Lego to Open Mindstorms NXT Firmware 138
ajdlinux writes "LEGO has officially announced that the firmware for the Mindstorms NXT will be open source. They will be releasing several developer kits and the firmware source during August, the kits containing the NXT driver specs, the schematics for the hardware connection and the Bluetooth protocol used by the NXT. The NXT will be only US$250, which is only slightly more expensive than the Mindstorms RIS2 kit. I certainly can't wait. " We had covered the earlier announcement of this kit.
why just lego in this space? (Score:1, Interesting)
Kids today I tell ya... (Score:4, Interesting)
Bluetooth? (Score:5, Interesting)
By default, would I be able to control the sucker from my cellphone? Or is that something they have to specifically program into the control software?
What license? (Score:5, Interesting)
Lego saying its Open Source is all well & good, but that means nothing. It may not be an OSI approved license - but even if it is, the differences between BSD - style "open source" licenses and gpl style "open source" licenses is huge.
Anyone know what the license actually is?
If only... (Score:5, Interesting)
Just look at that robot on that homepage. Imagine all the things that it can do. Why, if Lego scaled up all its parts, I bet it could take on ASIMO easily.
But seriously, if more work were put into developing things like this - toys such that everyday people with some ingenuity and some creativity could program their own robots, I believe that we would have a lot more ideas as far as where to take robots.
Right now, major robotic undertakings seem to be limited to those with the research capital and funding to make them happen. If this were the thing that was researched, I would think that we would be seeing a lot more cool stuff developed as a result.
Especially with the release of the firmware as open source. Lego is just inviting people of all capabilities to work with it.
Re:why just lego in this space? (Score:1, Interesting)
Indeed. What about the cool kits from fischertechnik [fischertechnik.de] (or from their US branch [fischertechnik.com])? They have many nice toys in their "computing" series.
Does Nintendos new controller use bluetooth (Score:2, Interesting)
Is it just me? (Score:3, Interesting)
In any event, this sort of toy just makes me warm and fuzzy inside. Nothing like some Legos and a microcontroller to make the electrical engineer in me happy.
Re:Does Nintendos new controller use bluetooth (Score:4, Interesting)
Strictly speaking the limitation is 8 devices per network, so it doesn't matter what kind of devices they are. The limit is 8 for a net, and one of those is the master. Of course, nothing stops you having five Bluetooth devices in a single device, for a total of 28 peripherals.
That being said, I have a hard enough time finding three players to play a four player game. Can you really imagine trying to find seven players for an eight player game? Not to mention some sucker with a lounge room spacious enough to seat them all.
AI research? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:why just lego in this space? Are you kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)
>in the amateur robotics market.
Your kidding right? Mindstorms !IS! SUPER successful! It was so successfull that it created a hacking community that also was so successful that LEGO involved them in the development of updates, as well as this NXT kit. To give the OP some credit, I too had no idea of the success of this kit until I got involved. I hadn't heard about FLL. I didn't know that there are 2 versions of the NXT kit. One for retail, the other for education. I was blown away by all the brainpower LEGO involved from the community to help with this project. From educators, to engineers and everyone in between. There are 3rd party projects that mix this. I believe the success of this kit was inevitable, regarless of the communities participation. Then to embrace the hacker community as well as professional (educators, FLL clubs, competitions, etc.) just made it happen even sooner. There have been development projects to enable the use of other parts and robitic kits. There have been developments for using 3rd party robotic sensors and motors. I for one worship my new robotic overlords!
B-)
It's cool and all, but.... (Score:4, Interesting)
I've seen I don't know how many USB ports get broken, the plastic bit that guides the connector breaking off, simply by repetitive plugging and unplugging of the connector from the port on the computer. USB drives, digital cameras, and other devices that are generally intended for being plugged in only temporarily... all of them break the port you plug them into eventually. I've seen it happen with many different USB ports on different computers too, so I don't think it's the manufacturer. It seems to me that the port is simply not designed for frequent hardware changes, which of course would happen with this sort of device. (Not to mention that in general it would be handled by kids, which I'm thinking makes it only that much more likely things will break).
For devices who are frequently connecting and disconnecting, wireless is the only way to go. It's a pity that LEGO didn't realize this.
Re:It's cool and all, but.... ( I wasn't informed) (Score:3, Interesting)
As a MDP'er, who didn't play with the previous IR RCX version, I can only tell you that the other MDP'ers who have, have said the BT in the NXT by comparison is a dream. From first hand experience, I only use the BT because your right, I'd hate to actually use a cable. The NXT connects with anything BT that I have. Laptop, phone, PDA, etc. There has also been development of java BT remote control for cell phones. I mean, come on! You can take the box home from the store. Spend 1/2 hour building, installing software, and programming, and have a moving robot working without ever plugging in a cord. The BT stack currently is limited to widcomm and M$, but the list of adapters for those stacks is huge and growing. I already had the cheapest Kensinton I could find for my laptop to talk with my phone, and it just worked with the NXT (which is the norm).
No worries mate!
B-)
Re:Labview is an abomination (Score:4, Interesting)
First off, you can demo LabVIEW online at this link [ni.com] or download an evaluation version at this link [ni.com] (pretty big download).
Next, check out the LabVIEW Introduction Course - 3 Hours Long [ni.com] or preferably the LabVIEW Introduction course - 6 Hours Long [ni.com]. I believe these were written for LabVIEW 7 (latest version is 8.0.1), but you can still get the idea.
Graphical and dataflow-based programming is much different, and it's not going to be a seamless transition. However, after working with it heavily for as little as 4 months, I am HOOKED. If you sent me your C code, I'd be lost and frustrated. Now, if someone sends me their LabVIEW code, I can "just see it" -- like Neo at the end of the Matrix. It's hard to explain, but it just makes sense at a glance now.
Another cool thing that Slashdotters would like is that there is a LabVIEW forum that is supported by both National Instruments employees and LabVIEW enthusiasts. Some guys in there just love helping you out, just as you've seen in the Linux community. forums.ni.com [ni.com]. Very friendly community (although if you are a flamer, NI employees won't say anything, but other customers sure will!)
So try to understand it before bashing it, or just ignore it. But LabVIEW *IS* a programming language -- just something much different than anything you're used to.
PS: No, LabVIEW is not open source. But it's "open enough" for most people.
Oh, and if you check the job listings, you'll see that knowing LabVIEW can get you a very nice salary in some industries. It's the defacto standard for anything in test and measurement, and is branching out to other things now.
Re:You are correct sir (Score:3, Interesting)
I hope they go on with this, and be an example of how a company that lives of IP can respect the wishes of their buyers and still thrive. That would be nice contrast to other companies that just seem to lock their IP as much as possible and just annoy their clientele (e.g. unplayable CD's due to copy protection etc)