LEGO MINDSTORMS User Manual

Quick Start Guide to computer control and robotics using LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ for Schools

This guide is intended for all ﬁ rst time users of LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ for Schools and the ROBOLAB software (versions

2.0 or higher). It is a brief guide that will help you to install the software and try out some of the basic programming principles. It is intended as a brief introduction. You will need the ROBLAB User Guide to become fully conversant with the concept. The guide is based on functions within ROBOLAB 2.0.

We recommend that you carry out this program in two steps—the Pilot Course followed by the Inventor Course. Have fun! You will need either a RoboTechnology Set or Team Challenge Set to complete this course.

Installing ROBOLAB software and preparing the RCX brick and IR Tower Page 4 Installing Firmware Page 5

PILOT Course (Estimated time needed 1–2 hours)

Pilot levels 1–4

Pilot Level 1 Page 6

Turning a motor on or off Te st Your Skills—Stop the motor on time Pilot Level 2 Page 8 Introducing lamp, touch sensor and setting power levels Te st Your Skills—Vary power levels and change directions Pilot Level 3 Page 9 Programming with two steps, introducing light sensor and loops Te st Your Skills—Program a car to respond to light readings Pilot Level 4 Page 11 Programming with multiple steps Test You r Skills—Program a car to drive in a rectangle

INVENTOR Course (Estimated time needed 2–3 hours)

Inventor levels 1–4

Inventor Level 1 Page 13

Get to know the basic icons and how to string them together Program a car to change direction on time Inventor Level 2 Page 15 Introducing modiﬁ ers, ﬂ ip direction, jump & land and random time functions Program a car to repeat a program, ﬂ ip direction of the motor, follow timing and play a sound Inventor Level 3 Page 18 Introducing music, task split, loop and fork merge options Program two strings, one driving the motor, the other playing music. Program a repeated sequence. Inventor Level 4 Page 20 Introducing container commands Program two strings using container commands to repeat a sequence Ideas for practising your skills

Investigator A general introduction Page 23

Building Instructions Page 25

LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ for Schools uses the ROBOLAB software to write programs. The ROBOLAB software runs on both PCs and MACs. LEGO MINDSTORMS for Schools includes an RCX—a programmable LEGO brick. The RCX is a microcomputer with three output ports A, B and C for connecting motors and lamps, and three input ports 1, 2 and 3 for connecting sensors. ROBOLAB programs are downloaded to the RCX via an Infrared (IR) Tower. The IR Tower is available with a serial connection (COM port) or a USB connection (for 2.5 or higher versions only).

IR window

To uch sensor

Te mperature

sensor Three input ports for connecting sensors

Light sensor

Three output ports for connecting motors and lamps

Lamp

Plug for transformer adapter

Motor

Serial (COM port) Infrared Tower, requires a 9 volt battery

USB Infrared Tower

Installing ROBOLAB software and preparing the RCX brick and IR Tower

1. Insert the ROBOLAB CD-ROM in your CD drive and start the program. Follow the installation instructions. The installation will take up to 20 minutes. DO NOT connect the IR Tower until told to.

2. While waiting for the installation to ﬁ nish you should insert 6 AA batteries in your RCX. Remove the grey cover and place them according to indicators at the bottom of the RCX. You can also use rechargeable batteries or a 9–12 volt LEGO transformer (product number 9833).

3. When the software has been installed successfully, you should un-tick the box ‘Launch ROBOLAB’, so that you do NOT start ROBOLAB yet.

4. Now you must connect your IR Tower to your computer. Make sure ROBOLAB is shutdown before connecting the USB IR To wer. ROBOLAB will NOT detect the USB IR Tower if you connect it while ROBOLAB is running. If you have a USB IR Tower simply connect it to a USB port.

5. If you have a serial IR Tower you must ﬁ rst insert a 9-volt battery before connecting it to a serial port (COM port).

NOTE: Infrared communication between the IR Tower and the RCX reaches up to 10 meters. However, communication can be interrupted if there are several RCX bricks within reach of one IR Tower. Therefore the IR Tower should always be set to short range when working with more than one RCX in a classroom.

For the USB Tower adjust the setting in the Windows Control Panel. Click the Start icon on your desktop, open Control Panel, select the LEGO USB Tower icon and set the Infrared Range to short.

To select the short range on the serial IR Tower move the switch to the left at the front bottom of the .

Installing Firmware

Firmware is the software you need to download to the RCX before using ROBOLAB to write programs. You can always check if the ﬁ rmware is installed on your RCX by turning it on. If the display shows 00.00 ﬁ rmware is installed. If the ﬁ rst four digits are missing there is no ﬁ rmware.

Display showing no ﬁ rmware installed

To install ﬁ rmware:

1. Start ROBOLAB. Select Start at the rear left hand corner of your screen. Scroll up to programs and select ROBOLAB.

2. Select Administrator.

3. Turn on the RCX by pressing the red On-Off button.

4. Place the RCX in front of the IR Tower (the IR window of the RCX must face the IR Tower)

5. Select download ﬁ rmware. It takes about 4 minutes.

6. Select the ‘Back’ button when the ﬁ rmware has been successfully installed.

7. Your RCX is now ready for programming in ROBOLAB.

RCX with ﬁ rmware installed

NOTE: If you remove the batteries from the RCX the ﬁ rmware will be lost and you will have to download it again. To keep the ﬁ rmware when changing batteries you must ﬁ rst turn off the RCX, then change the batteries within approximately one minute. If you change the batteries one at a time you will have one minute for each battery.

Trouble Shooting—Firmware

If the ﬁ rmware has suddenly been lost it may be lost on the RCX because two or more RCX bricks were in reach of the same IR Tower when the program was downloading. Turn off the RCX bricks that you are not downloading to, or keep them out of reach of the IR Tower. Make it a standard procedure to turn off an RCX that you are not using. This also saves battery life—even though the RCX turns off automatically after 15 minutes.

Trouble Shooting—Infrared Communication

Strong light may interrupt the infrared communication. Cover the IR Tower and the RCX brick High temperature may cause interruption. Computer labs are often very warm, place the IR Tower on the ﬂ oor. Mirrors and reﬂ ecting surfaces may cause interruption, point the IR Tower in another direction, but still facing the RCX IR window. Serial IR Tower is not working. Check that the battery is in place. If download is still failing you can place the IR Tower and RCX under the green plastic storage box or a cardboard box. This should efﬁ ciently eliminate interruptions. If the computer doesn’t detect the IR Tower you can use an automatic detection function. Access via the front page of ROBOLAB. Select Administrator, select Select COM Port then choose Auto Detect.

PILOT Course Levels 1–4

(Estimated time needed 1–2 hours)

Pilot Level 1

Turning a motor on or off

1. Connect a motor to port A on your RCX and turn the RCX on by pressing the red On-Off button. If you connect a wheel to the motor you will be able to see which direction the motor is programmed to run.

2. Start ROBOLAB, select Programmer and double-click on Pilot 1. A default program will appear on your screen. The motor icon offers you a left (clockwise) or right (counter clockwise) option.

3. Place your RCX in front of the IR Tower. Make sure the RCX is turned on. NOTE that the RCX automatically turns off after 15 minutes.

4. Select the white arrow button, which is the download button. A new box appears on your screen indicating that download is proceeding.

5. Press the green Run button on your RCX. a. Is the motor running? If not—have you connected the wire to port A? b. Is the wheel turning counter clockwise? If not—turn the wire connector on port A 180 degrees and press the green Run button again.

6. Now modify the program so that the wheel turns counter clockwise for four seconds. a. Select the motor icon on the screen and change direction. b. Then select the time icon to change the time setting.

7. Download your new program by selecting the white download arrow and press the green Run button on the RCX.

Test Your Skills—Stop the motor on time

1. Build a car driven by one motor. See building instructions on page 25. Follow steps 1 to 4.

2. Program the car to move forward for one second

3. Place a measuring tape on the ﬂ oor and test how far the car travels in one second. Repeat the test three times to calculate an average distance.

4. Place a LEGO ﬁ gure or other object on the ﬂ oor next to the measuring tape at a distance equivalent to that covered in one second.

5. See if the car travels the correct distance without knocking the ﬁ gure over.

6. Repeat points 3,4 and 5 changing the time to 2, 4 and 6 seconds and calculate the distance to be covered each time.

NOTE: This is a good classroom activity to try with several groups of children, each performing the same task and comparing results. Let each group make a graph with time and distance and plot in their results.

Pilot Level 2

Introducing lamp, touch sensor, and setting power levels

At this level you can work with output ports A and C, set the power level and use a touch sensor.

1. See building instructions. Follow step 4a on page 28—attaching a lamp and touch sensor.

2. If you are still in Pilot level 1 select Back and then select Pilot level 2.

3. The motor icon must be set to run clockwise (pointing right) at full speed (5)

4. The lamp should be set to the lowest power level (1)

5. The touch sensor must be set to port 2. Select the icon indicating that the sensor is pressed in. (See program illustrated below)

6. For this activity you will hold the touch sensor in your hand and press when you want the vehicle to stop.

7. Download and run the program

Lamp

To uch sensor

Test Your Skills—Vary power levels and change directions

Try making your own combinations by varying power levels for the lamp and selecting different directions for the motor.

Try the other touch sensor icon, which reacts when the touch sensor is released. This works, for example, when a vehicle drives over a raised surface where the touch sensor is pushed in—then reaches a lowered surface where the touch sensor is automatically released.

To uch sensor icons

Pilot Level 3

Programming with two steps, introducing light sensor and loops

At this level you can work with all three outputs and use the light sensor. Furthermore you now have two programming steps. You will need to use the red stop sign to block a port that is not in use.

1. See building instructions. Follow instructions for 4b on page 29—attaching a light sensor and a lamp.

2. Select Pilot level 3.

3. Program the following:

Light sensor

4. Download the program to the RCX.

5. Press the black view button on the RCX. Continue pressing until the arrow in the display points to port 1.

6. Hold the car in your hand. Point the sensor at a light surface (at a distance of about 5mm) and press Run. Then move around the room holding the sensor up to different surfaces. As soon as the light sensor records a darker surface (5% less light than previously) the motor will change direction. Since you have programmed it with a loop, it will do that continuously until you press the green button again.

Trouble Shooting – Light Sensor

If there is no signal (red light) on the light sensor when you connect it to the RCX this means that ports 1, 2 and 3 on the RCX do NOT automatically recognise the sensors. You must write a program where the light sensor is set to port 1. Download this to the RCX and run the program. Now port 1 knows that it is connected to a light sensor. You can turn the RCX off and on again and the light sensor will still work.

Port 1

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