I thought the LEGO River Steamboat would be an interesting set for a ROBOTMAK3R review for a few reasons. First, the LEGO designer of the model is Marina Stampoli, a long-time collaborator of the late ROBOTMAK3R Vassilis Chryssanthakopoulos. From earlier collaborations with Vassilis, I knew Marina was incredibly talented, with an eye for aesthetics and functionality. Her background in architecture is particularly useful for her relatively new position at LEGO. Her other sets include the Magic of Disney (21352), Message Board (41839), and Red London Telephone Box (21347). Second, watching Marina's reveal video and reading her designer interview made this set even more tempting to build. The gearing mechanisms running through the model gave way to many opportunities for automation using LEGO robotics elements. Since ROBOTMAK3RS is all about adding interactivity and automation to LEGO brick, I thought it would be fun to see where and how LEGO robotics could be added to this set.The Set:
The cons. Building the set was at times very tedious. The set says its intended audience is for 18+, yet the colors in the instruction book are definitely not geared towards those over 50. For instance, the brown and black elements highlighted by red lines against a grey background are difficult to view, and make placing all the elements challenging at times. I asked a younger person to try it out and they too expressed challenges (albeit somewhat less). LEGO needs to reevaluate its contrast colors in instruction booklets. This is the feedback I have given in the past for many other "adults welcome" sets.
In addition, it felt like not much progress was being made between the bags. Some bags only add decorative tiles, and some bags have very few elements compared to others. For instance, some bags were just building railings for a level, and that got boring quickly. I personally preferred bags of brick to be a bit more even. While the sticker elements are cute, they are not critical to the overall beauty of the boat. e.g., having a "caution" sticker or a sticker of the pump didn't add much. I also didn't understand the need for a "museum" inside the riverboat. While the elements used to create the "Roman steam engine" and the James Watt engine were clever, perhaps they were not critical to this design. The other big issue I found is space. While the model is large overall, the compartments inside are very small. If an element falls off the stove or anything else, it is challenging to put it back into place once the floor has been completed. Hence, the playability level for this set is a bit low. A person will more certainly knock off a pot from the stove or a glass from the table, etc. It is also quite surprising that, given all the detail in the interior of the set, not one minifigure is provided. A pilot and passengers would have been greatly beneficial to this set.
If you enjoy long builds, this is a set for you. Progress is made slowly as you build up the boat from the very bottom. There are some interesting building techniques. It is very interesting to see the gearing at the very bottom slowly being built up to the top. The functionalities start to emerge even when you are just working on the early bags of LEGO bricks. In fact, you can roll the boat, and you can turn the gears and enjoy the functions even before you are a quarter of the way through the build. I really appreciated how the instructions indicated how to test the gearing you just built. This helps reduce errors. It's always fun to be able to take parts of the model off to see the different layers in big sets such as this one. As I mentioned earlier, there is not much room to play inside each level, but I do love how the levels come off easily. Overall, I was very impressed with the design and how much detail was included. The overall styling is very true to real steamboats. While the designer interview said that inspiration also came from Nile and Scottish steamboats, etc., I felt it was almost identical to the steamboats in the United States. Below is an image for comparison.
New Elements:
The new 5M connector element introduced in the set is very interesting. LEGO part 6546682/5443 is an axle connector without friction at one end. This new element is the key component to allowing the gearing in the Riverboat set to go through each floor and yet come off easily to separate the levels. As a brand new element in 2025, only two other sets currently use it. When you do take off a level of the riverboat the axle section does sometimes fall off and land in one of the decks which I did not like that much.
Adding LEGO Robotics:My goal was to see how to add LEGO robotics elements to the set to create some automation. SPIKE Essential became my chosen platform as its hub is small enough to sit on the topmost level of the boat and not distract much. SPIKE Essential has two ports; I decided that one motor could be used to motorize the rudder and the other to control the boat's swinging stages. Unfortunately, the model is very heavy and engineering it to drive is a much bigger challenge with LEGO motors and I did not want to tackle this. However, SPIKE Essential motors have a very small profile, and I was actually able to place one inside the pilot house at the very top to hide it away. In addition, I could fit the entire Hub inside the cabin level below and by taking off some of the system brick, have the motor cables go to the right places. However, if you do not want to change the structure of the boat, keeping the hub and motors outside as in the image on the right works well. A second SPIKE Essential could be used to motorize the paddlewheel, and a color sensor could be added to activate the motors (e.g., when a minifigure pilot is detected, start motors). I did not have a second SPIKE Essential set to try this out. The entire riverboat comes with a stand. While the intended play is to "drive" the boat on a surface and watch the paddlewheel turn, having the model raised allows for LEGO robotics elements to be added to motorize the model.
Overall Rating: 8/10
ROBOTMAK3R Rating: 8/10
