*LEGO Simulators

Is buying or using a LEGO NXT set required? For schools / universities the kits will be reused, but companies find the idea of buying a toy questionable. So is using a simulator possible or useful for design even when LEGO NXT will be used.

Most articles can only be downloaded with a subscribtion or from a school with one
Realistic simulation of a Lego Mindstorms NXT based robot  IEEE article

LEGO NXT Mindstorms and the MS Robotics Developer Studio : a package whih contains a 3D simulation of the Tribot


LMSimulator http://ddi.uni-paderborn.de/en/software/lego-mindstorms-simulator.html 

older JRE is included which causes problems with 4DIACs use of FBDK.