Build awesome mechatronic contraptions using LEGO Mindstorms NXT motors and sensors and your Arduino Mega
$60.00
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Build robots and contraptions! Experiment with mechatronics using Arduino and LEGO Mindstorms NXT!
Use the Bricktronics Megashield Kit to connect up to six LEGO NXT motors and four LEGO NXT sensors to an Arduino Mega.
Once the kit is ready, download the easy-to-use Arduino library, check out the examples, and start building!
We have many more video examples with code and instructions.
The kit contains a pre-assembled Bricktronics Megashield, consisting of a printed circuit board, ten custom injection-molded NXT-compatible sockets, a 2.1mm DC power supply socket, eight jumpers, three 0.1 uF ceramic capacitors, a 6mm reset pushbutton, six 100 kΩ resistors, three 100 uF electrolytic capacitors, three 10 uF electrolytic capactitors, three L293D H-Bridge motor-driver chips, one PTC over-current protection fuse, and headers.
The contents are also listed and explained individually on the Parts List portion of the Bricktronics Megashield project page.
This shield does not support the "stacking headers" that many Arduino shields use to permit stacking multiple shields (due to interference between the motor ports and the stacking headers), which means that you must place the Megashield as the top shield of your stack. However, we did include an extra set of holes next to the header pins, which can be used to attach wires and test probes. You can also get a set of standard female headers to fit in those extra holes.
The Bricktronics Megashield Kit connects an Arduino Mega to LEGO NXT motors and sensors. Arduino, motors, sensors and NXT cables are not included. The Mindstorms NXT 2.0 set includes three motors, two touch sensors, one color sensor, one ultrasonic sensor, and a variety of NXT cables.
Motors take more power than can be supplied by a USB cable (USB is limited to 500 mA maximum). The LEGO NXT motors typically need about 600 mA each, but under heavy loads can require up to 1000 mA peak per motor. Our 9V 2A wall adapter works great for a couple motors, but any 2.1mm 9V adapter with sufficient current should work. Driving 5 or 6 motors with heavy loads will require a beefy power supply on the order of 3-5 amps. If you want to power your creations on the go, our 6 AA battery pack works well
This kit is open source hardware. We make the hardware source files like the schematic and the pcb files available for anyone to use as long as they credit us and release any modifications as open source hardware. The schematic and pcb files are available on the Bricktronics downloads page.
When you're finished building the kit, let us know how it went! We use feedback to improve future versions of our kits, and the warm fuzzies help us make more kits! Let us know in the forum or via email.
Wayne and Layne, LLC and our products are not connected to or endorsed by the LEGO Group. LEGO, Mindstorms, and NXT are trademarks of the LEGO Group.
