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Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

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Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#171

Post by jjeaff »

vertis wrote: post #169
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

I can trace my success as a software engineer to the 'too big' presents my parents bought me for xmas/birthday. I had a desktop computer of my own as 10 year old in 1992, and a laptop, a Powerbook 190 with a 16 grayscale screen, in 1995. A 33.6k modem also in 1995 (and a second phone line because my parents got sick of me tying up the main line). I only had these things because my parents recognised my interests and…

Same for me. And I keep this in mind when trying to help or trying to not be judgemental of people who are less fortunate than myself.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#172

Post by 1letterunixname »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

As long as you went to MIT, majored in mechatronics, and made a 3-legged pogo bot, it's all good. :)

I had the conflagration of about 25 LEGO sets prior to Mindstorms. Perhaps that caused me to head over to EE/CS? I did have Big Trak though that could fire frickn laser beams. :)

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#173

Post by midoridensha »

primitivesuave wrote: post #138
lupire wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids, right? How dare they not know everything before they are taught!

I was there to teach them, the problem was most of them didn't have the intrinsic motivation to learn. Everyone was excited to be assigned some work, but only a handful of students actually went through and finished the tasks they were given, while most were content to simply get on their phone or play an online game. A decade ago, I was a student on the team, and I remember everyone doing a lot more with a lot less.…

>What followed was a vile and vitriolic rant about how their kid was the leader of the Lego robotics team, and maybe it's because you aren't assigning them the right work, and on and on.

The quality of American parenting has taken a big nose-dive in 10 years...

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#174

Post by agumonkey »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

I forgot how early Lego went with controlled electromechanics. Even before mindstorms they had some kind of electromechanical drawing board.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#175

Post by eastbound »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

I don’t understand the Mindstorms pricing:

- Even you as a privilege background, you had to join Birthday and Christmas,

- If a Raspberry Pi costs $30, why would each single motor at Lego cost $25? Why can’t we have an excellent Mindstorms set for $200?

It looks just like segmentation and extracting the dollar fro where it is, but wouldn’t the market be much bigger if it were a little more affordable?

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#176

Post by rockbandit »

galoisscobi wrote: post #46

This is sad. Lego Mindstorms played a huge role in my life trajectory. I discovered RCX and NXT in middle school, absolutely loved building stuff with them and went to robotics competitions. It got me really interested in robotics to the point where I decided I would move halfway across the world for college to get educated further in robotics. I did that and I am now a professional roboticist. None of that would’ve…

I’ve always wanted to jump into these, but our family was never in the most financially secure situation back then.

I’ve long had this hope of getting a Mindstorms set and working on it with my daughters someday (4 and 6).

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#177

Post by npteljes »

app4soft wrote: post #72

> That said, SPIKE Prime is effectively LEGO Education’s implementation of MINDSTORMS, so it’s tricky to envision how the two platforms could co-exist under a single banner. And SPIKE web app[0,1] does not work in Firefox : > Browser not supported > Use Google Chrome to access the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. [0] https://education.lego.com/en-us/downloads/spike-app/softwar... [1] https://spike.legoeducation.com/

I scoff at this message every time. We're back at "This website requires Netscape Navigator 4.0"

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#178

Post by fuzzythinker »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

FYI, your site seems down (12:40am PST)

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#179

Post by echelon »

npteljes wrote: post #177
app4soft wrote: post #72

> That said, SPIKE Prime is effectively LEGO Education’s implementation of MINDSTORMS, so it’s tricky to envision how the two platforms could co-exist under a single banner. And SPIKE web app[0,1] does not work in Firefox : > Browser not supported > Use Google Chrome to access the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. [0] https://education.lego.com/en-us/downloads/spike-app/softwar... [1] https://spike.legoeducation.com/

I scoff at this message every time. We're back at "This website requires Netscape Navigator 4.0"

You're not kidding. They've outright blocked Firefox.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#180

Post by bippingchip »

k__ wrote: post #58
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #36

As others have noted, they still have an education focused robotics set, it’s just not called Mindstorms: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-education-spike-prim... As a now-successful robotics engineer, I was the target age when the first Lego mindstorms set came out. Due to the cost it had to be a combined birthday and Christmas present (still obviously very privileged). The simple scratch-like programming sys…

What would you recommend to kinds these days?

I was looking for a Christmas present robot kit for my 8 year old and still on the fence between mindstorms or the makeblock robots. (The Codey Rockey in particular, but the mbot looks really nice too)

I have colleagues that organize coserdojo sessions for young kids fully centered on the makeblock robots. You can program them in scratch to get started, but a push of the button gives you the equivalent Python code once the kids graduate from scratch.

I am surprised to see Lego cancel mindstorms, but it does make the decision easier…

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