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If you don't know what Lego Mindstorms® is, please visit the Official Lego Mindstorms site. In brief, it's a system based upon standard Lego Technic parts and a special microcomputer, and provides an easy way to build and program your own custom robots.

We wrote a book!
My brother Giulio and I wrote a book about Mindstorms robotics. Click here to know more about it.

1. My robotic creatures

2. EmulegOs, a legOs emulator

3. EmupbForth, a pbForth emulator

4. Custom sensors

1. My robotic creatures

Thumbnail	Name	Release date	Description	Code written with	Comments
	Beep Beep	Mar '02	Differential drive	NQC	A simple differential drive built to attend a series of races - called Grand P-RIS - organized by ItLUG.
	Ritorno	Nov '01	Pivot drive	NQC	This robot attended the same navigation contest the robot Andata was designed for. However, this is based on a completely different principle: with its main wheels down it can go only straight; to turn, it lifts itself upon a central rotating platform, turns in place, then lowers itself again.
	Andata	Nov '01	Modified differential drive	NQC	I built this robot to attend a navigation contest which took place during one of the Italian Legofests. It's a modified differential drive, which features a locking system that makes it able to go perfectly straight.
	Plant Sprinkler	Nov '01	Indirect fluid pump	NQC	You are about to leave for a long-awaited vacation, but are worried about the fate of your endearing house plants... Fear not. This robotic plant sprinkler is the answer to your problem. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Milk Guard	Nov '01	Temperature alarm	NQC	A truly useful robot! Now you can warm your milk leaving the pan unattended on the stove: this robot will warn you when it reaches the right temperature, preventing it from boiling over. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Floor Sweeper	Nov '01	Random cleaner	NQC	This robot is based on the principle that a vehicle moving randomly about a room will eventually touch every point of the floor :-) This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Flight Simulator	Nov '01	Flight simulator	NQC	This flight simulator allows visual experimenting with thrust, lift, drag, acceleration, speed, heading and altitude. The RCX works like a sort of portable cockpit, which displays speed and altitude, produces the engine sound and a stall warning when necessary. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Tape Writer	Nov '01	Tape writer	NQC	A robot that writes (with a pen/pencil) on common paper tapes made for printing calculators or cash registers. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Logo Turtle	Nov '01	Logo turtle	NQC	This Logo turtle, inspired by the Logo educational programming system, is able to draw precise geometric shapes on the floor from simple commands. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Simon-Says	Nov '01	Electronic game	NQC	An electronic game inspired by Milton Bradley's commercial Simon game. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Pinball	Nov '01	Pinball machine	NQC	This pinball machine demonstrates that there's plenty of opportunities for projects which - though not considered pure robotics - are indeed a lot of fun to imagine, build and play with. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Piano Player	Nov '01	Piano player	NQC	A piano player designed to play on a real piano keyboard. It's capable of playing notes and chords on six consecutives keys. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Drummer	Nov '01	Robotic drummer	NQC	With the aid of some plastic wrap, this robot turn LEGO wheel hubs into a drum set. Just a few programming instructions and it's ready to rock! This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Broad blue	Nov '01	Mechanical chess interface	NQC	An extra-large robotic arm able to handle standard chess pieces and position them precisely in every square of the chessboard. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Chess interface	Nov '01	Visual chess interface	NQC	A simple visual interface to allow communicating with a chess program running on the RCX. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Tic-Tac-Toe II	Nov '01	Tic-tac-toe player	NQC	A robotic Tic-Tac-Toe player than can be built from the RIS kits plus very few additional parts. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Maze Solver	Nov '01	Maze solver	NQC	This robot can solve a wide class of labyrinths provided that they can be represented with black and white tiles or on a sheet of paper. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Maze Runner	Nov '01	Wall follower	NQC	A robot able to find its way out of a labyrinth following the left wall out to the exit. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Johnny Five	Nov '01	Johnny Five style robot	NQC	This reproduction of the Johnny Five robot from the Short Circuit film has been built from the parts contained in the Robotics Invention System kit plus an additional motor. Can be programmed for light following. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	R2-D2	Nov '01	R2-D2 style robot	NQC	This reproduction of the R2-D2 robot from the Star Wars film saga has been built from the parts contained in the Robotics Invention System kit plus an additional motor. Can be programmed for light following. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Turtle	Nov '01	Robotic turtle	NQC	A slow walking turtle with a sensor in its nose. When it detects an obstacle it stops and retracts its head for a while, then it resumes motion and manouver to avoid the obstacle. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Mouse	Nov '01	Robotic mouse	NQC	Just try to catch this fast robotic mouse - it will speed around your room only stopping (briefly) if you grasp its tail! This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Skier	Nov '01	Skier	NQC	A simple robot able to snowplow on a snowy slope. The robot evaluates its speed throug a rotation sensor atached to the left ski pole, and a motor makes the legs more or less convergent to keep the speed in the desired range. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	SHRIMP II	Nov '01	High mobility rover	NQC	My second implementation of SHRIMP, an high mobility wheeled rover by the Autonomous Systems Lab.
	Ankle-bending biped	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	Based on Miguel Agullo's Hammerhead, this biped moves its COG bending its ankle sideways. Due to its design, it can walk only forward. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	COG-Shifting biped	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	In order to move its COG over one foot before lifting the other, this two-legged robot has its RCX mounted on a sled, with slide over the supporting leg with each step. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Interlacing legs biped	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	This biped needs not to move its Center of Gravity to walk, as each leg is U-shaped and able to support the whole robot when the other leg is lifted. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Six-legged turning walker	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	A six-legged walker able to turn. This hexapod walks keeping its left and right legs synchronized, mantaining its stability. Its turning ability comes from a mechanism that can change the stride of the legs. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Six-legged walker	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	A six-legged walker able to turn. As the two groups of legs are not synchronized, it tilts forward or backward during its progression, resulting in a rather irregular and jolting walking. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Four-legged walker	Nov '01	Walker	NQC	A four-legged walker with no ability to turn. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Simple car	Nov '01	Steering drive	NQC	A simple car-like robot based on a steering drive architecture. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Line follower	Nov '01	Line follower	NQC	A steering drive line follower. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Room explorer	Nov '01	Differential drive	NQC	A simple differential drive designed to explore a room and to detect and avoid any obstacles using its large bumpers. It can be equipped with an additional sensor that makes it capable of detecting drop-offs like stairways. This robot is described in my book Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms.
	Cinque	Jan '01	Multi-purpose platform	NQC	A Johnny Five styled robot equipped to perform many different tasks: obstacle avoidance, line/hand following, object grabbing, dancing.
	Aragosta	Jan '01	Mini-sumo robot	pbForth	Aragosta played in a Mini-sumo (RIS only parts) tournament during a public exhibition in Milan.
	Golia II	Sep '00	2 speed Sumo robot	NQC	Another robot built to play Sumo during a Legofest V. This one features a gear switch.
	Shrimp	Jul '00	High mobility rover	-	An implementation of SHRIMP, an high mobility wheeled rover by the Autonomous Systems Lab.
	Duna Rossa	Jun '00	Sailing trycicle	NQC	A rather unconventional robotic vehicle.
	Otto	Jun '00	Multi-purpose platform	NQC	Large, octagonal, two RCXs, pneumatic... Otto was born mainly to answer my children's request of a R2-D2 style robot capable of more things than the original DDK Lego model.
	Eolo	May '00	Pnumatic Sumo robot	NQC	This robot, built to take part to a Sumo tournament during the Italian Legofest V, is propelled by a pneumatic engine.
	Golia	May '00	Sumo robot	NQC	A robot built to take part to a Sumo tournament during the Italian Legofest V.
	S21	Jan '00	Dragster	NQC	I built this robotic dragster to attend a challenge at the 3rd Italian Legofest.
	S19	Nov '99	Walker	NQC	This walker is openly inspired to a model found in a Lego Technic Idea Book, but it's been heavily modified to allow the robot to change its direction and avoid obstacles.
	S18	Nov '99	Synchro drive	NQC	Another synchro drive. This one solves the problem of protecting each side from collisions using a single-sensor rotating bumper.
	S17	Oct '99	R2-D2 clone	Scout console	A modified version of the R2-D2 model found in the DDK. This robot features both the Scout and the Microscout, connected each other with an optic fiber.
	TTT	Oct '99	Tic-tac-toe player	NQC	A small group of us Italian Lego fans attended the MindFest at the MIT during October 1999. We showed our own robotic creature, which played a board version of the very well known tic-tac-toe game.
	S15 & S16	Jul '99	Conductor & Piano player	NQC	S15 and S16 work in team, being the first a conductor that reads the "score", and the second a performer, who plays the notes on a real keyboard.
	S14	Jun '99	Cyber-dog	NQC	You start, stop and drive it using a leash.
	S13	May '99	Synchro drive	NQC	My first synchro-drive. In this kind of set up all the wheels are synchronized in both steer and drive. When a turn is executed, all the wheels turn in unison and as a result the platform itself does not rotate.
	S12	May '99	Light finder	NQC	I called this a "space tank", simply because it's not similar enough to any tank on earth :-) It looks for a light source, aims at it, goes to the proper distance and shoots its shell.
	S11	May '99	IR hunter	NQC	A robotic T-Rex and its prey. They both continuously emit IR messages, used by the first to localize the prey and hunt it, and by the latter to escape.
	S8	Mar '99	Learning brick sorter	NQC	A non-neural learning brick sorter. It can be instructed to distinguish among three different colors. The learning process is based on a reward/punishment logic that updates a (rather primitive) knowledge base. It smiles when rewarded and gets sad when punished.
	S7 S9 S10	Mar '99	IR proximity Line following Odometry	NQC legOS	I used this classical differential drive setup for three projects: IR proximity sensing (S7), line following (S9), odometry (S10).
	S6	Feb '99	Two legged walker	BotCode	A walking bot. It has a very limited behaviour, but it walks with just two legs, which implies it has to move its centre of gravity to keep it inside the base of the single leg that is touching the ground.
	S5	Jan '99	Line follower with pneumatic hand	BotCode	My first "big one". A joint-venture with my brother for a two RCXs, six motors, six sensors, pneumatic robot.
	S4	Dec '98	4-wheel-drive	-	A never finished prototype for a four-wheel-drive. It uses homokinetic joints on the front wheels and three differential gears to transmit main power to the four wheels.
	S3	Dec '98	Light follower	BotCode	A light-follower developed together with my brother Giulio. This robot uses its rotating head to detect the strongest source of light and go that direction.
	S2	Nov '98	2 speed gear steering vehicle	BotCode	This vehicle, which lightly resembles an ancient car, is equipped with a motor-driven 2 speed gear and a motor-driven steering gear.

2. EmulegOs, a legOs emulator

	emulegOS A legOS (and RCX) emulator. Started by Marco Beri and me, this is now an OpenSource project managed by Mark Falco.

3. EmupbForth, a pbForth emulator

	emupbForth Seems I can't resist writing emulators...

4. Custom sensors

With the great help of Michael Gasperi I started building my own homebrew sensors. Now I have a rich collection of them.

My personal contribution to all the ideas you can find there is an "Hall effect" sensor that can detect magnetic fields. I developed it on Michael's General Purpose Analog Interface. My first prototype is a threshold version which is activated by the proximity of a small permanent magnet. It's great as a contact-free switch. I employed a A3113ELL Hall-effect switch, but 3119, 3121, 3122 and 3123 should work as well. All of them are very cheap. The Hall-effect switch is a monolithic integrated circuit with three pins. Simply connect the SUPPLY pin to the +7V of Michael's interface, the OUTPUT to Opamp input and the GROUND, obviously, to Gnd.

I built a more compact version too based on the Pete Sevcik's three-wire converter.

Linear output Hall-effect sensor exist as well (like UGN3501U), but I still haven't played with them.

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Table of Contents

1. My robotic creatures

2. EmulegOs, a legOs emulator

3. EmupbForth, a pbForth emulator

4. Custom sensors