http://lmotd.blogspot.com/2010/08/robotics-monday-nxt-holonomic-drive.html
Holonomic driving systems are systems in which a vehicle has no turning radius – it can travel in direction without needing to have a “front” that is specifically powered.
Monthly Archives: August 2010
Online Python code visualizer
http://people.csail.mit.edu/pgbovine/python/
This is a nice way to introduce students to Python.
Good info on using PID for line following with Lego Mindstorms NXT
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/cssoh/LEConf2007-SG/teach_prop_control_2007mar11.pdf
http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=13463
Article and posts about using Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) for doing line following with robots.
The history of the punch card
http://whatis.techtarget.com/tutorial/history-of-the-punch-card.html
A comprehensive description of the history of the punch card.
New Book: The Art of Lego Mindstorms NXT-G Programming
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/43166/
In The Art of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming (No Starch Press, August 2010, 288 pp., $29.95, ISBN 9781593272180), author and software engineer Terry Griffin demonstrates how to program MINDSTORMS robots with NXT-G. Readers learn how to work with the core parts of the NXT-G language, such as blocks, data wires, files, and variables, and how the pieces work together. Along the way, Griffin teaches good programming practices, bad habits to avoid, and useful debugging strategies—all skills required of a great programmer.
NASA Announces High School Competition for Future Engineers
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/aug/HQ_10-198_SPHERES_Competition.html
NASA is challenging high school teams to design software to program small satellites aboard the International Space Station. The competition centers on the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES
Building Skills in Python – online book
http://homepage.mac.com/s_lott/books/python/html/index.html
This is a very well done book. Includes a nice index and some projects.
Robots explore a Lego lunar surface
http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10004618.html?tag=mncol
In the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship made famous by Google’s $30 million Lunar X Prize, a private race to safely land a robot on the surface of the moon, travel 500 meters across the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth, the X Prize Foundation, Lego, and Google have partnered to develop a youth educational challenge.
Similarly based on engineering, science, and problem solving, teams from around the world are working to build and program a robot that can navigate obstacles and complete tasks on the simulated lunar Lego game board.
Free 3D Visualization tool
If you want to do some lessons on 3D visualization, this might be useful
http://microview.sourceforge.net/
MicroView is an open source, freely distributed 3D volume viewer.
MicroView includes numerous image analysis tools and plug-ins.
Lego NXT for extreme data logging
http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2010/08/over-edge-abusing-toy-hardware-in-new.html
The author put an NXT into a “barrel” and let it go over some “falls” 
