Java and Legos

Java and Legos was a tutorial course at Marlboro College taught by Jim Mahoney during Fall 2003.

Tha course focused on fundamentals of the Java programming language through the use of the LeJOS API and Lego Mindstorms™. LeJOS provides an open source method for programming Mindstorms robots with Java.

The tutorial began with building a basic robot and getting it to follow a black line by using a light sensor. We then moved on to working with more advanced robots, different types of sensors, different methods of navigation, and different tasks for the robot to complete. This medium focuses on doing programming for realtime environments with sensor input.

The last two weeks of the course involved expploring another Java API, Java3D. This broadened the scope of the course to provide greater familiarity with concepts of Java that apply to more APIs than just LeJOS. It also provided a basic familiarity with the principles of programming 3-dimensional graphics for DirectX and OpenGL.

Below are links to pages providing a more in depth look at the two sections of Java and Legos:
-LeJOS
-Java3D Basics