Lego Mindstorms
Building our future overlords
DAY 01
There’s a sense of ambition as I peruse the hefty box, checking out the five distinct builds — and trepidation as I peer at the many bags inside. The lid wants to be a sorting tray but, annoyingly, lacks dividers. There are no physical instructions either.
It soon becomes evident why there’s no book in the box: it’d have to be a doorstep to cater for five complex robots and their many accessories. Fortunately, the Mindstorms app quickly installs and is zippy… as is my eager six-year-old co-reviewer, who brazenly ignores ‘10+’ clearly being marked on the box. Sorry, Lego. She informs me our first build will be Charlie, a cute, squat, square-jawed tyke who trundles around on two big wheels.
Right away it’s evident Lego has wisely prioritised immediacy and fun. Rather than spend two hours building Charlie before anything happens, you first construct his head, turn it on and connect it to the app via Bluetooth. His head mostly comprises the Intelligent
Hub — the ‘brains’ and battery of Mindstorms creations — that incorporates a 5x5 LED matrix, speaker, gyro, accelerometer and ports.
Gently, the app introduces the interactive elements of Mindstorms, largely through having us experiment with built-in drag-and-drop programmes. Charlie wakes up, blinks and says “Hello” in a robotic voice. The kid is smitten and starts poking around to change the animations and sounds.
Over the next two hours, Charlie gains a body, wheels, arms and plating. At each step, there’s something new to do. When complete, he has a celebratory dance and the youngster and I delve into the programming blocks to customise the sequences.
She has ‘My ipad is better than your one’ flash across Charlie’s face. Educational toys, eh? Then an orange light flashes. Something’s wrong! Turns out Charlie needs a recharge. Having assumed some kind of build error and spent quite a lot of time double-checking everything, it would have been nice had the app mentioned this…
At each step there’s something new to do; when the first robot is complete he has a dance and we start customising
DAY 02
Charlie has a dozen activities.
His drumkit goes down a storm. Distance and colour sensors allow him to ask for a high five (and respond appropriately if you leave him hanging) and deliver mini-builds from inside his chest. There’s real character here; and from a tech standpoint, four motors provide ample scope for creativity.
DAY 04
We move on to other builds. The child is not impressed. I promise we’ll rebuild Charlie after my review is done. This is deemed acceptable. We try Tricky, the smallest robot, with activities primarily based around sports. One of these is the Rube Goldberg-esque ‘Chain Reaction’… and the large pile of spare parts sparks ideas for another day.
DAY 06
Blast is next — a humanoid robot constructed on a scaffold (see main pic). He has dynamic movement and uses sensors to defend a room and blast objects. The child, however, isn’t fussed. “Is that it?” she remarks. To be fair, she’s become fascinated by pictures of the quadrupedal Gelo…
DAY 09
I finally find an evening to construct Gelo. He scampers across the floor like a Boston Dynamics robot in mini plastic form, and controlling him from the hub means chasing him around. (Do not try this on a table unless you’re fast enough to catch a plummeting stompy Technic beast. Ahem.) With a remote, he’s fascinating and performs tricks while presumably plotting mankind’s destruction.
DAY 12
Our last build, Modular Vehicle Platform (MVP), starts life as a conventional RC buggy, but you can add a brick-eating device, a missile-firing turret or a deeply impressive crane. The child spends a happy half-hour delicately nudging the remote, using the crane’s hook to pick up baskets.
DAY 14
It feels like we’ve merely scratched the surface of this reboot. Yes, the set ditches compatibility with old Mindstorms elements, lacks a proper screen and relies on a device for programming. But it offers great clarity and scope, plus an attitude that encourages tinkering… whatever your age.