Can anyone here recommend the best entry point into robotics for adults? Is Spike a good product, or too kid focused? Background is that I'm a software engineer.
Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
101–110 of 199 posts
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#102End of an era
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#103I always preferred the Gilbert erector sets.
I'm pretty sure I had this as a kid. It had very memorable stamped steel girders . I think we built some sort of ferris wheel (not sure which exact model) and I was really unhappy with how slow/weak it was. it was a real depressing moment. Never quite forgot it. Took a good three and half decades before I finally learned how to make high torque spinning things (motor torque got better, easier, and cheaper).
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#104For me the Mindstorms failed at updates and could not work despite heroic customer service that did not include a refund. They are not a tech company and can not do tech.
Since then I've proven that things like ESP32 Arduino etc actually work to teach small kids real robotics. Mindstorms was always a gimmick.
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#105I got the original Lego Mindstorms 1.0 kit for my 8th birthday - there was no programming interface, just a way to select one of 256 possible sequences of high-level actions the robot would perform in a loop. I paid for my first car by working at summer camps that taught kids how to use the Mindstorms 2.0 and NXT, and built my first 3D printer with Lejos ( https://lejos.sourceforge.io/ ), Lego Technic parts and a tin…
> how much dead weight the team was carrying in students who participated in the middle school Lego league, who did not have even the basic coding/engineering skills to make any contribution to the high school team other than paying the membership dues
That kind of just sound like middle school. The clubs and sports I was involved in were things I was very bad at.
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Spike system seems like an odd side-step to me. There are some minor improvements, but not really enough to justify breaking compatibility and making people repurchase everything from scratch. In contrast, Mindstorms replaced the old LEGO/Logo system (which I was fortunate to use in high school), and was a big step forward in a number of ways most noticeably that you didn't have to be tethered to the computer.
I love Legos and by extension the company that makes them, and I still believe what you are saying, that everyone will have to buy new stuff, is exactly the reason the LEGO company is making this choice. They don't make a penny (unless they are somehow involved in a secondary market which probably has much lower margins and higher costs) unless you buy something new, and migrating to a new ecosystem makes so much sen…
Did you know that today's LEGO bricks are compatible with bricks manufactured in 1975?
There is no "migrating" here. LEGO correctly noted that Mindstorms was not very popular with the consumer market, and too complicated for the education market, so Prime is a vastly simpler product that's more accessible from education.
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if thats true. Lego as a corporation has been fairly low on the fuckery index.
LEGO kits used to be composed of fully interchangeable parts. While that is still true of the core build, there are now unique parts in every kit. This is driven by sales.
Because people like them. And the unique parts are compatible with other kits.
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#108I got the original Lego Mindstorms 1.0 kit for my 8th birthday - there was no programming interface, just a way to select one of 256 possible sequences of high-level actions the robot would perform in a loop. I paid for my first car by working at summer camps that taught kids how to use the Mindstorms 2.0 and NXT, and built my first 3D printer with Lejos ( https://lejos.sourceforge.io/ ), Lego Technic parts and a tin…
Kids, right? How dare they not know everything before they are taught!
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have made compatible parts with my at home FDM printer.
I have too on my TAZ, but they either require a bunch of sanding to get the fit right or they are far too loose. I wonder if the tolerances on the resin printers are accurate enough.
extrusion tolerances can be tuned very finely on an FDM printer if you're using a geared extruder head and a well-tuned profile with a well known filament.
very high end FDM printers have been getting down to sub 100 micron dimensional accuracy for many years now.
if you're sanding parts you probably have some low-hanging-fruit to eat tuning wise.
Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms
#110Although they claim to not be abandoning the idea and the trademark altogether, I don't really understand the reasoning behind not using such a seemingly strong brand. Mindstorms appeared pretty popular with hobbyists and in education.
MBA thinking, probably.