For educators and parents who want to introduce robotics to their kids, the LEGO's MINDSTORMS is a godsend. Introduced in 1998, this unique robotic kit comes in the form of LEGO toy pieces that kids know and love, and all electronic parts are pre-built and packaged in kid-safe format. The programming is simple yet flexible enough for those who wish to make more complex robots. The MINDSTORMS robotic kit is designed for children 12 years and older, and it's an excellent starter kit for first-timer robot builders, both children and adults.

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System is the core set in a line of technology-based products from LEGO. It is the product of a longstanding relationship with the MIT. With this kit, you can create robots in many shapes and forms. By utilizing various sensors in the kit, you can make your robot autonomous and smart in reacting to touch, colors and more. The bundled software will let you program a long list of functions that the robot can perform without having to learn a programming language. The tutorial on the CD and the Constructopedia book will help you construct, program and test your robots in very short period of time.

In the box

Along with over 700 LEGO elements, the MINDSTORMS comes with an RCX Microcomputer that acts like a brain for the robot, 2 motors that will drive your robot, 2 touch sensors and 1 light sensor to give your robot the ability to react to touch and light. You will find the Constructopedia book that introduces the tools for building the robots as well as some ideas on how to build different types of robots. There is a CD-ROM that contains the software for building programs and an excellent tutorial that walks you through how the software works. There is also a USB IR transmitter included in the kit for downloading firmware and programs you create to the RCX. A light sensor test pad is also included. 

Material

The majority of the kit is comprised of LEGO pieces that serve different functions in building robots. These pieces include plastic building blocks, pegs that connect adjoining pieces, gears and wheels that allow your robot to move using the motors, bendable plastic tubes that can make various shapes and even rubber bands that can make belts. The Constructopedia shows you some tips and tricks on how to build various parts such as legs, arms, drive belt, etc. and you can also search online to see how other people use the pieces to build their robots. The more robots you build, the more ideas you will have as you get very familiar with the functions each LEGO piece can provide. The LEGO elements are durable and reusable. You can easily incorporate other LEGO pieces or tools into this kit.

While the LEGO elements provide the body of the robots, the RCX brick is the brain of the Robotics Invention System. The RCX 2.0 has an 8-bit microprocessor with 16K of internal ROM, 512bytes of internal SRAM and 32K external SRAM. The RCX has three power ports to which you can connect your motors,  and three sensor ports where you can connect the light sensor and bump sensors included in the kit. There is a one-line LED that displays any action the RCX is taking including program downloading, program running and more. You can turn on or off the RCX by pressing the red button on the brick, select and run programs by pressing the gray and green buttons. You can also view the status of each power and sensor port by pressing the black button.

The RCX communicates with your computer via a large IR port in the front of the brick. You can connect the included USB IR transmitter to your computer and aim the IR beam to the RCX IR port to download and run programs. Underneath the RCX is the battery box where you will need to plug in 6 AA batteries to provide power to the robot. Of course being a LEGO robotics kit, the RCX is covered with studs and holes so that you can easily put this brain on any robot you've created.

The RCX connects to the motors and the sensors via the specially wired LEGO pieces. You can tell them apart from the rest of the LEGO elements by spotting the wires and the metal wrap on the sides of the studs. Because these are pre-built wired pieces, you can experiment various ways to connect them to the RCX and test different behaviors your robots perform as result. These plug-and-play wires make it easy and fun to experiment and safe for children to handle.

Construction

The LEGO MINDSTORMS kit provides the ultimate flexibility in constructing many types of robots with a single kit. The Constructopedia shows you step-by-step graphical instructions on how to construct three types of robots: the Roverbot, the Acrobot and the Inventorbot. You will get to use most of the LEGO elements if you construct all three. This helps you understand the functions of the pieces and how they can be connected together. I highly recommend you build all the robots and additional arms, wheels and legs shown in the Constructopedia before you start inventing your own robots.

Here are more robots built based on the instructions of the Constructopedia:

Of course, all the hands-on experience you gained in building "stock robots" will help you build robots of your own design. This is where the LEGO MINDSTORMS really shines. Because every piece is re-usable, you can design, build; redesign and rebuild as many times as you wish. Combine this with programs you write for each robot design, the possibilities are endless. If you don't have enough pieces, you can always get additional LEGO elements. LEGO also has released an accessory pack and more expansion sets to the MINDSTORMS product.

Programming

After you've built the robot's body, now it's time to train its brain. The programming in the LEGO MINDSTORMS is very easy thanks to its turnkey packaging. You don't need to learn programming languages to write programs for your RCX. Install the software from the CD-ROM included in the kit to your PC (no Mac support), and you are ready to write programs. There is an excellent tutorial on the CD that walks you through how to program.

There are mainly three types of commands you can give the robots: movements, power, sound and sensors, and time variables. These commands are organized into Big Blocks, Small Blocks and other tabs so that you can visually see what types of commands you are adding to the programs. The interface is simple to use: drag and drop a list of commands to a program, download it and run it. By giving time/wait variables to certain movements, you can make the robots move in certain patterns. By giving power variables you can make the robot move at a certain speed. Combine the movements and power with sensor commands you can make your robot perform some complex behaviors.

You can not only drag and drop one command to a program, but also you can take a string of commands and drop it into another program. You can repeat and save programs, reuse them, edit them or delete them easily using the Robotics Inventor System software interface. After you've created the programs, you can use the IR transmitter to download them to your RCX brick. Make sure that the RCX is within range of the IR transmitter. You can monitor the download process via the LED on the RCX. When a program is downloaded successfully, the RCX will play a sound to let you know that you are ready to run the program.

If you are a programmer, you can download the SDK from LEGO website to develop more powerful programs for the RCX.

Conclusion

The LEGO MINDSTORMS is a great robotics starter kit that both children and adults will enjoy. Building and programming is very easy. The re-usable material provides the robot builders the ability to experiment with as many robots as they can imagine building. The user documents, software tutorials and information online are great resources to help robot builders learn and invent with this kit. In addition to the MINSTORMS kit, there are other expansion sets which make this product very scaleable.

While the LEGO MINDSTORMS is a wonderful kit for learning and experimenting, it might not be suited for those who are looking for robotics kit as a platform for applications that requires the robots to be more securely or permanently assembled for tasks such as running on rough terrain. It could also use a remote control which would make program testing easier, though you can get the remote control in the Ultimate Accessory Set.

Price: $199.99
Web site:  http://mindstorms.lego.com/