Fan-Designed Mindstorms Release Next Tuesday

EaglesNest writes "The Washington Post has a story describing Lego's new Mindstorms. Two years ago, Lego formed their own 'star chamber' to decide what the next iteration of Mindstorms would look like. Eventually reaching 14 people, the Mindstorm users panel had a huge impact on what will be released commercially next week." From the article: "One member was even able to pressure the company into building a part that makes its debut in the new Mindstorms set -- a rare event at Lego, which treats every individual piece with reverence. The new part is a connector that allows two long pieces to be joined at a 90-degree angle. The resulting toy has much more up-to-date technology than the original set, including a USB 2.0 port for fast downloads and Bluetooth for wireless connections. With the right parts and programming, a Mindstorms robot can dance in response to sounds or follow the beam of a flashlight."

Comments

great news but...

[grapeape]

The new mindstorms set sounds great, but the article contained rather disturbing news about the financial state of LEGO. How does a company that makes plastic bricks loose over 200 million in one year? Im sure that the new mindstorms will help boost the bottom line but I cant help but think LEGO's biggest problem was when they went away from generic build kits to licensed sets with highly proprietary (i.e. unusable for much else) pieces. Is it that kids arent as creative today or does LEGO just keep them from being able to be creative? Part of what made LEGO's col in my day was that you could create just about anything you could think up. When I was a kid UI was able to build an entire rebel base for my star wars figures with a blanket and lego bricks but today I have to buy a $75 kit. Todays sets appear to be more of a model kit than a creative toy.

Re:great news but...

[IDreamInCode]

I have this set and I have to say it's one of the coolest Lego sets EVER. I even had to go back and reclaim some of my old Legos from my little brother after 10 years or so.

Yes, I'm 25 and still play with Legos.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2Mu7hadI8&search=nxt- a-sketchMy NXT-A-Sketch

Re:great news but...

[vux984]

but there's still a lack of basic parts on the shelves.

That really depends where you shop I guess. Around here it doesn't seem to be a problem.
The ToysRus, Walmart, and Zellers all have a stack of these on the shelves:

Start with a couple of these:
http://shop.lego.com/product.asp?p=4496 - 805 basic pieces in a variety of colors

Add in one of these for doors and windows:
http://shop.lego.com/product.asp?p=5482&cn=44&t=5& d=11

And maybe this to get you some wheels and propellers, and other funky parts
http://shop.lego.com/product.asp?p=10159

Sub in a few star wars space craft to for my classic space stuff.

And I can pretty much recreate my childhood.

All the linked sets are readily available in stores around here, at least.

----------------

the other issue is almost the other extreme with mindstorms. They need better pieces in order to make more useful models. Once you get past a certian size.. about 12" in any direction they "techinic" models become fragile and unweildly to PLAY with. /shrug

This one is a non-issue to me. Lego has a scale limitation for most projects. All you can do is get over it. A lego car can only be so big (and be playable) - the available choices for wheels alone are a limiting factor. For motorized creations, yeah the scale limitations are more insurmountable because now you are limited by batteries, motor torque, and so on, not just lego's structural limitations... but so what?

Suppose you *could* make a working lawnmower out of lego... it would be too dangerous to sell to kids. ;)

The Wired Article

[Phat_Tony]

Covered more thoroughly in Wired last February.

Huh.

[SheeEttin]

Huh.