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| tinyurl.com/bcr3e -> www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=17278&countrycode=2057&yearcode=&archive=false LEGO Group Unveils LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Robotics Toolset at Consumer Electronics Show LAS VEGAS LEGO Group today announces LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, a new system that redefines the consumer robotics category the company created in 1998. Smarter, stronger and more intuitive than ever, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is a robotics toolset that provides endless opportunities for armchair inventors, robotics fanatics and LEGO builders ages 10 and older to build and program robots that do what they want. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, available in August 2006, was shown for the first time to media who attended tonights Digital Experience, and will be demonstrated in the Robotics TechZone (Sands Expo #70127-C) Thursday, January 5 through Sunday, January 8 during the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show. Building upon the success of the globally-renowned Robotics Invention System, the next generation of LEGO MINDSTORMS makes it quicker and easier for robot creators to build and program a working robot in just 30 minutes. Simultaneously, new technologies and expanded sensor capabilities add a level of sophistication to excite and challenge more experienced robot creators. The heart of the new system is the NXT brick, an autonomous 32-bit LEGO microprocessor that can be programmed using a PC, or for the first time in the retail offering, a Mac After building their robots, users create a program within easy-to-use yet feature-rich software, powered by LabVIEW from National Instruments. Users with Bluetooth-enabled computer hardware can transfer their programs to the NXT wirelessly, or anyone can use the included USB 20 cable to connect their computer to the NXT for program transfer. The robot then takes on a life of its own, fully autonomous from the computer. The inclusion of Bluetooth technology also extends possibilities for controlling robots remotely, for example, from a mobile phone or PDA. When LEGO MINDSTORMS launched, we fundamentally changed the way people viewed LEGO building and play and helped spark the trend of affordable and attainable consumer robotics, says Jo/rgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO, LEGO Group. Eight years later, were ready to improve upon the single best-selling product in the companys history. Weve developed the new toolset with expanded components and capabilities to challenge our existing community of dynamic fans. Meanwhile, the systems new software, design and 30-minute quick-start program are geared toward recruiting a new, younger generation of robotics enthusiasts. A special version for school and institutional use is also releasing later this year. com, a blog written by writer, gamer and robotics enthusiast Jeff James, focused on the growing and fascinating world of consumer robotics. The company also announced details for a Developer Program. com LEGO MINDSTORMS MILESTONES Since its introduction in 1998, the LEGO MINDSTORMS build and program robotics toolset has become the best-selling product in the LEGO Groups history. Garnering worldwide acclaim, the Robotics Invention System has fueled the imaginations and satisfied the inner tinkerer of generations of LEGO and robotics enthusiasts alike. Seymour Papert, of Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Development Laboratory of Computer Learning becomes LEGO Professor of Learning Research. January to February 1998: LEGO MINDSTORMS and the Robotics Invention System are unveiled to the public at Toy Fairs in Nuernberg, London and New York. July 1998: RoboTour 98 launches from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, kicking-off a two-month, 30-city odyssey across America in search of learning about and seeing everything robotic. September 1998: The Robotics Invention System is launched simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom. Two expansion sets RoboSports and Extreme Creatures also are available. December 1, 1998: Robotics Invention System 10 sells out before the Christmas rush. February 1999: The Robotics Discovery Set, a derivative of the Robotics Invention System allowing users to program right on the smart brick instead of through the computer, and the Droid Developer Kit, a pre-programmed, remote controlled constructible robot kit, are unveiled at the International Toy Fair in New York. September 1999: The Robotics Discovery Set, Ultimate Accessory Set, Droid Developer Kit and the Robotics Invention System 15 are released in the United States. The Droid Developer Kit and the Robotics Invention System 15 are released in Europe and Asia, and The Robotics Discovery Set and the Robotics Invention System 15 are launched in the United Kingdom. February 2000: The Robotics Invention System 20, Dark Side Developer Kit (a pre-programmed, remote controlled constructible robot), Vision Command System (a PC camera expansion kit for the RIS) and Exploration Mars (themed robot challenges, building instructions and games for the RIS) expansion set are unveiled at the International Toy Fair in New York. September 2000: The Robotics Invention System 20, Dark Side Developer Kit and Vision Command System are released in the United States. February 2001: SpyBotics, a spy gaming-oriented series of remote controlled and programmable robots, are unveiled at the International Toy Fair in New York. September 2001: SpyBotics are released in the United States. January 2006: The next generation of LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics is unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Back to list The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company, based in Billund, Denmark. It was founded in 1932 and today the group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of play materials for children, employing approximately 5,600 people globally. The LEGO Group is committed to the development of children's creative and imaginative abilities. LEGO products can be purchased in more than 130 countries. LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of The LEGO Group. |
| www.wired.com/news/culture/0,69946-0.html The Michelangelo of Lego By Brendan I Koerner Lego built a global empire out of little plastic blocks, then conquered the wired world with a robot kit called Mindstorms. So when the time came for an upgrade, they turned to their obsessed fans -- and rewrote the rules of the innovation game. "It basically said, 'We have an opportunity for you here, but we can't tell you anything until you sign a nondisclosure agreement,'" says Steve Hassenplug, a soft-spoken software engineer from Lafayette, Indiana. The cryptic tone of the email from Lego headquarters hinted at something more than a simple customer survey, but Hassenplug didn't know what. After all, he's a master at assembling the plastic bricks into complex robots, like his wheeled, self-balancing machine dubbed the LegWay, and he's something of a celebrity in the Mindstorms world. But there hadn't been a Mindstorms update in nearly four years, and rumor had it Lego might abandon the product altogether. Intrigued, Hassenplug signed the NDA, received a username and password, and was ushered to a secure online forum. Even there, he found no official information -- just an email thread between a few peers: John Barnes, David Schilling, and Ralph Hempel. Hassenplug knew them well from Brickfest, the annual conference where Lego zealots show off their most elegant creations, from massive starships and richly detailed cathedrals to giant bipedal robots. The four Mindstorms experts speculated as to why they'd been tapped and sworn to secrecy. Lego probably needed beta testers for a Mindstorms update. After lurking for a few days, So/ren Lund, the director of Mindstorms, dropped in on the conversation. He told the crew that a revamped kit was, in fact, in the works. Lego needed a Mindstorms User Panel, or MUP, to help with the design. "I was surprised they were so early in their development, and I think everyone else was, too," recalls Barnes, an electronics engineer from Holland Patent, New York. "We realized that our input was going to be a lot more important than we had imagined." Over the next 11 months, right up to the January launch of Mindstorms NXT at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the four men were de facto Lego employees. They exchanged countless emails with Lund and his team, reeling off ideas for new sensors, redesigned input ports, and stabilized firmware. The MUPers also met with Lund at Brickfest in the US and at Lego's Denmark headquarters to hash out specs for the computer that serves as the brain of every Mindstorms creation. For their participation, Hassenplug and his cohorts received a few Lego crane sets and Mindstorms NXT prototypes. Such loyalty isn't unusual among the fanboys who've swooned over Mindstorms since its 1998 debut. Four years after its release, version 20 still sells 40,000 units a year at $199 a pop -- with no advertising -- and has become Lego's all-time best-selling product. The market is almost evenly split between parents buying the kit for their budding engineers and grown-up geeks who build Mindstorms robots that can scale walls, solve Rubik's Cubes, or pick blue M&Ms out of a pile. The kit, due in stores in August, looks nothing like 20 and isn't backward compatible. Users still program the bots from their PCs, but everything else about the experience has been changed. The centerpiece of a Mindstorms kit is the RCX brick, which acts as the robot's brain. It receives input from sensors and sends instructions to motors, breathing life into plastic-block creatures. The new brain has a 32-bit processor -- a huge upgrade over the old 8-bit processor -- allowing NXT bots to perform more-complex tasks than their predecessors, like ambling with a near-human gait or reacting to voice commands. The chunky yellow brick in the old kit -- which looked like SpongeBob SquarePants -- is gone, replaced by a gray rectangle that could be the love child of an iPod and a first-gen Gameboy. The programming language has been revamped, as have the sensors, motors, and I/O ports. As a result, Mindstorms NXT robots look and act far more realistic than their predecessors. But the boldest part of the Mindstorms overhaul is Lego's decision to outsource its innovation to a panel of citizen developers. Relying on the MUP is a gamble that Lego hopes will lead not only to a better product but also to a tighter, more trusting bond between corporation and customer. Note: You are reading this message instead of message board comments either because you have javascript turned off, are running software that prevents you from viewing 3rd party javascript files, or because you do not have a supported browser. Terms & Conditions Note: You are reading this message either because you can not see our css files (served from Lygo, a Lycos image server, for performance reasons), or because you do not have a standards-compliant browser. |