Hmm where to start...
I am guessing that you bought the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 set from Amazon (LEGO set #8547). This is the same thing you would find at a LEGO retail store or at lego.com. It is perfectly usable for FLL use.
There is no Mindstorms set sold by FLL, but most teams I’ve run into have ordered two sets from LEGO Education: The base robot set and an add-on set. The base set is roughly comparable to the retail set you have with a couple of differences. The add-on set simply provides a lot more useful parts to build with. Most teams find that the basic set doesn’t have enough parts to build the robots they want to build or to build all the attachments. Many things can be built with basic bricks the kids may have at home (be careful they are LEGO-brand bricks!) but most kids don’t have many of the specialized Technic parts.
The robot is the same, and with one exception the sensors are the same. The main differences between the retail and the education versions are these:
a.. Retail has a color/light sensor, education has a light sensor (both are legal)
b.. The retail set comes with the software, the education set does not (bought separately)
c.. The education set comes with a rechargeable battery pack, the education set does not (the robot can use batteries or the battery pack)
d.. The retail set has more curved fairing parts used to make the cool android-looking robot on the box, the education set has more generically useful parts
So don’t sweat that you bought the retail version, but you might want to look into augmenting your parts set down the road. The LEGO Education sets are great and www.bricklink.com is a useful way to buy specific parts from users all around the world (like e-Bay without the bidding).
Good luck!
From: Rajesh Shah
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 8:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Books ?
I had another rookie team question. We bought the NXT kit from Amazon this summer.
What is difference between this Kit and NXT kit supplied by FLL. Do we need to buy more parts ?
On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 7:05 AM, Rajesh Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
We are not competing in this years competition. As you said, we are mostly getting ready for next year.
Yes,we do plan to visit this years event.
Appreciate your inputs.
Rajesh
On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 10:11 PM, B Bergenstock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Do you mean that you just started your team and are registered for a local tournament? Because competition is just 2 to 3 weeks away, and that's a pretty tall order. But good luck to you and your team.
If it were me and I had just started, I would not enter into this year's competition, but hold an after school program starting in January every other week, teaching them programming and then enter next fall's tournament. Definitely go to this year's event, even as a spectator, because being at the competition teaches you a lot.
As for books to teach lego to your team,. I highly recommend Educate NXT
http://www.educatenxt.com/
It's the best value for your money and time. Carnegie Mellon also has an excellent series called Robotic Engineering. They started a free online class equivalent but I can't seem to find that link right now; Maybe someone else has that link.
Regards,
Brandy
.
On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Rajesh Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
We are new FLL team recently registered with parents as coach and mentor. We
are all new to LEGO Mindstroms NXT Constructions and Programming.
I was a thinking a good book will be a nice way to get a jump start for our team.
I see a bunch of books available in Amazon. Any suggestion ?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?
ie=UTF8&keywords=LEGO%20MINDSTORMS%20NXT&tag=nxtprogramsco-
20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325#/ref=nb_sb_noss?
url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-
keywords=LEGO+MINDSTORMS+NXT&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3ALEGO+MINDST
ORMS+NXT
Thanks for your help.
Rajesh Shah
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