LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit available for pre-order April 1st

Rabid LEGO Mindstorms fans finally have a date to circle on their calendars for hitting the company's website and breaking out their credit cards -- April 1st has been announced as the start of pre-orders for the highly-anticipated new NXT robotics set. We first spotted the revamped kit, which had extensive design-phase input from select members of the Mindstorms community, back at CES, where we managed to capture a video of one of the many possible creations doing its thing. As you'll recall from our past coverage, NXT bots use non-traditional stud-less LEGOs, Bluetooth-enabled 32-bit controllers, and three precision servo motors for a much more powerful and flexible tool set than previous offerings. Despite their steep price compared to regular packages, LEGO obviously expects NXT kits to develop a devoted following similar to their predecessors -- buyers are limited to five of the $250 sets during the initial pre-order.

[Thanks, Tom W.]

[Chris @ Mar 26th 2006 1:42PM]

Doesn't April 1st seem a bit strange for a release date... and isn't that also the date when Apple are "supposed" to be announcing the iPod Video? Very interesting me thinks

[Silverton Mountain @ Mar 26th 2006 1:45PM]

That is awesome!! I wish they would make a version with tracks. Silverton Mountain could use a couple dozen of these things to replace their guides.

[Captain Obvious @ Mar 26th 2006 1:55PM]

That thing totally looks like a scorpion.

[Simon @ Mar 26th 2006 1:57PM]

Just five sets ... damn ... there goes my plan of world domination with my army of NXT robots ...

I just hope you don't have to stick to the drag'n'drop interface ...

[pbj @ Mar 26th 2006 2:41PM]

i had an original RCX brick, and as i recall, the standard programming interface and language was horribly dumbed down... no variables.
last semester, for my freshman engineering class, we used RCX 2.0 and the NQC programming environment, which was ridiculously buggy. It would crash at the slightest provocation, often taking your code with it. We also had to use hacks to get around the 3 sensor limit. Although I love the idea of the lego + robot idea, I think the best solution would be an officially supported, usable programming interface, and some way to get more sensors on there.
then, it'll rock!

[Shumway @ Mar 26th 2006 3:14PM]

That looks super sweet! Altho the programming interface may be dummed down, I always thought it was fun anyways (of course, I'm not a programmer)

[Tom @ Mar 26th 2006 3:19PM]

CHRIS: What has a lego toy got any thing to do with apple why is it always with damn apple and any thing, if my cat dies on april 1st it doest mean its cos steve jobs killed it for a press release, and its not 'interesting' ffs ppl!

[mike @ Mar 26th 2006 3:27PM]

"if my cat dies on april 1st it doest mean its cos steve jobs killed it for a press release"

... yes but i would not be suprised if he did !

[crunchinjelly @ Mar 26th 2006 3:43PM]

I know there will be a lot of people thinking 'LEGO?! WTF?!' etc., but this is actually a really big release for them.

Just about every college and university over here in the UK uses the previous Mindstorms bricks to some degree. In fact, I would go so far as to say they're used massively.

As has been mentioned previously, the initial user interface is rather simplistic, but once you delve into using NQC you can do some really amazing stuff with them.

These will sell amazingly well.

[JCG @ Mar 26th 2006 3:43PM]

#6, I think he's talking about april fools day (that's what it called right?).

[Kefs @ Mar 26th 2006 4:02PM]

If you have no idea what this is, or how big of a release this is for Lego, check out this WIRED Jan06 cover story on this amazing second version of the NXT kit.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,69946-0.html

In short, the software and hardware were designed and built (without being paid $) by four brilliant NXT community developers. It will be quite the robotic building kit.

[Howie @ Mar 26th 2006 4:16PM]

Not long then until LEGO launches a five piece version with all the parts ready molded and formed. This is one way of making LEGO as fun as it used to be.

[Richard @ Mar 26th 2006 5:28PM]

Kind of reminds me of that Britney Spears sculpture.

[chop. @ Mar 26th 2006 5:50PM]

with the mindstorms kits, the most versatile part of them was being able to control them via your computer.
you can program it to do just about anything in C++ or MatLab for example and control the robot from there.

i hope they keep that going with this version, however it might take some time after the release.

looking forward to it!!!

[rex @ Mar 26th 2006 6:21PM]

so um i was at their site...and i'm wondering...does that robot include that scorpion thing and that hand claw and that robot?...or is it just one scorpion for 250$ or the whole scorpion, claw, robot, for 250$....if it's all then i'm so gonna buy it. looks cool!

[Googleplexer @ Mar 26th 2006 9:06PM]

Rex, it does come with all three. It is a LEGO kit. You can't build all three at once, but you can build one, take it apart, and build another.

I thought that was obvious, but if you have never used LEGOs, I guess it isn't.

[mike @ Mar 27th 2006 9:28AM]

#5

take a look at BrickOS (used to be LegOS, but they had to change their name)

it is an OS written in C tha lets you program the RCX in C/C++. It is a pretty nice OS considering what you are dealing with and is a great to study and modify (it is open source).

There is also a similar OS written in Java called leJOS...

[Mark Mason @ Jul 16th 2006 8:50PM]

Built the Quick Start robot to test the Bluetooth connectivity. Instead of using the "NXT Window" & selecting the "Scan" and "Connect" buttons, just go directly to the "Download and Run button". This brings up a window that reports" Initializing... Compiling... Downloading... At that point a connection is established and my program can be downloaded. My Kensington Bluetooth USB Adapter provides the necesssary Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, and has a 65-foot range. Currently looking for a camera to provide vision when the robot is in another room. Great fun!

[tubetube @ Aug 21st 2006 3:33AM]

Does BrickOs run on the NXT set? Or only on the original Mindstorms?

[nxt warrior @ Jan 25th 2008 6:51PM]

do you have the steps to build this and the steps how to program this if you do please give them to me.

[nxt warrior @ Jan 29th 2008 2:57PM]

i do mean the steps to build and program the build in the picture by the way it cool