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LEGO Military Assembly Instructions

Since Lego came around in 1949, countless creations have been made from those small, colorful, interlocking bricks. Lego Mindstorms take this a step further by adding movement to your designs. The NXT brick, which is effectively the brain of the Lego, takes that stack of blocks that you just assembled and makes it perform a series of movements that you set. For those looking for a military themed project, build a Lego tank to patrol your home.

Things You'll Need

Lego servo motors
Lego bricks
Lego wheels
Lego beams
Lego Axles
Lego NXT brick
Lego connector cable
Lego Mindstorms disc

Instructions

- 1
  Connect a pair of servo motors to the NXT brick with axles and black beams with connector pieces.
- 2
  Attach the smaller sections of the motors to the NXT brick using a connector cable. You now have the basis of your Lego tank.
- 3
  Add extra Lego pieces to make the tank larger if you so desire; you can be creative here. Avoid putting to many bricks neat the NXT brick screen as you will need to access this later.
- 4
  Connect Lego wheels to the end of the beams.
- 5
  Place your Lego Mindstorms disc into your PC and say "Yes" if prompted to run an autorun.exe.
- 6
  Click "Ok" if you receive the message saying that your version of windows has not been tested with the Lego Mindstorms program.
- 7
  Follow the on-screen instructions to install the program.
- 8
  Open the Lego Mindstorms program. Choose the "New Project" option.
- 9
  Select the "Loop" control forward chain and drop it into the "Start" box.
- 10
  Choose "Move" for the first step in your loop and alter the "Length" so that it lasts for five seconds.
- 11
  Select "Move" again and add it to the first "Control" section.
- 12
  Slide the "Steering" bar fully to the left.
- 13
  Modify the "Length" option to 180 degrees.
- 14
  Use the Lego Mindstorms USB cable to link the NXT brick to the PC. Choose the "Download" option and your loop will be programmed to the tank.
- 15
  Take the USB cable out of the tank.
- 16
  Press the "Power" button on the tank when it is in position on a flat surface.
- 17
  Push "Play" on the tank for it to move forward for five seconds, turn around and then repeat the process continuously. This will create the effect that the military tank is patrolling.

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