Lego Mindstorms get solar panels


We have reported on the Lego Mindstorms NXT creations before, those awesome yet expensive sets that allow the user/player to make some serious programmable robots with everyone’s favorite building brick.

Normally, the Mindstorms NXT Kit is powered by batteries (6 AA batteries as I recall), but even with rechargeables, that isn’t so good for the environment. So why not create some solar panels for the Lego Mindstorms creations?

This is exactly what Dexter Industries has accomplished, and it looks like it works pretty darn well. Check out the video after the jump if you don’t believe me. By the way, I had no idea the Mindstorms collections had gone so elaborate.

This collection has all the offering panels, batteries, and everything necessary to power projects like some of the Wall-E wannabees as seen in the video.

I have no idea if this is a Lego sanctioned or Lego labeled product, but the basic dSolar 2W System will cost about $90 and has a 9-volt solar panel with “enough juice to power the NXT and a single motor in the direct sunlight (about 250 mA). There is also a four watt system available for $100, as well as capacitor banks, parallel connectors for multiple panels, and more”.

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