Book Image

Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor

By : Aaron Maurer
Book Image

Smart Robotics with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor

By: Aaron Maurer

Overview of this book

LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor is the latest addition to the LEGO MINDSTORMS theme. It features unique designs that you can use to build robots, and also enable you to perform activities using the robot inventor application. You'll begin by exploring the history of LEGO MINDSTORMS, and then delve into various elements of the Inventor kit. Moving on, you'll start working on different projects which will prepare you to build a variety of smart robots. The first robotic project involves designing a claw to grab objects, and helps you to explore how a smart robot is used in everyday life and in industry. The second project revolves around building a working guitar that can be played and modified to meet the needs of the user. As you advance, you'll explore the concept of biomimicry as you discover how to build a scorpion robot. In addition to this, you'll also work on a classic robotic challenge by building a sumobot. Throughout the book, you'll come across a variety of projects that will provide you with hands-on experience in building creative robots, such as building a Dragster, Egg Decorator, and Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants. By the end of this LEGO book, you'll have got to grips with the concepts behind building a robot, and also found creative ways to integrate them using the application based on your creative insights and ideas.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Playing the guitar

The beauty of Bluetooth is that you can continuously tinker with your code while you play your guitar and you do not need to be tethered to the computer. The music comes from the computer, so make sure your audio is turned up.

While playing the guitar, you can adjust how the music plays. I tried several options to find what I liked and share them with you here:

  • Tweak your code so that the sensor plays the color it sees right away. The downside is that the guitar plays every note if you need to skip a color.
  • Instead of using the right-button press to play a note, I used the distance sensor to activate the notes. I liked this at first, but I am too clumsy and kept triggering the sensor when I did not mean to. The distance sensor is shown here:

Figure 4.102 – Using the distance sensor to trigger sound

  • I used the tap feature of the Intelligent Hub when it is tapped, the note would play. Again, I found a button press...