Temperature Sensor: Where's the block in NXT-G?

[tomaldis]

Hi all,

OK, so I'm interested in getting the LEGO digital Temperature Sensor for the NXT, (because my girlfriend wants me to build her a coffee-making robot), but I'm a little concerned that there's no 'block' in the NXT-G program that represents it. I followed a thread on the nxtstep forums in which this question was apparently addressed, but the link (http://forums.nxtasy.org/index.php?showtopic=4807) which the poster gave is no longer valid (I guess since the NXTasy site has been updated/rejigged/morphed into MINDBOARDS). So I thought I'd ask.

Apologies if this has already been posted as a topic - I did a quick search but couldn't find anything similar. Apologies also if this is in the wrong section - could not decide if it was a hardware, software or robot building problem. Anyway, I suppose it's a pretty basic problem, given the depth of some of the discussions on this forum, but an answer from someone who knows would be great.

Would it perhaps involve making my own custom block?

[h-g-t]

Team Hassenplug site has a block here - never tried it so I don't know how (or even if) it works

http://www.teamhassenplug.org/NXT/NXTGAdditions.html

There is also a site here with a home-made sensor (no block)

http://www.stormyprods.com/lego/

The 'Extreme NXT/ book also has details of a home-made sensor.

[timpattinson]

I believe it is only available in the Education version of NXT-G.
I may be wrong, and someone may want to correct me, but i think NXC is your best option, unless you are skilled with LabView.
I know the Firmware supports it, but not NXT-G.
I haven't tried the blocks mentioned above, but give them a try first
-tim

[tomaldis]

Thanks for the great and speedy responses. The Hassenplug site looks like just the ticket.

Re: the education version of NXT-G, I have heard the same. Does anyone know if there is enough extra stuff in the education version to warrant the £40-50 asking price?

As for NXC, I want to get into that side of things v. much, but currently lack the skills (only just started learning programming [C++, Python, GameMaker Language, etc]). And my girlfriend wants the CoffeeBot NOW

Will perhaps post back to confirm that Brian Davis' Temperature 'MyBlock' works (though I'm sure it does) once the Temp. sensor itself arrives.

Thanks again.

[h-g-t]

Check ebay - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lego-Temperature- ... 43a7574640

[nxtreme]

It appears that you already found TheNXTStep, but I'll post this link just in case you hadn't seen it before. Pretty much just a redirect to the Team Hassenplug website, so not much there. http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2010/02/ ... ng-it.html

Re: the education version of NXT-G, I have heard the same. Does anyone know if there is enough extra stuff in the education version to warrant the £40-50 asking price?

Not really. There are some differences here and there, but the retail version has almost everything the education version has and what it doesn't have can usually be done with free tools available online. Definitely not worth the extra money. You may find that NXT-G doesn't really do everything you want in a couple months. For me it works just fine, but then again, I'm not programming neural networks or stuff like that . I just really don't need NXC yet, even though I've owned an NXT set since mid-2008.

[timpattinson]

the main differences betwwen the educationadn retail versions of nxt~g are the robot 'tutoials' in the 'Robot Academy', there are better ones in the education version. Also,the color sensor is not supported and, as you said, there is a temperature sensor block. Don't waste money on the edu version.
ps. sorry for my bad formatting, i'm writing this on a Ipad-fake-home-phone-tablet.
-tim

[tomaldis]

Thanks for the link, nxtreme. It's the Hassenplug page's Temperature Sensor MyBlock by Brian Davis that I've been checking out.

Re: the NXT-G Retail version workaround, it seems quite complicated, because I don't really know or understand what I2C is: even after reading a Wiki about it, my understanding of it is vague at best. The thing I like about the NXT-G environment is the visual nature of it and its simplicity - but this MyBlock solution seems tricky, to a beginner's eyes.

I've only had the Mindstorms kit a month-ish, and figured I'd be noodling about in NXT-G for a while yet. Though perhaps I should just go headlong into text-based programming, with no fear? Anyone recommend a really good site to learn the basics?

Is there any Python-based NXT software?

Anyway, the idea of having a single block to rule them all, temperature sensor-wise, still seems very tempting, despite the high price tag of the Education software. Let's face it, this whole Lego robot building thing is just pretty expensive, whichever way you try and justify it.

[bungeshea]

Anyway, the idea of having a single block to rule them all, temperature sensor-wise, still seems very tempting, despite the high price tag of the Education software.

I could give you a copy of NXT-G Edu 2.1, but I guess that would be illegal.

[h-g-t]

Found instructions on how to use the Lego temp sensor - presumably Brian Davis's block must work in much the same way.

http://www.wxl359.com/mrlewis/classes/t ... Sensor.htm

I wouldn't buy an Education set just to get a specific part - you can pick up the bits you need much cheaper on ebay.