmas and have spent countless hours building and programming with it. A little expensive, but it was worth it. One thing, if you aren't planning on spending another $250, you need to get the Battery Pack and Charge set."

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if you're planning for this to be a year's worth of science? I have no experience w/Mindstorms so am not sure how to plan for this. We'd be using it w/an 8th grader.

 

Thanks,

Cinder

[Sophia]

you are going to incorporate robotics into their high school curriculum?

I am putting my rising 9th grader in a robotics class at a local co-op in the fall.

However, they are firm in saying it is purely for fun and no credit is given.

When I read the objectives of the class, I can't believe no credit is being assigned!

So what are you doing?

Will you give credit, and under what?

thanks

[Peek a Boo]

we got ours at buy.com, applying for the credit card and getting a $30 credit, lol.

 

We will also be giving credit for using and applying Mindstorm principles when my 2d ds hits high school. He is DEFINITELY a robotics NUT!! For high school, i would require some essays, current events reports, and demonstrations to beef it up for a credit. The notebook and pictures would be a must for high school, i think. You'll also do well to make sure there are some labs. See if there are any robotics clubs in the area. i found one that meets in Dallas that we need to check out.

 

I am waiting for our County Extension office to get the 4-H Lego Robotics curriculum. We can check it our for free :D It is geared for grades 4-8 tho. I think doing it as a 4-H project is an excellent way to document work, get a chance to compete at your own level, and earn scholarship money!

 

i remember seeing a physics curriculum to go w/ the Mindstorms, but we're still having fun w/ the tutorials and exploring it :)

 

The Mayan Adventures book is interesting, but we weren't quite ready for it.

 

good luck!!

[Peek a Boo]

also, a quick google search for robotics high school course description credit will reveal a lot of helpful things to keep in mind for transcript purposes :D

[Capt_Uhura]

If you google LEGO NXT it will pull up the places that sell it and current prices. I've seen some as low as $215.

 

the LEGO Education kit is a slightly different kit from that sold in retail stores and online.

 

There is a fun challenge coming up. It has a Mars theme. If you check out NeXTSTep Blog, scroll down a few days and you'll see a link to it. Jim Kelly is creating this site and is author of "The Mayan Adventure."

 

Some of the physics curricula and I think the 4H curricula all use the older RCX system and have not been updated for the NXT, just so you know. There is a cool looking one called "Physics by Design" which I think was updated and contains both RCX and NXT in it but don't quote me on that. If you google it, it should pop up. If not, I'll try to find a link for you.

 

Capt_Uhura

[harmonyartmom]

We are putting together our own "robotics" class as part of an on-going interest from my boys in robots, electronics, and computer programming. I have no idea how the whole course will end up looking by the time we are done. I decided I would worry about what to call it on the transcript when we were done in four years. :) It will probably show up as an elective called Electronics or something similar to that. I am figuring on 2 hours per week per school year or approx. 288 hours for the whole four years. This is if their interest continues which I have no doubt it will.

 

I was talking to my oldest college-age son who is very much into building robots and he is helping me design the course to be about 2 hours a week for this year's part of the course. Next year we will pick up where we left off or add something new. One thing I have learned in this ball game called homeschooling, you never know where you will end up as you start down a path. I am flexible enough to allow the boys to suggest different directions as we go along. I make things happen to get them where they need to be. My oldest son has had a such wandering path with his education but it has all been good....it is part of the process. I also have learned that I can stretch a course from year to year and just count the whole thing in the end whatever it may be.

 

Eventually we will be building something like these little guys:

Boe-Bots

My college-age son is building this in his spare time for fun and the younger two boys are hoping to get their own Boe-bots to program after we work our way through the NXT book that I talked about above.

 

We are *not* going to do competitions because we just don't like the atmosphere or the time commitment. We have had experience with LEGO First and we decided as a family it was not how we wanted to spend our time. There is enough competition among the boys to keep it interesting around here. I think we have had the LEGO Mindstorms kits for about four years so they have exhausted those between the three of them....I don't know how many Battle Bot competitions we have had in our kitchen. :D

 

I guess you can tell I'm not the sort that worries too much what the transcript is going to look like. We have always taken a little different approach to homeschooling by making it work for us and try not to be driven by what is expected. We are not unschoolers but I allow a lot of interest-driven learning. The other stuff will be there too.....but we didn't homeschool the children to make them into public school clones...we can do way better than that. :)

 

If the boys want to do robotics, we will make it happen and worry how to give "credit" later on. Does that resonate with anyone? Do you sometimes feel as if you are homeschooling but you keep coming back to the spot where you realize you are just imitating public school?

 

I know that is more than anyone ever wanted to know about my philosophy on high schooling two soon to be teen boys...and one 20 year old boy mixed in too. Thanks again for the info on the NXT.

 

Barb

[Sophia]

Thanks for the lead Peek a Boo.

My key words when I googled were getting me nowhere :-P.

[Peek a Boo]

We are *not* going to do competitions because we just don't like the atmosphere or the time commitment. We have had experience with LEGO First and we decided as a family it was not how we wanted to spend our time. There is enough competition among the boys to keep it interesting around here. I think we have had the LEGO Mindstorms kits for about four years so they have exhausted those between the three of them....I don't know how many Battle Bot competitions we have had in our kitchen. :D

 

I know that is more than anyone ever wanted to know about my philosophy on high schooling two soon to be teen boys...and one 20 year old boy mixed in too. Thanks again for the info on the NXT.

 

Barb

 

I'm kinda on your bench about the competitive atmospheres. My oldest thrives on some positive peer pressure. I'm hoping what I've seen at the 4-H shows will be "enough" for him --that can be pretty low key and focus on the presentation and demonstration aspect.

 

I think your philosophy sounds great --that's kinda where I'm gonna be in about 6 years, lol. [[take notes for us!!!]]