Chapter 10. Pneumatics

In the world of LEGO robotics, pneumatics are among the great mysteries to many robot teams. Since so many people either don't understand their potential, or maybe just are not aware of their existence, these parts rarely get used on LEGO robotics projects. "Pneumatics" refers to the use of pressurized gas (in LEGO, that gas is air) to create a mechanical motion.

Pneumatics give the robot another power source of manipulation besides LEGO NXT servos. Many times, a team will find that it needs an extra powered attachment that can't be created using the robot's existing attachment servo. Maybe the servo is being used for other attachments, or its location on the robot chassis doesn't work for the attachment idea that the team ...

Get Winning Design!: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Design Patterns for Fun and Competition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.