LEGO Mindstorms NXT projects

Question

I have a LEGO Mindstorms NXT set and since I bought it I almost never used it. Sometimes I think I could do something interesting with it, but I usually either feel like just copying a previous made project or stuck with no ideas of what to do. The obvious answer probably is

"If you try some project of other people at some point you start connecting the dots and come up with your own ideas"

I would like to know if other people had this feeling in the past what they ended up doing.

As for background information: I have no experience with Technic sets, but have experience with computer science and math.

Answer 1

I think your "obvious" answer is right. Given that you have a background in computer science and math, I'm certain you will be pleasantly surprised how fast you can go beyond connecting dots and come up with unique and innovative designs. I admit being in the same position, but with an EV3. It sat for almost six months before I really started working with it. Based on my experience, I encourage you to commit to doing a few small projects to understand the potential. Start small for some immediate gratification. Log some experience, and you will start seeing ways to hack this little device. This is a necessary step to doing something cool and innovative. You gotta commit to building!

Answer 2

If you just start trying to make a robot that does a perfect square path you will be surprised how hard stuff gets and how many things you can do... beyond all the imaginative design...

I have already written three posts on the subject and each time I have to kill new ideas so I can concentrate in what I have to do.

The first one is this http://thetechnicgear.com/2014/05/tutorial-using-motors-draw-square-mindstorms-ev3-lejos/ and as you can see it is a pretty basic robot.