For over 40 years, LEGO building blocks, with their interlocking snap-together system, have allowed kids of all ages to use their imagination to design their own toys. But what if you could use programming software to make those LEGO designs move?
Not only would you have a more fun toy - you might also be developing the next generation of engineers and scientists.And that is exactly what the LEGO Group and National Instruments (NI) had in mind when they collaborated on the Mindstorms NXT software program for the LEGO robotics system, according to John Field, Mindstorms Software Group Manager for National Instruments.
The LEGO/NI alliance began in 1998 when they developed Robolab, the first generation of LEGO Mindstorms. It quickly became popular, not only commercially, but as one of the leading robotics learning tools for educators.
After the success of that first collaboration, LEGO decided it wanted to take advantage of new technology developed since 1998, and bring a similar product not just to the retail market but into the classroom, too.
"It's important to get kids interested in science and technology at an early age," Field said. "Statistics show that if girls are not involved or interested in these subjects by the fifth grade, they will move onto something else that interests them."
Mindstorms is powered by LabView, a software product that uses graphics, instead of the usual text-based system, as a programming language. It allows scientists and engineers to write their own programs with little or no programming experience.
"LabView essentially lowered the bar for scientists and engineers," Field said. "And LEGO and NI believe that this can also be the case for middle- and high-school students."
With Mindstorms NXT, a simple drag-and-drop, graphical interface allows kids (and adults) to program their LEGO robots to move, crawl, walk or do almost anything that can be imagined. There's even a Mindstorms Developer Program (MDP), where members showcase their designs in the MDP Invention Gallery. Some of these inventions include robots that play games such as Tic-Tac-Toe and Twister, one that lays out dominos, and another that plays golf.
Field noted that kids today have an almost natural inclination towards technology as evidenced by their involvement with video games, computers, and cell phones.
"The next step in the evolution of thinking about a product and how it is used is figuring out how to actually solve the problem of building the product," he said. "Mindstorms might be internally sophisticated, but it is easy to use and makes the 'play' experience interesting."
Mindstorms gets children to use their imagination to think about what they want to build, in this case a robot, and now they can actually do that on their own and make it move..
So just how happy will your young engineer be to get LEGO's Mindstorms NXT as a present?
According to Field, Mindstorms was designed so children who receive it on Christmas morning can be programming their robot within a half hour, and show it to the family before dinner is on the table. If you're lucky, maybe the LEGO robot will be programmed to clear the table and wash the dishes.