Subject:
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Re: ROBOLAB purchase?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.au
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Date:
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Thu, 30 Aug 2001 05:25:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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3246 times
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> G'day. If this is the wrong place for this posting, please let me
know.
It's not the wrong place, but maybe there are others (like the various
robotics groups) that might be better.
> We have an iBook and would like to do MINDSTORMS/ROBOLAB. We • homeschool. We
> live in Pakistan mostly though I'm writing from Perth at the moment. • We have
> one maybe two kids who will study this stuff (plus one really • interested
> adult, me). Has anyone been down this road before who can recommend • what to
> buy, what not to buy, tips, gotchas etc
The consumer version is Mindstorms RIS (Robotics Invention System). This
gives you the:
* the PC software to develop your programs
* the yellow computer brick (RCX)
* the InfraRed tower to download the programs into the RCX
* 2 motors, 2 touch sensors, 1 light sensor
* other useful bits and pieces, e.g. gears, wires, wheels and so forth
The RIS comes in version 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 (released next month). I can't
comment on 2.0 obviously, but there isn't a lot of difference between
1.0 and 1.5. The software is a bit better on 1.5, but no so much so that
you should turn your nose up at a cheap 1.0 if you got offered it. The
hardware is the same on 1.0 and 1.5, except that the 1.0 has an extra AC
jack, so a lot of people like to use the 1.0 hardware and the 1.5
software (that's what I have).
You can buy things like extra RCXs, IR towers, and sensors as individual
items, but it is not as easy to do in Australia as it is in countries to
which Lego will deliver from its WWW-based Shop-At-Home service.
However, the cost of buying a single extra RCX is sufficiently close to
the price of buying a whole RIS set (especially when sale-priced) that I
think you would usually be better off buying a whole extra set (complete
with more motors, sensors, etc).
Do not confuse the RIS with the other Mindstorms-branded sets: Robotics
Discovery System (also known as the Scout) or the Droid/Darkside
Developer Kits (also known as the Microscout). These are more junior
systems and would not have the same educational value for the kids (or
fun value for you!).
However, as you have an iBook, you might not want Mindstorms as it is
PC/Windows software. However, the RCX has been reverse-engineered and
Lego seem to have no objection to the many alternative programming
environments that people have created. Many of them can be freely
downloaded from the WWW; you may well find some of them are suitable for
an iBook (but I have no first-hand experience).
DACTA is Lego's educational brand (as opposed to its consumer brand) and
RoboLab is more-or-less the educational equivalent of Mindstorm RIS, in
that it involves the same RCX, IR towers, sensors etc. The main
differences are:
* there is a different selection of sets, each with different items, to
enable schools to purchase the right quantity of various things to match
their class sizes. This is a lot more flexible to the consumer option of
buying the whole RIS set plus only a few (expensive) pieces being
available separately.
* the software is different (not sure if this means better, worse, or
just different) and comes in both PC/Windows and Mac versions
(reflecting the high penetration of Macs in schools)
* there are accompanying teaching materials: lessons, suggested projects
etc
For more information on DACTA RoboLab, see
http://www.lego.com/dacta/robolab/default.htm
So, Robolab is probably closer to your needs in terms of supporting a
Mac platform and perhaps you may also want some of the teaching
materials.
DACTA can't be bought retail but must be bought through a local DACTA
distributor. For Australia, they are:
Educational Experience Pty
49 Oakdale Road
GATESHEAD NSW 2290
Australia
Tel. + 61 2 4923 8222
Fax: + 61 2 4942 1991
Freecall : 1800 025 270
teachers@edex.com.au
www.edex.com.au
Dealer for:
Early Childhood and School
Moore Educational Pty. Ltd.
78 Napier Crescent
ESSENDON VIC 3040
Australia
Tel. + 61 800 684 068
Tel. + 61 3 9372 8728
Fax: + 61 3 9372 8727
mooreed@ozemail.com.au
www.mooreed.com.au
The drawback of buying DACTA may be whether you can buy in small enough
quantities for your needs.
Also I have no idea how the prices compare between buying retail
Mindstorms and buying DACTA but both the distributors above have prices
on its WWW site which you might like to compare with a retail
distribution like Dick Smith Electronics.
While you might want to buy the basics from DACTA (so you get the Mac
software), you might find it cheaper to expand by buying retail
Mindstorms (for the hardware content) when they are on special as part
of some store's sale. I suspect the educational distributors don't have
sale-pricing very often.
There are various "accessory sets" or "expansion kits" available for
Mindstorms/Robolab. Many of them are not particularly useful (e.g.
Extreme Creatures as they contain very few specialist robotics parts).
The best of them are probably the Ultimate Accessory Kit (remote
control, rotation sensor, touch sensor, and other other bits) and Vision
Command that enables you to incorporate a camera (provided in the set)
and scene-analysis software into your robot. With all robotics sets, try
to get a list of the contents before slapping your money down. Are you
getting lots of robotics parts, or just lots of Technics parts, or just
lots of ordinary Lego? There are cheaper ways to get more ordinary Lego
and regular Technics than buying the more expensive "robotics" sets.
Kerry
--
Kerry Raymond, Lady BUG
Lugnet Member #599
Mindstorms, Technics, Star Wars
Brisbane, Australia
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | ROBOLAB purchase?
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| G'day. If this is the wrong place for this posting, please let me know. Just like some help with deciding things. We have an iBook and would like to do MINDSTORMS/ROBOLAB. We homeschool. We live in Pakistan mostly though I'm writing from Perth at (...) (23 years ago, 28-Aug-01, to lugnet.org.au)
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