Gadget guru

Our tame tech expert lets us into his shed of knowledge.

How do I step up my Lego game, Guru?

While GaGu is somewhat excited at the prospect of the forthcoming Super Mario Lego, with its Bluetooth and sensors and screens and wahoos, that’s only one kind of technological Lego – the company’s STEM-focused sets are utterly cool if you actually want to learn something. Mindstorms is probably your most obvious digital port of call, and while it’s not been updated in a couple of years, the Mindstorms EV3 set gives you a bunch of studded sensors and motors with which to concoct all kinds of robotic creations; for slightly younger kids, the Boost Creative Toolbox does similar things. There’s even a Star-Warsthemed Boost set: Star Wars Droid Commander, which lets you build and pilot an R2-D2 around your desk.

And don’t overlook the Technic range, which is way more interesting to build and subsequently fiddle with than the standard bricks’n’blocks collections. It’s always been home to innovation, and is starting to offer up some far more advanced mechanical marvels of its own. Witness the slow trundle of the Top Gear Rally Car and the 4X4 X-treme Off-Roader, both app-controlled and both plenty fun. Then contact your bank manager about the enormous and incredibly desirable Liebherr R 9800 Excavator, a 4,108 piece machine with a laundry list of controls.

You know what GaGu says, though: go big and stay home. As long as you’re holed up with relatives able to tolerate that your assembled ABS knick-knack takes up more than its fair share of shelf space, the 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon set is a fan favourite with hours of building enjoyment backing it up, though the Imperial Star Destroyer makes up for its comparatively titchy part count with a larger footprint.

Tom Wardlow