Robotics

NXT Brick

The electronic component that controls the operation of the robot by following instructions contained in a stored program.

Block (programming)

A block is the basic unit of programming in the NXT programming Software. Blocks perform their operations in order along the Sequence Beam.

Gear Train

A connected source of rotating gears

Sensor

A device that detects some important physical quality or quantity about the surrounding environment, and conveys the information to the robot in electronic form

Idler Gear

A gear between the driver and follower that is used to change the driver and follower gears to the rotate in the same direction.

Robot

A machine that is able to interact with and respond to its environment. characterized by three central capabilities: the ability to Sense, the ability to Plan, and the ability to Act.

TaskBot

A versatile all-purpose robot designed for the Robotics Engineering activities.

Comment

A written note in the program that explains something about that portion of the program.

Touch Sensor

An NXT sensor that detects physical contact (touch) and reports back to the NXT whether its contact area is being pushed in or not.

Sound Sensor

An NXT sensor that detects sound waves and reports the amount of sound back to the NXT.

Light Sensor

An NXT sensor that detects the presence of certain wavelengths of light and reports the intensity of light back to the NXT

Behaviors

Anything a robot "does," including both observable actions (e.g. move forward for 10 cm) and internal actions (e.g. add 1 to a variable in the program).

Driver Gear

Drives or turns the follower "driven" gear; it is usually connected to a power source such as a motor.

Follower Gear

Gear that gets driven by the driver gear.

Gears

Gears are wheels with teeth. Gears mesh together and make things turn. Gears are used to transfer motion or power from one moving part to another.

Code

General term for any command or group of commands in a program. In the NXT Programming Software, this is one or more blocks.

Gearing Up

If the driver gear has more teeth than the follower gear, the follower gear turns more quickly than the driver which means the gear train is gearing up resulting in more speed and less torque.

Gearing Down

If the follower gear has more teeth than the driver gear, the driver gear turns more slowly than the follower which means the gear train in gearing down resulting in less speed and more torque.

Ports

The designated areas for connecting sensors and/or motors to the NXT.

Interactive Servo Motor

The primary source of physical motion in the Mindstorms NXT system.

Robot Educator Model (REM)

The small mobile robot base used in the Robot Educator. This robot is able to perform some but not all of the tasks in the Robotics Engineering activities.

Firmware

The special program pre-loaded on the NXT that tells it how to run other programs

Engineering

The study and application of science, mathematics, and technology to find solutions to real-world problems.

Sense-Plan-Act

The three characteristic capabilities that define a robot

Gear Ratio

Number of teeth in follower or "driven" gear/ Number of teeth in driver

LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Programming Software

Software used for programming the NXT robot.