NXT Mini Golf

Fun Projects for your LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® NXT!

Mini Golf

Building:
Program:

Building Instructions

For playing on carpet (which is recommended, otherwise the ball will roll too far), four spiked “golf shoes” on the corners provide grip into the carpet to keep the arm from sliding around when it swings.

Attach a wire from the motor to port A on the NXT brick.

Design your own “hole” or goal for the ball using LEGOs or whatever you have. Here is one way to make a "hole" using parts from your NXT set.

Mini Golf Programming

Use the program Mini Golf for your Mini Golf game.

How to Play Mini Golf

Select your shot type using the gray right arrow button on the NXT. The shot types, from softest to hardest are:

Putt Soft
Putt Medium
Putt Hard
Drive Soft
Drive Medium
Drive Hard
Select the shot direction using the gray left arrow button on the NXT. Choose Right-handed to have the robot hit with the ball on its right side (as shown above), or if the ball is up against a wall on the left side, choose Left handed and turn the robot arm around to hit the other way.
Position the robot arm straight down and right behind the ball, then press the orange button on the NXT to shoot.

Left Arrow:
Choose left or right-handed

Orange
Button: Shoot!

Right Arrow: Choose shot

Building Tip

When taking this project apart, the blue pegs are very difficult to get out of the axle extenders.
Never use your teeth! Using your teeth will ruin the pegs. Try unbending a paper clip as shown and then pushing the peg out from the other side. Keep the paper clip in your NXT kit as a tool for things like this.

Challenges

The golf club shown here always hits the ball rolling on the ground. Can you design an alternate club to use for “driving” that will hit the ball up in the air? A tee of some kind to balance the ball on might help too. Make your two clubs easily interchangeable so that you can easily switch between the driver and the putter.
The robot arm would hit the ball harder if it were taller (and the arm longer). Can you design a taller version? You might need to also make the base larger to keep it from falling over when it hits.

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