Lego Mindstorm NXT

Lego has come a long way since its inception.  As a youth, I dug through landslides of colorful blocks to construct Frankenstein monsters. This is far from what I'd be able to do now with Lego. Lego’s latest product, Lego Mindstorms, is a line of Lego Group robot kits combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears, axles, beams, and pneumatic parts) to build robots and other automated or interactive systems. Lego Mindstorms may be used to build a model of an embedded system with computer-controlled electromechanical parts. Almost all kinds of real-life embedded systems, from elevator controllers to industrial robots, may be modeled using Mindstorms.

There is a strong community of professionals and hobbyists of all ages involved in the sharing of designs, programming techniques, and other ideas associated with Lego Mindstorms. I had mixed feelings about the Lego Mindstorm NXT because as a Lego purist, I believed that the pieces should be simple, and the designs complex.  But, kids are so technologically savy  today, there is no way they would get excited about blocks when their friends’ have PlayStations.

For those who grew up with Lego, know that the Mindstorm NXT is a creative tool packed with technical specs, and boasts enough features to keep things very interesting.  Lego is taking innovation to the next level.