tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22763156416546035192011-08-05T00:33:11.323-07:00We describe the experiences of Google engineers teaching elementary-school kids engineering concepts using LEGO robotics. We hope this will be useful for anyone else trying to do this.Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-45219809216415603722010-05-18T22:54:00.000-07:002010-05-18T22:57:40.053-07:00

If you use the installer on the CD, the installation will appear to succeed, but you'll end up with no applications in the MINDSTORMS NXT folder. LEGO has a patch for this which works quite well. It works by copying the installation DVD to your computer and patching up the installer.

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-14118245173941225092010-05-18T22:49:00.000-07:002010-05-20T22:25:57.506-07:00

I don't have any information about what this firmware 1.29 changes, and haven't yet tried it myself. Does anyone else have any information on this?Update: The major benefit is that it frees up about 10K of flash.

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-1045924081460148342009-10-06T22:23:00.000-07:002009-10-07T08:53:30.543-07:00

One of our engineers made up these fine posters (PDF, 3 pages, 3.8 MB) that give names for all of the parts in the LEGO Education 9797 NXT set. They're formatted for 8.5 x 11" paper, but can be scaled up - we printed up poster-sized versions and they look really nice. (The image to the right is just a thumbnail. Click the link to download the PDF.)

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-77758421009031998462009-10-05T20:46:00.000-07:002009-10-06T22:03:53.017-07:00

We spent the last two weeks working on gears - showing the students how gears work, that they speed up or slow down, and that they let you trade off speed for torque (which we just called "power" - apologies to hard science majors). We then tried to get them to add gearing to NXT motors. As with the previous activities, we tried to let them figure out how to do it. I don't like to use the word

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-36527476212683984862009-09-27T21:57:00.001-07:002009-10-06T21:12:21.457-07:00

The NXT 2.0 software includes new firmware (see previous post) that lets you create simple programs directly on your NXT brick - no computer required. I've prepared an exhaustive tutorial for your enjoyment.

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-81630641354519433302009-09-21T11:19:00.000-07:002010-02-08T15:37:36.128-08:00

Apologies if this post sounds like an advertisement for LEGO products...To get set up for the LEGO Engineering program, the school bought the LEGO Education NXT kits - the standard 9797 set. We also bought a site license for the NXT Software 2.0, which (new in 2.0) includes "data logging" capabilities. That means that you can take measurements (using any of the sensors) over a period of time

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-63701003482695006352009-09-18T19:39:00.000-07:002009-09-19T08:45:36.662-07:00

Today was the first day of the second week, which was "build a sturdy car". We showed them the sample car from the curriculum, which was - intentionally - pretty lame, but the net result was that most of the kids just completely froze on the problem. After all, look at them: Most of the obvious ways have bits getting in the way or end up with the wheels pointing the wrong direction. This was my

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-4269355374447093452009-09-16T06:12:00.000-07:002009-10-06T21:14:15.942-07:00

You remember parents' night at school, right? Parents get to go to your classrooms, sit in your desks, listen to your teacher talk about what you'll be doing all year. The Lego Engineering classroom on Wednesday night was a bit different....Children who had temporarily escaped their parents were clustered around desks taking apart and putting together parts of the partially-assembled cars from

RARnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-68940953980884130082009-09-12T17:38:00.000-07:002009-09-26T15:11:48.799-07:00

[Originally posted by Joe]Kids love wheels. Most of the kids started on the chair exercise by figuring out how to attach wheels to a flat surface. I'm not sure why. I tried to point out that the goal of the project was to build a chair, and that the wheels could come later.I also note that design sessions at Google often start with the wheels, even though the goal is a chair!The handouts we had

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-1513174915937364082009-09-09T19:25:00.000-07:002009-09-26T15:10:46.755-07:00

The first activity was "A Chair for Mr. Bear", where the kids had to build a chair out of LEGO elements that would hold a small stuffed bear and meet a couple of requirements: sturdy enough to survive a drop to the floor and stable enough to not fall over if you gave it a little shove. The main purpose is to introduce the kids to the parts they'll be using and to teach them a bit about how to

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-15542182035227686082009-09-09T19:00:00.000-07:002009-10-06T21:14:54.156-07:00

The first week's activity starts with a gentle introduction to the engineering process, which the Tufts curriculum describes as consisting of 8 parts:Identify the Need/ProblemResearch the Need/ProblemDevelop Possible Solution(s)Select the Best Possible Solution(s)Construct a PrototypeTest and Evaluate the Solution(s)Communicate the Solution(s)RedesignCurrent events provided us with an excellent

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276315641654603519.post-12945641643589000202009-09-08T19:37:00.000-07:002009-09-26T15:08:56.987-07:00

Google engineers teaching fifth-grader students using LEGO toys?Ever wonder what Google engineers do for their 20% projects? Well, this one isn't typical...Back in December of 2008, we invited some folks from Tufts University's Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) to talk about "LEGO Engineering, from Kindergarten to Graduate School" (video). They described how LEGO building

Glenn Trewitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11938573310599944069noreply@blogger.com0