Skip to main content

LEGO MINDSTORMS 20th ANNIVERSARY

Image
By


Fan created logo designed by Marina Stamboli, Greece


In honor of LEGO® MINDSTORMS 20th ANNIVERSARY the LEGO HOUSE in Billund, Denmark held an exhibition from Sept 1st to 16th 2018. Of course there was also the traditional celebration cake for all the employees that have been involved with MINDSTORMS throughout the years. 

#MINDSTORMS20 Celebration cake, Billund, Denmark
The large MINDSTORMS family
The exhibit featuring 20 years of creations from fan around the world
In September 2018, LEGO® MINDSTORMS celebrates it’s 20th anniversary.
The journey began in September 1998. That year, the LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX Robotics Invention System was launched after nearly a decade of collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop an “intelligent brick” that would bring LEGO creations to life via computer programming, motors, and sensors. The late Seymour Papert developed the ideas behind the “intelligent brick”. Together with MIT’s Media Lab, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, and LEGO, Papert helped to develop MINDSTORMS.

Shortly after the launch in 1998, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and inventor Dean Kamen, founded FIRST* LEGO League – a robotics competition for middle school students. Today, the competition has grown to 35.000 teams with over 250.000 children in 88 countries.
What started with LEGO MINDSTORMS in 1998, sparked the expansion of new offerings for children and playful adults to explore robotics and coding. LEGO now has an entire spectrum of products for children to learn coding: LEGO MINDSTORMS and WeDo were created by the educational division LEGO Education, LEGO BOOST was developed for younger children, and the newly launched LEGO DUPLO Train gives preschoolers a great way to start coding.
Since the launch of MINDSTORMS a large and very passionate community of robotics and LEGO fans have played a vital role in inspiring children, future engineers, and software developers, by pushing the limits for what you can do with LEGO MINDSTORMS. This exhibition in front of you is a tribute to all the inspiration the fans have given to the robot builders of tomorrow. The community is organized through www.robotmak3rs.com 
* For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
 

Below is a video edited by robotmak3rs' Ahmad Sahar featuring every robot that was presented at the exhibit.



LEGO MINDSTORMS Milestones:
  • September 1998: The Robotics Invention System is launched simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom. Two expansion sets, RoboSports and Extreme Creatures, are also made available.


  • September 1999: The Robotics Discovery Set, Ultimate Accessory Set, Droid Developer Kit and the Robotics Invention System 1.5 are released in the United States.
  • February 2000: The Robotics Invention System 2.0, Dark Side Developer Kit™ (a pre-programmed, remote controlled robot kit), Vision Command System™ (a PC camera expansion kit for the RIS), and Exploration Mars™ (themed robot challenges, building instructions and games for the RIS) expansion set are unveiled at the American International Toy Fair in New York.


  • August 2006: LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is launched


  • April 2007: FIRST LEGO League exceeds 100,000 participants for the first time.


  • May 2008: LEGO MINDSTORMS is inducted to the Carnegie Mellon University Robot Hall of Fame.


  • August 2009: The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 platform iteration is released.


  • January 2013: The 15th anniversary of LEGO MINDSTORMS is celebrated and the next generation platform, LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, is unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).


  • September 2013: The third incarnation of LEGO robotics, LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, is launched worldwide.
www.robotmak3rs.com
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

MINDSTORMS Retires!

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
2023 is the 25th Anniversary of the MINDSTORMS brand. For 25 years, MINDSTORMS has educated and inspired a generation of robot builders, both children and adults. Unfortunately, the LEGO Group decided to end the line on December 2022. Many ROBOTMAK3RS have been passionately involved with the development of MINDSTORMS through the MUP and MCP programs. Even with the newest Robot Inventor line, several ROBOTMAK3RS were invited to submit additional bonus models that were included in the official app. Regardless of the retirement of a major LEGO robotics product line, ROBOTMAK3RS continue to MAKE-SHARE-INSPIRE using all LEGO robotics platforms available to us. Here is the official statement from LEGO. Since its launch in September 1998, LEGO MINDSTORMS has been one of the core ‘Build & Code’ experiences in the company’s portfolio, carrying with it significant brand equity and becoming a stand-out experience for the early days of consumer robotics and leading to current Build & Code
Read more

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix Part 1

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
In honor of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we asked ROBOTMAK3RS to combine a LEGO set of their choice with a MINDSTORMS set. Here is what these five ROBOTMAK3RS came up with.  MINDSTORMS Chess Assistant by Arvind Seshan Overview: When you are new to chess, it can be a challenge to remember which pieces go where. Now, you can use machine learning and LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor to build a tool to help you learn where all the chess pieces go on the chess board. Sets used: LEGO® Iconic Chess Set (40174) and MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor (51515) Review: I really like how the chess set base can store all the pieces underneath and that the board neatly splits in half for handy storage. The chess pieces themselves are very sturdy and well built. My only criticism is the building of the box itself. It was quite difficult to see what pieces to use and since the entire box is made mostly of thin plates, it took a lot of time and patience. I would have liked the storage area to be sliding dra
Read more

Machine Learning Meets MINDSTORMS

By Asha Seshan - ROBOTMAK3R
Machine Learning Extension LEGO MINDSTORMS announced today a brand new feature that is sure to excite all users. Machine Learning Extension is coming to the software in August 2022. This will allow users to implement new applications that were not possible before. Machine Learning has become exceedingly popular in recent years with applications in all sorts of industries from robotics to financial services to climate change. Now, even the youngest of robot enthusiasts and programmers have access to the world of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Comparing two classes Machine Learning on MINDSTORMS will work with both images and audio. For instance, you could train your model to recognize smiles and frowns on your face and have the emotion displayed on your hub. You could train your model to recognize when a red ball is present or not or identify a particular LEGO element. You can control your robot with audio commands that use your own voice. It is exciting to see what new p
Read more