Mindstorms 3.0

[doc222]

300$ will not even be close to what that set would cost. LOTS more. why? Look at the newest sets coming out soon like this summer (I am waiting on the UNImog <this will be the flagship set this year. It will be I hear 250$? thats 50 more than last years trackhoe the flagship of last year).

I would like to see a few new NxT servos, more in design like PF but with rotation sensors, a very small servo something smaller than our med PF. I do not think we will see more ports, at least not many, reason: if you sell a set with say 6 motor ports the amp dram is going to be very high if all 6 motors are runnig at peak load. But we could over come this withwhat i want too see in better NXT is seperate the batteries from the NXT. why? well to put in 6 motor ports and sy 6 sensor the brick would get to big, remove the battreyies and now it can hold all these ports and be smaller. Now the battery can be a Lipo that could be sourced from anywhere and just plug in. since we are cahnging stuff they would want to look at the power supply voltage since most all lipo cells are 3.6v to be able to use a 3 cell we need a max voltage at the NXT to be 12v not 10.5. now we can use real power batteries and they are very light and we could bet 9v to these mots not the weak 7.2 them get most the time.

Over all i would like to see more senors ports since we can run motors from these i wish i could convert my motor ports to sensor! lol

ok now slap me i must be sleeping still and this is just a dream.

[bungeshea]

The problem with thinking up ideas is that you have to think of the price. Don't take me wrong, those are AWESOME spec's! But, with all of that + pieces, I would say that it might cost $300+! but, that's just a big stab in the dark.
jojoguy10

Actually, my NXT 2.0 cost $450.00

AUD

[h-g-t]

I like the idea of having separate battery packs, a small, rechargeable low voltage one attached to the NXT to just power the electronics and another variety of multi-voltage packs (4.5, 6 & 9v?)to power the motors/ external devices. This would make it easier to build the brick into models and be able to recharge it in-situ. Having one or two sizes would let you use a pack appropriate to the size of the robot. I have a 12v portable supply which uses regulators to provide from 3v up to the full 12v so it is not impossible.

One thing I would like to see is an interface for a 4-line lcd screen, either in the brick or as an add-on. These are available for less than £10 but I find the various articles about how to connect them up confusing. I use my NXT outdoors and it can be very difficult to read the standard screen. This could be attached when setting up the brick then removed before using it. Either that or add a backlight to the existing screen and add the options for large text as part of the standard firmware.

Re the cost of sets, I have bought 3 complete version 1.0 sets through ebay, lowest price was £80 and highest £110, all including p&p. Used but complete and in excellent condition. Getting one that way then buying the extras needed to bring it up to version 2 inventory is fairly cost-effective.

[h-g-t]

Now that the 3rd party sensors are so small, I wonder if Lego will consider moving over to SATA cables/ connectors.

Take up less space and have extra pins for data.

[dimasterooo]

Now that the 3rd party sensors are so small, I wonder if Lego will consider moving over to SATA cables/ connectors.

Personally, I don't think they will because kids might plug other things into it and break either their NXT or whatever they're plugging into it (or themselves). But it'd be quite nice all the same I guess.

[h-g-t]

Would be great if you could plug a small laptop drive in though - imagine the programs you could write with that much space for a swap file!

[timpattinson]

or just a 512mb SD card would be big enough for just about anything you could do on an NXT

[dimasterooo]

A VGI output would be pretty darn cool too Projectors, monitors, world domination... the possibilities would be endless!

[h-g-t]

There was a blog entry back in 2008 where someone was convinced that Lego were going to provide a memory extension through the USB bus but I never heard anything more about it. People more knowledgeable than me (ie anyone) seem to think that is not possible with the present hardware.

[mattallen37]

A VGI output would be pretty **** cool too Projectors, monitors, world domination... the possibilities would be endless!

Sure would be cool. Slightly OT, but check out this project.