NXT Makes Toys R Us Top 15 Hottest Toys

The Lego Mindstorms NXT has made the Toys-R-Us top 15 list of hottest toys for this Christmas. This is on top of the Hamleys award. So it looks like it'll be a great year for the NXT.

The full list is:

• Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes from ToyQuest®
• Designer's World™ from Tiger® Games
• Dora's Talking Cash Register™ from Fisher-Price®
• ESPN® Fast Action Football™ from Fisher-Price®
• Kid-Tough™ Digital Camera from Fisher-Price®
• Laugh & Learn™ Baby Grand Piano from Fisher-Price®
• Mindstorms® NXT from LEGO®
• My Scene™ My Bling Bling™ Styling Head from Mattel®
• Pink Nitro Notebook™ from VTech®
• Power Rangers Deluxe Manticore Megazord from Bandai®
• Speed Stacks® StackPack® from Play Along®
• Sound City Railway from Imaginarium
• Tap Dancing Mumble from Thinkway
• "T.M.X." ™ Elmo from Fisher-Price®
• Nintendo Wii Console

Lego NXT Wins Award

The Evening Times reports that the Lego Mindstorms NXT has one the Hamleys Prize for Toy For Tomorrow.

However, the overall best toy as voted for by the Hamley judges will be announced on October 15.

Opening The Box - What Its Like

For those that haven't bought the Lego Mindstorms NXT Robot yet. Lance Ulanoff from PC Magazine give a fantastic description of what went through his mind when he got to grips with his NXT.

He recounts his experience of trying to construct the robot and the issues he came across and then how to program it and connect using Bluetooth.

Overall, it's a fantastic insight into how you may feel when you get your Mindstorms NXT.

Released Today!!

Here's where the prices hot up!

Play.com have got the Mindstorms NXT for just £169.99 with despatch within 24 hours! This is a 15% saving on the RRP.

Whilst, Amazon have it for £179.99 and delivery between 2-3 days!

iiRobotics have the Mindstorms NXT also for £179.99!

Pre-Order the Lego Mindstorms

Amazon has the best price. You should get the free quick delivery. They're also very good at getting a speedy dispatch. If you buy from Lego direct you have to wait up to 2 days for them to get it out of the warehouse and then pay through the nose for it to be delivered.

Play.com have made the Lego Mindstorms NXT available to buy now.

The speciallist robot store iiRobotics also have the Mindstorms NXT for £179.99.

You can also buy direct from Lego buy you'll have to pay a whopping £5.25 for delivery or a staggering £26.50 for 2-3 day delivery plus 1-2 business days to process your order! But you do get free batteries!

National Instruments LabVIEW Toolkit

NI have announced the realease of the NI LabVIEW toolkit for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot. The toolkit will allow Mindstorms NXT owners to create and download VIs to control and operate the robot.

The great thing about the toolkit is that 3rd party companies can offer software and hardware to work with the new toolkit.

With the toolkit, users also can interact with the NXT robot while a program is running. By dropping a LabVIEW control, the toolkit can send data to the robot and influence the currently executing program. By dropping an indicator, the value at that point in the program is sent back to the PC and viewed in a regular LabVIEW front panel.

"The LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT makes customizing add-ons for the NXT extremely easy and encourages users to expand the MINDSTORMS experience," said John Barnes, president of HiTechnic. "This type of customer-driven functionality will extend and enhance the experience of MINDSTORMS fans of all ages."

LabVIEW 7.1 and 8.20 customers can download the beta version of the toolkit from ni.com beginning this fall. For more information, visit www.ni.com/mindstorms.

Mindstorms NXT Review

Now the Lego Mindsorms NXT looks out of this world! It's got state-of-the-art sensors which measure the environment around it. Light, sound and touch all affect the Mindstorms actions. Furthermore, it can differentiate between colours, tones and patterns - making it truely responsive.

You shouldn't feel out of your depth with the Mindstorms NXT as its got a Quick-Start guide with easy-to-use software. So it should be ok for both robotics novices and experts.


This is what Lego say:

Create the smartest, strongest and most advanced LEGO® robot ever, in as few as 30 minutes! The new NXT Intelligent Brick, your robot's "brain," features a powerful 32-bit microprocessor and more memory, plus support for USB 2.0, Bluetooth and more!

Buy:
Amazon UK - £179.99
Play.com - £179.99

What you get:

• All-new NXT Intelligent Brick with 32-bit microprocessor, more memory and FLASH
• 3 Interactive Servo motors feature built-in rotation sensors to align speed for precise control
• New sound sensor reacts to sound commands, patterns and tones
• New ultrasonic visual sensor responds to movement
• Improved touch sensor reacts to touch and release
• Improved light sensor detects different colors and light intensities
• 519 specially selected LEGO TECHNIC elements for sturdy and durable building and improved functionality and movement
• 4 input ports, 3 output ports and 7 6-wire cords
• Matrix display
• Real sound speaker
• USB 2.0 and Bluetooth support
• Easy-to-use PC and Mac compatible interface
• Intuitive, icon-based drag-and-drop program "building" environment

What you don't get:

6 AA Batteries - required