31–40 of 199 posts
Can they at least open source all the CAD so we can 3D print these suckers?
> 3D print these suckers? Famously, LEGO has an extremely tight manufacturing tolerance that's around 10um [1]. Your 3d printer is much better than mine. :) 1. Page 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego#cite_ref-Companyprofile_3...
Any alternatives that anyone could suggest for young children looking to get an introduction to robotics?
You have microswitches, photoelectric and magnetic sensors, motors and pneumatic actuators to name a few. It all came with a software to program it all in a flowchart like fashion.
I fondly remember unpacking a set at christmas and playing with it. Honestly, I think Fischertechnik had a huge impact on me and put me on the career path that I am now. While my last experience with Fischertechnik is more than a decade ago, the website seems like they haven't lost their spirit
Any educational tool/toy must be public domain or free license.
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 system that kit used was great for me as a tween learning robotics.
Today I am designing an open source farming robot as a non profit project! (See my profile)
The early history of Lego Mindstorms is interesting. I didn’t realize Seymour Papert was involved but that makes a lot of sense! Especially with the name Mindstorms:
Any alternatives that anyone could suggest for young children looking to get an introduction to robotics?
Lego is similar to Nint€ndo and Di$ney, they do not support the free culture, instead their lawers fight agains to free software projects or charity events. Any educational tool/toy must be public domain or free license.