The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory

by Daniele Benedettelli
Released October 2013
Publisher(s): No Starch Press
ISBN: 9781593275334

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Book description

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory introduces the EV3 and covers the essentials of making robots with the kit. Inside you will find complete instructions for creating five robots.

Table of contents

  1. The Lego® Mindstorms® EV3 Laboratory: build, program, and experiment with five wicked cool robots!
  2. Dedication
  3. about the author
  4. about the technical reviewer
  5. about the comic designers
  6. acknowledgments
  7. introduction
    1. playing without a computer
    2. whom is this book for?
    3. what do I need to use this book?
    4. the EV3 software
    5. the structure of this book
    6. the companion website
    7. let’s start already!
  8. comic: the EV3L scientist’s apprentice
  9. 1. your LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set
    1. the studless way of building
      1. studless vs. studded: the structural differences
    2. naming the pieces
      1. beams
        1. straight beams
        2. angular beams
        3. frames
        4. thin beams and links
      2. connectors
        1. pins and axle pins
        2. axles and bushes
        3. axle, pin, and angle connectors
        4. cross blocks
      3. gears
      4. wheels, tires, and treads
      5. decorative pieces
      6. miscellaneous pieces
      7. electronic pieces
    3. the differences between the EV3 retail and education sets
    4. conclusion
  10. Comic: continued
  11. 2. building ROV3R
    1. base module
    2. ROV3R with wheels
    3. touch sensor bumper
    4. ROV3R with touch sensor bumper
    5. line-following module
    6. line-following ROV3R
    7. front IR sensor
    8. ROV3R with front IR sensor
    9. wall-following module
    10. wall-following ROV3R
      1. alternative: ROV3R with wall-following and line-following modules
    11. Dexter’s cleaning tool
    12. ROV3R with cleaning tool
      1. alternative #1: ROV3R with cleaning tool and touch sensor bumper
      2. alternative #2: wall-following ROV3R with cleaning tool
    13. ROV3R with treads
    14. secret project: grabber module
    15. conclusion
  12. Comic continued
  13. 3. programming
    1. the building blocks of any program
      1. sequences
      2. choices
      3. loops
    2. programming with the brick program app
    3. your first brick program
    4. the block palette
      1. the action blocks
        1. the move block
        2. the large motor block
        3. the medium motor block
        4. the display block
        5. the sound block
        6. the brick status light block
      2. the wait blocks
        1. the wait touch sensor block
        2. the wait reflected light sensor block
        3. the wait color sensor block
        4. the wait brick buttons block
        5. the wait motor rotation block
        6. the wait time block
        7. the wait infrared sensor block
        8. the wait infrared remote block
    5. the loop block
    6. conclusion
  14. 4. advanced programming with the brick program app
    1. ROV3R with touch sensor bumper
    2. making ROV3R drive along geometric paths
    3. making ROV3R follow lines
      1. using the brick program to follow lines
      2. improving the motion
    4. making ROV3R follow walls
      1. improving the motion
    5. conclusion
  15. Comic continued
  16. 5. EV3 programming
    1. EV3 software setup
    2. EV3 software overview
      1. the lobby
      2. the programming interface
      3. the hardware page
      4. the tools menu
      5. the programming palettes
        1. the action blocks
        2. The Flow control blocks
        3. the sensor blocks
        4. the data operations blocks
        5. the advanced blocks
        6. My Blocks
      6. project properties
    3. connecting the EV3 brick to your computer
    4. importing a brick program
      1. analyzing the imported brick program
      2. editing the imported brick program
      3. going for precision
        1. traveling a precise distance
        2. turning a precise number of degrees
    5. experimenting with action blocks
    6. controlling the program flow
      1. the switch block
    7. conclusion
  17. Comic continued
  18. 6. experimenting with the EV3 infrared components
    1. remote IR beacon
    2. using the remote IR beacon as a remote
    3. using sensor blocks and data wires
    4. EV3 software features for debugging programs
    5. displaying data nicely with the text block
    6. understanding data types
      1. data type conversion
    7. following the remote IR beacon
    8. using the basic operations of the math block
    9. conclusion
  19. Comic continued
  20. 7. the math behind the magic!
    1. dealing with measurement noise
    2. the math block in advanced mode
    3. the round block
    4. the compare block
      1. converting numeric values to logic values
      2. embedded compare blocks
    5. the constant block
    6. improving our wall-following program
    7. conclusion
  21. Comic continued
  22. 8. LEGO recipes
    1. the angular beams unveiled
    2. triangles vs. rectangles
    3. extending beams
    4. bracing
    5. cross blocks
    6. gears revisited
      1. getting gears to mesh together well
      2. assembling gears
      3. gear combinations
      4. 90-degree-coupled gears
      5. gear trains
      6. the worm gear
      7. motion transformation
    7. building ideas for the motors
      1. medium motor with front output #1
      2. medium motor with front output #2
      3. medium motor with single lateral output
      4. medium motor with double lateral output
      5. medium motor with single geared-down lateral output
      6. medium motor with gearbox
      7. medium motor with multiple outputs
      8. large motor with horizontal output
      9. large motor gearing options
    8. conclusion
  23. Comic continued
  24. 9. building WATCHGOOZ3
    1. how does WATCHGOOZ3 walk?
    2. right leg assembly
    3. left leg assembly
    4. main assembly
    5. left foot assembly
    6. right foot assembly
    7. main assembly
    8. back bracket assembly
    9. front bracket assembly
    10. main assembly
    11. neck assembly
    12. main assembly
  25. Comic continued
  26. 10. programming WATCHGOOZ3
    1. the brick program for WATCHGOOZ3
      1. the program
      2. how it works
      3. running and troubleshooting the robot
    2. importing and editing the program in the EV3 software
      1. making a backup
      2. modifying the program
    3. creating My Blocks with the My Block Builder tool
      1. creating My Blocks with inputs and outputs
      2. automatically adding inputs and outputs to My Blocks
      3. additional configuration of a My Block
    4. creating an advanced program
      1. the ResetBody My Block
      2. creating the advanced My Block for walking
      3. the final program for WATCHGOOZ3
    5. the logic operations block
    6. the timer block
    7. conclusion
  27. Comic continued
  28. 11. building the SUP3R CAR
    1. main assembly
    2. hood assembly
    3. main assembly
    4. car roof assembly
    5. main assembly
    6. steering assembly
    7. main assembly
    8. building the R3MOTE
    9. conclusion
  29. Comic continued
  30. 12. programming the SUP3R CAR
    1. electronic vs. mechanical differentials
    2. using variables
    3. using arrays
      1. using the variable block with numeric and logic arrays
      2. using the array operations block
    4. using the switch block with multiple cases
    5. running parallel sequences (multitasking)
    6. building the My Blocks
      1. the ResetSteer My Block
      2. the Steer My Block
      3. the Drive My Block
      4. the ReadRemote2 My Block
    7. programming the car to drive around
    8. programming the car for remote control
    9. using arrays to clean up the Read Remote My Block
    10. programming the car to follow the beacon
      1. the Sign My Block
      2. the Saturation My Block
      3. the ReadBeacon My Block
      4. the range block
      5. the Followbeacon program
    11. adding a siren effect to the SUP3R CAR
      1. the loop interrupt block
      2. the stop program block
    12. conclusion
  31. Comic continued
  32. 13. building the SENTIN3L
    1. main assembly
    2. right leg assembly
    3. main assembly
    4. left leg assembly
    5. main assembly
    6. chest assembly
    7. main assembly
    8. left arm assembly
    9. right arm assembly
    10. main assembly
    11. back shield assembly
    12. back shield middle subassembly
    13. continuing the back shield assembly
    14. head subassembly
    15. completing the back shield assembly
    16. main assembly
    17. building the COLOR CUB3
    18. conclusion
  33. Comic continued
  34. 14. programming the SENTIN3L
    1. the file access block
      1. creating and deleting a file and writing data
      2. reading data from a file
      3. detecting the end of a file
    2. the random block
    3. building the My Blocks
      1. the ResetLegs My Block
      2. the WalkFWD My Block
      3. the Laser My Block
      4. the Turn My Block
      5. the PowerDownFX My Block
      6. the WaitButton My Block
      7. the SayColor My Block
      8. the ExeCode My Block
      9. the MakeProgram My Block
      10. the RunProgram My Block
      11. the MakePrgFile My Block
      12. the ParseFile My Block
      13. the RunPrgFile My Block
    4. programming the SENTIN3L to patrol
    5. color-programming the SENTIN3L at runtime
    6. making permanent runtime color programs
    7. conclusion
  35. Comic continued
  36. 15. building the T-R3X
    1. main assembly
    2. legs frame assembly
    3. main assembly
    4. left leg
    5. right leg assembly
    6. main assembly
    7. EV3 brick assembly
    8. main assembly
    9. head and torso assembly
    10. main assembly
    11. conclusion
  37. Comic continued
  38. 16. programming the T-R3X
    1. building the My Blocks for the Wander program
      1. the Reset My Block
      2. the MoveAbsolute and MoveAbsolute2 My Blocks
      3. the Step My Block
      4. the Roar My Block
      5. the Chew My Block
      6. the Look My Block
      7. the Right My Block
      8. the Left My Block
      9. the TurnUntil My Block
      10. programming the T-R3X to wander
      11. designing the behavior of the T-R3X
      12. Digging Deeper: Behavior Modeling Using State Machines
    2. implementing a state machine
      1. general structure
      2. starting state
      3. state variable
      4. transitions
      5. sensor events
      6. timer events
      7. timer-filtered events
      8. actions
      9. Digging Deeper: Computing Complex Logic Operations Using the Math Block
    3. making the My Blocks for the final program
      1. the Turn My Block
      2. the ReadBeacon My Block
      3. the INIT My Block
      4. the IDLE My Block
      5. the HUNGRY My Block
      6. the SEEK My Block
      7. the CHASE My Block
    4. programming the T-R3X’s behavior
    5. conclusion
  39. Comic continued
  40. A. the EV3 31313 set bill of materials
  41. B. differences between the education set and retail set
    1. electronic devices
    2. the EV3 software
    3. turning the retail set into the education core set
    4. turning the education core set into the retail set
    5. turning the education expansion set into the retail set
  42. Comic end
  43. Index
  44. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Laboratory
  • Author(s): Daniele Benedettelli
  • Release date: October 2013
  • Publisher(s): No Starch Press
  • ISBN: 9781593275334