Bioloid beginner - or Mindstorms NXT?

[Gadgetguy2005]

Hello all,

I have about $300-$400 to spend. That would get me either a Bioloid Beginner kit or a Mindstorms NXT.

Which one should I get ( or are there other alternatives?).

Here are the pros and cons I have found

NXT
+ huge amounts of literature
+ various third party software tools
+ flexible system ( lego)
+ very broad user support (lots of tips/tricks/forums)
- only 3 servos
- cannot be really expanded into a more complex robot

Bioloid
+ 4 servos
+ can be "upgraded" to the full kit
+ more powerful
- basic kit allows only relatively simple robots
- much less used ( no literature or third party support)
- full kit is much more expensive ( i.e. upgrading is costly)

I would appreciate your advice. Which one should I get and why?

[rebuildit]

I found the NXT to be very limited. I also found it to be very loose as for completed projects.
I have chosen the Bioloid because it has the versatility of a lego kit,but also has the ability to use different programming language. The size and functionality is also more of what I want in a robot.
The Brat from Lynxmotion is also another kit in your price range and has support. Is a nice robot and uses basically the same erector style building. Also parts are available.

I think if you answer what you want the robot for, to do, and what type of commitment you are willing to invest will greatly help you in decideing what kit is best for you.

[Joe]

I've currently going down the Lynxmotion path, and haven't been too unhappy with it. But an important distinction is that standard hobby servos (such as what Lynxmotion uses) can't do continuous rotation without a hardware modification — and then they can't do normal servo behavior anymore. Both the Bioloid and the LEGO servos can do either servo or continuous rotation, based only on how the software is written.

For a beginner, wheeled bots are certainly easier than walkers, so this is a fairly important point in favor of either LEGO or Bioloid.

Between the two, that's a tough choice. LEGO is certainly more flexible in terms of what you can build with it... but unless you're planning to do something really weird (a miniature car factory or some such), Bioloid will probably be fine too. And if you want to work towards building humanoids, Bioloid is definitely the way to go.

HTH,
— Joe