Chapter 1: Introduction to the LEGO BOOST Kit

Welcome to the first chapter of this book! I am sure you all are excited to learn about your BOOST kit and start building new robots with the kit in each new chapter! Just before we begin with the construction of our first robot, let's try to learn the basics!

In this chapter, you shall be unboxing your BOOST kit and exploring various electronic and non-electronic parts given in the kit in a fun and hands-on way. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

• The difference between machines and robots
• Using the various electronic and non-electronic parts that come with your BOOST kit
• Building your first model with this BOOST kit

Technical requirements

In this chapter, you will need the following:

• A LEGO BOOST kit with six AAA batteries, fully charged

Wonders with LEGO BOOST

The LEGO BOOST kit comes heavily loaded with electronic and non-electronic parts. If you learn how to use this kit properly, the sky is the limit. The BOOST kit comes with three motors, built-in gyro sensors, and an external (a separate electronic piece that can be attached to the BOOST Hub) color sensor as well as an ultrasonic sensor. You can make some cool creations with this kit, such as the following:

• A 3D printer
• A humanoid
• A color sorter
• A line follower

You can stretch your creativity to its limit using this BOOST kit to build and code anything and everything that you can imagine.

The difference between machines and robots

You might have come across the question "How do you differentiate between a machine and a robot?" Let's try to understand this with a simple example of a fan and an air conditioner.

Imagine how a fan works. When you turn on the switch, the fan starts working, and when you turn off the switch, the fan stops working. In a simple statement, a fan takes an input (turn on/off the switch) and directly gives us an output (it either starts moving in a clockwise direction in the on condition or stops working when the switch is off).

A machine is something that takes an input and directly gives you an output. Can you think of at least four such machines in and around you and write them down?

Names of the machines around you:

The following figure represents the input and output mechanism in a fan:

Figure 1.1 - Input/output mechanism of a fan

Now, let's try to understand how an air conditioner works:

1. You turn on the main switch and turn on the air conditioner.
2. You set the desired temperature for the air conditioner to maintain - say, for example, 26 degrees Celsius.
3. If your room temperature reaches more than 26 degrees Celsius, your air conditioner will throw cool air in the room. If the room temperature is less than 26 degrees Celsius, your air conditioner will throw normal air in the room.

So, how is it different from a fan? In your air conditioner, you have a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the room all the time and a processor that acts based on the input received from this temperature sensor. So, what is happening here is the following:

1. Input: You set up the temperature through your air conditioner remote.
2. Process: The air conditioner's processor processes this input and compares it with the input received from the room temperature sensor and decides the action accordingly.
3. Output: The processor commands the air conditioner to either throw cool air (if the room temperature is more than the set temperature) or normal air (if the room temperature is less than the set temperature).

Can you think of four such examples that can be defined as robots in and around you except an air conditioner?

Names of the robots around you:

The following figure shows the mechanism of an air conditioner:

Figure 1.2 -Working mechanism of an air conditioner

Similarly, you will be applying the same principles with your LEGO BOOST kit, where you will be building a robot to solve some specific problems. Just before we unbox our BOOST kit, I wanted to highlight some facts about everyone's favorite LEGO sets (source - https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/g2775/facts-about-legos/):

• LEGO is the world's largest manufacturer of wheels.
• Every single LEGO brick made since 1958 can still be joined together.
• Every person on earth owns an average of 86 LEGO bricks.
• During the holiday season, 28 LEGO sets are sold every second across the globe.
• If LEGO mini figures were real people, they would form the highest population in the world.

Introduction to the electronic and non-electronic parts of the BOOST kit

Let's first understand the various electronic parts given in the LEGO BOOST kit with specific functionality:

1. BOOST Hub: This hub is the brain of your robot (the microprocessor of the hub serves as the brain). The hub is connected to your tablet via Bluetooth. The hub has two built-in motors (motor A and motor B) as well as an built-in tilt (gyro) sensor. It needs six AAA-sized batteries to operate. It also has two input/output ports:

   Figure 1.3 - The BOOST Hub

2. Interactive motor: The interactive motor comes with an built-in rotation sensor. This allows us to check the number of rotations/the speed at which the motor is moving. This feature also allows us to add precision to the robot's programming; for example, you can move forward or backward for a specific distance/rotation, allowing the same stopping position of the robot each time:

   Figure 1.4 - Interactive motor

3. Color and distance sensor: The BOOST kit comes with a two-in-one sensor that can act as a color as well as a distance sensor:

   Figure 1.5 - Color/distance sensor

4. Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) module: This module comes fitted in the hub itself. You will be able to connect your BOOST Hub to tablets and Android phones if your device has Bluetooth version 4.1 or higher. If you have an older device, it is recommended to use a BLED112 Bluetooth dongle to connect the hub to your tablet.

Apart from these electronics, your BOOST kit comes with 873 non-electronic LEGO parts. So, these 3 motors, 3 sensors, and 873 non-electronic LEGO parts give you immense flexibility to build anything and everything that you can imagine. In this book, you will be building 18 unique robots with increasing complexity levels.

Important note

You can always refer to https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=17101-1 for the inventory of your BOOST kit with the original name of each part of the kit.

Now that you have had an overview, I have listed 10 basic parts from this kit in the following table with their names and an example application. Can you play around with these parts and try to write one more application for each of them (under the Functionality #2 heading)? This will allow you to gain more knowledge of the parts and how to use them in future projects.

Just for your information, one module in LEGO is equal to one hole on a beam. So, if you have a straight beam with five holes in it, it is called a 5M beam, where M stands for module. Similarly, you can measure the size of an axle by placing it against the longest beam. The number of holes the axle covers is the size of the axle. For instance, if the length of an axle is equal to five holes, it is called a 5M axle (where M stands for module):

There are many more pieces in your kit that we shall explore further in the upcoming projects and understand their uses.

The importance and efficient usage of various pegs

To build your robot, you will have to connect different pieces to each other. As we use nuts and bolts in real life to connect two things, we will be using pegs in the BOOST kit for connections.

Tip

Always use at least two pegs to make any connection sturdy! Do you know that the two module pegs are of two different types? The one in black is a friction peg and the one in gray is a frictionless peg.

As you can see in the following photo, both the LEGO pieces connected with a single peg are not sturdy. They can move easily. This is not the kind of connection we would like to have in our robot, right?

?Figure 1.6 - Single-peg connection

In the following photo, we can see that both the LEGO pieces are now connected with two pegs! The structure is sturdy - the kind of connection that we shall need in our robot:

Two-Peg Connection

Figure 1.7 - Double-peg connection

Now that you know the part names and the usage of most of them, let's move on to the challenge section, where you will have a go at a free-play activity.

Time for a challenge

Now that you know the names...