LEGO Robots Build Kids

LEGO robotics is a great way to develop creativity and STEM skills in children. In this blog post, we highlight some children who are learning by building and programming robots.

The ROBOTMAK3RS are committed to inspiring and fostering the next generation of inventors, engineers and programmers through our events, workshops and competitions.

Every quarter, we run a community build contest with a theme. Children are permitted to enter. In this article, we highlight the work of some entrants in our last contest as well as work we have seen posted by children across our six ROBOTMAK3R Facebook Groups.

Siddarth Agarwala from Houston, TX started out on a FIRST LEGO League team. Having aged out of the program now, he not only mentors other teams, but is taking his building and programming skills to the next level. Siddarth built this amazing model that combines LEGO MINDSTORMS with Raspberry Pi to play Rock-Paper-Scissors. His project made the top 6 in the ROBOTMAK3RS Game Design Competition in September 2020. Judges were very impressed with the sophistication of his project and how he incorporated multiple platforms into his design.

How it Works: The MINDSTORMS brick randomly chooses between Rock, Paper or Scissors and sends that information to the Raspberry Pi. The Pi uses a speaker to tell the use what the brick chose. The microphone on the Pi records whatever the user says. Since the model uses voice control, the user has to verbalize his or her next move. However, they may chose to physically show their move for fun as well. The Raspberry Pi then compares the input from the user and the output from the MINDSTORMS to determine who wins the round. The results are announced via the speaker. After this, the robot asks the player for a fist bump. The robot returns to its starting position and starts pumping the pneumatics again for the next round.

Diego Barreda, an eight-year old from Mexico, is developing his STEM skills using SPIKE Prime. Recently, he built the Labyrinth. It is a maze game controlled by the built-in gyro sensor in the SPIKE Prime Hub. Diego's entry also made top six in the ROBOTMAK3RS Game Design Challenge. The judges were very impressed with Diego's creativity, coding skills and explanations. Here is a link to Diego's work.

Two young brothers on YouTube are also creating robotics lessons for Spanish-speaking children. These boys are inspiring future engineers with their content on MINDSTORMS. We love their energy and enthusiasm.

Sai Pranav is a ten-year-old student in Goa, India, using LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 to learn math and science. You can watch his Ted talk on the impact of using LEGO robots here.

Follow our Facebook Groups and look out for our quarterly contests.

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these summer and fall remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Remote controlled material handle r by Jozua van Ravenhorst (aka Mr Jo) This remix combines the LEGO Technic Material Handler (42144) with MINDSTORMS EV3 (31313) It uses the power of pneumatic cylinders to move objects around. By using a bluetooth remote control, very precise movements can be made with this model. Touch sensors in the base chassis prevent the turret twisting the cables that go through the turntable to much. The program has several protections to prevent over pressurizing the system for each of the 3 individual pumps and valves that control the 2 booms and claws. The real version of this machine is mostly used in waste material sites to bring the material to machines that sort and

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

MINDSTORMS Retires!

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

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