Photos from MUP/MDP meeting in Atlanta

1. Soren was using Steve's Bluetooth control to have some fun with the small tribot. Just a side-note: The Bluetooth control also had PONG loaded on it... I'm not kidding. Apparently Soren and Paal are not very good at the game :) Mark (from California) and I could only watch as the head of the Mindstorms NXT division demonstrated his driving skills...

2. Bryan, Soren, and Paal... you can see Soren using the large wheel on the control. Depending on whether he was controlling Bryan's robot or Steve's robot, the wheel had a different effect. Soren was having so much fun with it, he wouldn't let go of it... (see picture #4).

3. Paal had his turn... at one point he had the small bot doing 360's... just spinning in place like crazy, but not going anywhere. It was fast and care had to be taken not to drive it off the table. Steve and Mark watched (Steve kept saying "you break it, you're buying me another...").

4. It was a good visit with Soren and Paal... they're good guys and really enjoyed themselves. It came as no surprise that these 2, working for a toy company, still laughed and had fun with the robots. They asked a lot of questions - and Paal told some funny stories. Apparently, many of these LEGO leaders refer to important decisions by giving them names based on the location they were when the decision was made. Bluetooth is referred to as the kitchen-in-California decision. Paal tells us that's where they were when Bluetooth was given the go-ahead.

5. Peter (from South Africa) was our unofficial spokesman for the FLL. He made sure that Soren and Paal heard his concerns and praises for both the RCX and NXT in the competitions. I enjoyed meeting him and hearing about his work with the students in South Africa.

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT...

ROBOTMAK3RS Review: LEGO River Steamboat

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...

Ghostbusters R.T.V Remix

Nino Guba is from Torrance, California, USA. He played with LEGO as a kid, but growing up in the Philippines, it wasn’t something he had easy access to. He only got reintroduced to LEGO when he moved to the US and had kids of his own. When his sons were younger, they received LEGO sets as gifts, but as they grew older, the sets got put into storage as their interest faded. Fast forward a few years, he started coming up with his own product ideas and thought about how he could quickly prototype them. That’s when he discovered LEGO MINDSTORMS—and was hooked! He raided his kids’ old collection, got everything organized, and now he's designing and building his own creations, blending his coding skills with LEGO robotics to bring ideas to life. Tell us about your Ghostbusters Remote Trap Vehicle (R.T.V) project. This project is a LEGO Technic adaptation of the Ghostbusters R.T.V.—a ghost trap converted into a remote-controlled vehicle. Its companion build is a prop replica of the Futaba...

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