“Lego Mindstorms robots have found their way into a lot of
classrooms, from primary schools to universities. There are several
reasons for the popularity of Lego robots as teaching tools. Most
importantly, Lego robots are fun. Secondly, the robot kits are very
flexible, in terms of building and programming. There are
programming environments readily available for any level of
programmer. Finally, Lego robots are surprisingly inexpensive.”
“Building and programming Lego robots is fun. While you’re
having fun, you can learn about mechanical design and computer
programming. Lego robots scurrying around in a public space are
sure to attract attention, as John Lorenz found out at Western
Washington University (WWU). “The class put on a robotics expo in
Red Square, the center of the WWU campus,” he said. “We showed off
all our interesting projects, and I was personally surprised at the
size of the crowd we gathered….”
“legOS is an operating system written by Markus Noga. It is
built using the GNU cross compiler. It’s possible to work with
legOS on Windows, but Linux users will be most comfortable with
it. It opens up the whole power of the RCX to your programs
and is proportionally harder to use than NQC.”