A new MDP: John Hansen

Another MDP profile has been added to the Lego Mindstorms website. This time it is software engineer John Hansen.

You most likely know John Hansen for his work with BricxCC. A few years ago John took over lead development for the RcxCC project for the popular coding language Not Quite C or NQC for short. He rewrote the code and renamed the project BricxCC and in the process added support for all of Lego's programmable bricks. He also expanded the program's supported languages to include Mindscript, NQC, pbForth, BrickOS, and leJOS. Now even more recently John has taken over the project of developing the NQC language formerly maintained by Dave Baum.

John's newest project is working on the NeXT Byte Codes language. NBC is the first ever text based programming language for the Mindstorms NXT system. The advantages of using text based coding is that the programs can be 10 times smaller and 10 times faster. At this time NBC supports Win32, Mac, and Linux operating systems. The compiler is based on a command line interface which makes it compatible with the BricxCC program.

John has also released a handful of utilities for the NXT system.

• John Hansen's MDP Page
• Not Quite C
• BricxCC
• NeXT Byte Codes

Images from LEGO and are used under fair use terms.

Styling a New Look!

Hey guys I hope you like the new blogger template I have been working this past week. It should make things alot more organized and easier to read! A few little updates here and there... Hope you like it!

-Jacool

Brickfest 2006 is Underway!

Ladies and Gentlemen it is that time of year again! Today marks the official start of Brickfest 2006! For the next three days thousands of LEGO enthusiasts will converge on Sheraton Premiere Ballroom located in Washington DC. Models ranging from huge 10+ foot tall skyscrapers to Mindstorms NXT robots will be on display. Also on the menu for Brickfest 2006 is the highlight of the Mindstorms NXT system.

During the festival there will be four different Mindstorms NXT Contests. The first contest is sponsored by the First Lego League or FLL for short. In this contest adult Mindstorms enthusiasts are challenged to complete the same challenges that students faced in the FLL Ocean Odyssey contest.

Second is the Great Ball Gathering contest. In this competition approximately 1,000 minuture lego soccer balls along with 50 lego basketballs and 10 1.5" plastic balls will be spread on a 4x6 playing surface. The objective is simple, collect as many balls as you can to outscore your oponnent!

Third is the Tug O' War contest. Two robots start 18" inches from the centerline connected by a rope. Once the timer is started your robot has 60 seconds to either pull your oponnent across the centerline. If neither robot crosses the centerline, the robot that is furthest from the centerline will be announced the winner.

Finally is fan favorite, the sumo competition. In this bout two robots will battle to push their opponent out. A winner is decided by either pushing your opponent out of the 48" diameter arena or by incapacitating your oponnent.

Brickfest 2006 is looking like an excellent event and and even better platform for launching the Lego Mindstorms NXT system! If you are in the area be sure to check it out!

Official Brickfest 2006 Website
Brickfest Schedule [PDF]

Lego Mindstorms NXT Wiki

The Lego Mindstorms NXT Wiki at http://www.nxt-mindstorms.com needs some help! A wiki is really only as good as it's contributors!

The problem with the Mindstorms community is that the information is spread about with bits and pieces everywhere. Each person has their own specialty or area knowledge that they have put somewhere on the web. This Mindstorms NXT Wiki is the perfect place for that knowledge to come together in one area.

So fellow Mindstormers, for the good of the community, I strongly encourage you to head over and contribute your knowledge to the Mindstorms NXT Wiki!

Soren Lund and NXT featured on Forbes

In a recent article featured on Forbes entitled "The Robots are Coming!" the Lego Mindstorms NXT Robotics system was featured as one of the 7 amazing robots that will change your life. Also in this article, Lego Mindstorms Director Soren Lund describes how the Mindstorms NXT system is, "helping bring what was once considered esoteric engineering into the hands of enthusiasts everywhere in the world."

Check out the story at Forbes: The Robots are Coming