New to mindstorms!!

[ctay]

Hey guys, I am thinking about buying mindstorms and also some java mindstorm books. I was wondering if this is a good way to get into basic robotics? I want to teach myself how to program robots (simple to begin with of course). I am majoring in mechanical or computer engineering, but I am only taking the very basic courses at a community college at the moment. I want to know if mindstorms is a good way to teach myself while having fun? Because I do not want to buy it just to have fun, I want to also learn from it. I absolutely love building stuff!

[timpattinson]

Yes i do believe you are in the right place.
Many universities use Mindstorms in their robotics courses, and it is really fun once you get the hang of the NXT system.
If you want to use Java to program the NXT, check out the LeJOS books page (http://lejos.sourceforge.net/books.php)
-Tim
PS. Just because LEGO markets Mindstorms to 12-year old kids doesn't mean at all it is limited to the things a 12 year-old would try

[ctay]

Thank Tim! I'm going to order mine right now!

[h-g-t]

Well, look on ebay first to get a bargain. Apart from getting bits'n'pieces, I have bought complete kits at between £110 & £85 including p&p.

[nxt-ai]

I would personally recommend NXC/NBC for a beginner as it can run on original firmware and is cross-platform as well. Also learning something like C will still help you learn Java later on if you want to and C as well. C is probably the most popular programming language to date so learning a variant would be well worth your time.

It's in fact what started me learning C.