Minecraft for Makers: Minecraft in the Real World with LEGO, 3D Printing, Arduino, and More!

by John Baichtal

Overview

Minecraft has sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide (about 25 million of those units for the PC and Mac). According to Mojang, since the beginning of 2016 Minecraft continues to average 53,000 copies sold per day. Microsoft bought Minecraft (and Mojang) in 2014 for $2.5 billion. In 2016, Microsoft released a version of Minecraft specifically for educators called MinecraftEdu that is used by thousands of teachers around the world.

Minecraft for Makers explores the intersection of this creative and beloved electronic game with the real world. It gives readers the opportunity to take familiar objects from the game - such as blocks, jack o'lanterns, and mobs - and make real-world versions of them. Begin with simple crafting projects using wood, paint, and LEGOs. Then move up to projects that involve basic electronics with LEDs. And, finally, advance to Arduino microcontroller projects that teach programming skills and basic robotics. The skills build progressively on one another, from chapter to chapter, and the emphasis is on fun all the way!

Chapters include:

Basic Projects (Item Frame with Diamond Sword, LEGO Minecraft Block, Minecraft Chess Pieces)

LED Projects (Glowing Minecraft Block, Glowstone Chandelier, Minecraft Chess Board)

Arduino Projects (Minecraft Jack O'Lantern, Night and Day Clock, Robot Creeper)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680453157
Publisher:	Make Community, LLC
Publication date:	08/26/2017
Pages:	174
Sales rank:	937,111
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	9 - 15 Years

About the Author

John Baichtal has written or edited over a dozen books, including the award-winning Cult of Lego (2011 No Starch Press), LEGO hacker bible Make: LEGO and Arduino Projects (2012 Maker Media) with Adam Wolf and Matthew Beckler, Robot Builder (Que 2014) and Basic Robot Building with LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (Que 2012), as well as Building Your Own Drones (forthcoming from Que). His most recent book is Maker Pro (Maker Media 2014), a collection of essays and interviews describing life as a professional maker. John lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three children.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

What You'll Learn xii

Part 1 Basic Projects

1 Item Frame with Diamond Sword 3

Translating Minecraft to the Real World 4

Building the Item Frame 8

Summary 14

2 LEGO Minecraft Blocks 15

Translating Minecraft to LEGO 16

Building LEGO Blocks 19

Summary 30

3 Minecraft Chess Set 31

Building an In-Game Minecraft Chess Set 32

Building a Real-World Chess Set 38

Summary 52

Part 2 LED Projects

4 LED-Lit Minecraft Block 55

Making a Wooden Minecraft Block 56

Summary 68

5 Redstone Lamp 69

Build a Redstone Lamp 70

Summary 80

6 Light-Up Chess Board 81

Building a Minecraft Chess Board 82

Summary 90

Part 3 Arduino Projects

7 Flickering LED Jack O'Lantern 93

Minecraft Jack O'Lantern 94

Summary 104

8 Night and Day Clock 105

Telling Time 106

Summary 117

9 Robot Creeper 119

Building the Robot Creeper 120

Summary 149

A Arduino Crash Course 151

Know Your UNO 152

Sketches: Programs for Arduinos 155

Next Steps 156

Index 157