LEGO.com MINDSTORMS Meet the MDP's Michael "Mike" Brandl

Michael "Mike" Brandl
From:
Vienna, Austria

What I do besides building with MINDSTORMS:
I just changed from a network administrator to a field support division, supporting a lot of Windows clients.

Why I signed up for the MDP:
First of all to play as soon as possible with that NXT! *g
And maybe I can help the community with some programming, testing or building...

Experience with MINDSTORMS:
I have been addicted to LEGO MINDSTORMS since it appeared here in Austria / Europe back in 1999. At the beginning of 2000 I started my own website "@Mike's MINDSTORMS" dedicated to German speaking MINDSTORMS fans (automatic english translation available too). I'm a member of the online community since 2001 and I'm a host of the forums on MINDSTORMS.com since 2005.

Attending many MINDSTORMS challenges got me a fair amount of MINDSTORMS kits to build whatever I like without hassle for parts needed. From 2000 until now I have organized 12 RoboChallenges here in Austria.

NXT Project: Egg Plotter


Egg Plotter Front View	Back View

Left View	Right View

About this NXT Project:
First of all you need an idea... the rest is simple! *g

After the first idea Andreas Dreier and me had a long discussion (via MSN Messenger) how to build such a robot. We had that discussion twice, first three years ago when we both built such a robot with the RCX, and now again how to build it better with the NXT...

With the RCX we had two ways to solve the needs of this robot. Andreas used standard motors and timed them well to draw a letter or number. My robot used some LEGO built stepper motors to draw and write on the egg. With the NXT the task was easier, the new motor with the built in rotation sensor is THE part you need for such a machine! MSN Messenger is an ideal platform for such a discussion, you don't have to face your opponent, and you can use hand drawings as well.

Watch the Egg Plotter in action