ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Summary: This blog is written by Sizlaq and is about how he restored the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor Windows app using an archived Appx installer and a backup of the app’s downloaded content. Important note: The files linked in this post are external archive downloads for the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor app and its related content. LEGO MINDSTORMS, LEGO Education and Robot Inventor are LEGO Group products/trademarks. Use these downloads only where you are legally entitled to do so and only for legitimate preservation, repair, education or personal restore purposes. I do not own the LEGO app or content, and the links are provided as a convenience for people trying to restore a legacy installation. Download and run archived software at your own risk, and scan files before installing them. Why these backups mattered The reason I started looking into this was simple: LEGO had announced that the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor apps were being discontinued...

Summary: This blog about restoring the Robot Inventor App and Content on macOS was written by Sizlaq. Important Note: The files linked in this post are external archive downloads for the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor app and its related content. LEGO MINDSTORMS, LEGO Education and Robot Inventor are LEGO Group products/trademarks. Use these downloads only where you are legally entitled to do so and only for legitimate preservation, repair, education or personal restore purposes. I do not own the LEGO app or content, and the links are provided as a convenience for people trying to restore a legacy installation. Download and run archived software at your own risk, and scan files before installing them. What success looked like The restore was successful when the app launched from /Applications and the content was already available without needing to fetch it again. That was the important difference between reinstalling and restoring. A reinstall only p...

  Summary: This blog was written by Sizlaq. It is about how he used a saved Android split APK set and a rooted app-data backup to restore LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor with its downloaded content already in place. Important Note: The files linked in this post are external archive downloads for the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor app and its related content. LEGO MINDSTORMS, LEGO Education and Robot Inventor are LEGO Group products/trademarks. Use these downloads only where you are legally entitled to do so and only for legitimate preservation, repair, education or personal restore purposes. I do not own the LEGO app or content, and the links are provided as a convenience for people trying to restore a legacy installation. Download and run archived software at your own risk, and scan files before installing them. Why these backups mattered The reason I started looking into this was simple: LEGO had announced that the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor apps w...

ROBOTMAK3RS + LEGO SMART Play bricks and tiles resulted in some new play possibilities. Can SMART Play bricks and tiles be used to enhance LEGO Robotics?  The SMART bricks and tiles, although designed to be used in conjunction with Star Wars sets, have their uses in other models. Inspired by the dueling in set 75427, I decided to recreate the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game using both LEGO robots and SMART Play components. In the classic two-player boxing game, two robots (Red Rocker and Blue Bomber) face off against each other. Human players use joysticks to move their robots and punch until the head falls off. To create a reasonable body shape and size, I used two small SPIKE Essential motors for the arms. I used the distance sensor as the head and utilized its lights to indicate emotion (when the head is hit, only the lower lights will be on). The head is on a hinge, allowing it to tilt back. To be true to the game, I created a manual joystick for turning the bodies of the ro...

Our very own Anika Brandsma has been selected to have her LEGO robotics models displayed at the LEGO Campus in Billund for an entire year. Anika is well-known for embedding LEGO robotics elements inside her animal-shaped models, allowing them to come to life. This butterfly model was made in collaboration with Harald Vijverberg. You can see it in action here.   The  shark model  uses an EV3 and ultrasonic sensor. The fish have an infrared beacon hidden inside. Watch her interactive EV3 hedgehog pets here . Visit Anika's  YouTube  and  Facebook  channels to see more projects.  You can also learn more about Anika  here .

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 Chryssanthakopoulo s. 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 s...