Lego 9701 and mindstorms?

[bartleby451]

Hi,

I'm a British primary school teacher and own a a Lego Mindstorms kit and have just picked up a Lego 9701 control lab building set kit, is there any way to get this kit working with Mindstorms software? Or indeed any other software?

I've downloaded the legacy blocks with some small success but nothing more.

The model we're most interested in getting to work is the green house model.

Any help here would be greatly received.

Thanks

A frustrated Year four teacher and class.

[DLuders]

@ Bartleby451: Welcome to Eurobricks! I looked at the Lego Dacta 9701 Building Instructions on Brickfactory.info , and saw the Greenhouse model pictured below. The old-style 9V motor and sensor can be run using Lego NXT, but you will need two NXT Conversion Cables (pictured below). You could find the Lego Education Store for the UK and look for Product ID: W770323. One end of the NXT Conversion Cable snaps onto the 2x2 electrified plate, and the other end clips into your NXT programmable brick.

Bricklink.com has several Activity Booklets for the 9701 Control Lab Building Set. You may already have these. The Bricklink Inventory shows all of the parts you are supposed to have in your set. The old-style (pre-Mindstorms) sensors are shown.

P.S. Have you seen this Lego Engineer website? It has programming blocks SIMILAR TO the ones used by NXT, so you could possibly adapt the ideas there to run the 9701 Dacta Greenhouse....

Edited April 22, 2011 by DLuders

[bartleby451]

Hey,

thanks so much for your time and effort.

I do have the connectors and have had some success getting motors to move etc, however still struggling with getting the green house model to work within the Mindstorms software. In particular getting the motor to turn a number of rotations a particular way depending on the temperature in the green house. Mindstorms has blocks for variables or logic but getting legacy blocks to interact is difficult.

any help folks?

Edited April 22, 2011 by bartleby451

[DLuders]

Brian Davis wrote a nice explanation of the Lego Temperature Sensor on The NXT STEP, which leads to this programming block:

[BManCan]

Hey,

thanks so much for your time and effort.

I do have the connectors and have had some success getting motors to move etc, however still struggling with getting the green house model to work within the Mindstorms software. In particular getting the motor to turn a number of rotations a particular way depending on the temperature in the green house. Mindstorms has blocks for variables or logic but getting legacy blocks to interact is difficult.

any help folks?

First off I have to say that the 9701 Control Lab set is one of my all time favorite sets. I have several of these kits along with the original Control Lab interfaces that have 8 inputs and 8 outputs.

If you are trying to program the greenhouse with NXT-G you could start with something like this:

It basically has switch block based on the temperature sensor reading.

If the temperature goes above the setpoint, then the motor runs forward until the roatation sensors reaches some number of turns. (open greenhouse)

If the temperature drops below the setpoint, then the motor runs reverse until the roatation sensors returns to zero. (close greenhouse)

BManCan

Edited April 23, 2011 by BManCan

[DLuders]

You will have to regularly sample the Air Temperature to determine whether the greenhouse windows need to move SLIGHTLY OPEN or slightly closed. The rotation angle of the motors may be as little as 5 degrees per step.

Edited April 23, 2011 by DLuders

[bartleby451]

First off I have to say that the 9701 Control Lab set is one of my all time favorite sets. I have several of these kits along with the original Control Lab interfaces that have 8 inputs and 8 outputs.

If you are trying to program the greenhouse with NXT-G you could start with something like this:

It basically has switch block based on the temperature sensor reading.

If the temperature goes above the setpoint, then the motor runs forward until the roatation sensors reaches some number of turns. (open greenhouse)

If the temperature drops below the setpoint, then the motor runs reverse until the roatation sensors returns to zero. (close greenhouse)

BManCan

Thank you so much for this it really helpful, i'll get on this soon as I can, just have to work out the temp variable.

Really thank you so much every one for your help and support,

Cheers