Brickley's
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Andrew Carol has created a difference engine to calculate 2nd order polynomials to 3 digits OUT OF LEGO BRICKS! While this may not sound much, building such a beast out of plastic parts is a huge challenge, as a difference engine needs very accurate movements to work properly. Andrew is also investigating the possibility of expanding his engine to do 4 digits. Anyway, read more about it by clicking on the picture above.

I finally got around to upgrading WordPress to v2.0 Looks pretty much the same, but hopefully runs a bit better. Let me know if you find any problems.

Well, TLC have finally announced a new Mindstorms brick. It looks interesting – here are some points:

• no more infra-red, Bluetooth and USB instead.
• Totally different connectors – so all those old motors and sensors are incompatible.
  (Ed: It now appears LEGO Educational Division will be supplying some kind of converter, to allow connection of old style motors and sensors to NXT – see this article)
• No studs, which I don’t like – I would prefer to see both pin holes and studs
• Motors have RPM feedback – no word whether it’s hardware or firmware
• Motors and sensors are BIG. This worries me a little – I’d like a choice of at least a smaller motor
  (Ed: See comment above re: using old motors & sensors)

Anyway, I’ll certainly be getting one. I’m guessing lots of modding and 3rd party peripherals will happen, and TLC doesn’t seem to mind, according to this article. So hopefully it will be at least as hackable as the RCX.

And lastly, this article, which also has a short video demo by Søren Lund, director of Mindstorms. At least now we know Mindstorms is alive and well!