The step before the NXT step

For the past 10 years, I've been teaching science enrichment classes. One of my classes, LEGO Challenges, is built around the Dacta 1030 set. Without any directions, and using just the pieces in the set, students try to build the tallest tower, the strongest bridge, or the car that will go the farthest when rolled down a ramp. My students get started on a challenge, share ideas, and then refine and apply what they've learned from each other. If necessary, I'll demonstrate a helpful technique.

I don't let my students look at the instruction booklets until they have spent time building on their own. It's not that I'm opposed to instructions -- I just think they should follow some initial exploration.

I'll confess that I never warmed up to the first generation of Mindstorms. My own kids were too young for it, and where I work, other teachers led the robotics classes.

I'm looking forward to working with Mindstorms NXT, but my primary interest right now is the step before NXT. I want to give students the experience of working with studless beams and other Technic elements before they get to robotics and programming.

For instance, students need to get a hands-on feel for gear ratios by building their own gear box. Rather than following directions to build a basic chassis, students should first learn through trial and error as they try to build their own car. That way, they'll understand some of the reasons for overlapping and keeping the sides parallel.

LEGO Education just released a set that meets my "pre-NXT" objectives, the 9632 Science & Technology Set. Here's the blurb in the LEGO Education online newsletter.

I'll post a review as soon as I get my hands on it.

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...

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...

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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