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Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

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Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#61

Post by kypro »

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 also entered a Mindstorms competition at my school and it had a similar impact on me. To this day I look back on that competition as one of my best childhood memories and I think it was a large part of why I went on to eventually study computer science.

I suspect there are many of us out there... A very sad day indeed.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#62

Post by mort96 »

stinkytaco wrote: post #15
freetime2 wrote: post #12

Any alternatives that anyone could suggest for young children looking to get an introduction to robotics?

Spike Prime is their new education branding. This article is kind of misleading since they've been sort of phasing out the Mindstorms branding in favor of a broader education initiative for a while. Spike Prime might not be for very young children, but I'd say a precocious 2nd or 3rd grader could definitely program it.

I'm looking at their Spike Prime stuff now, and nothing I'm finding seems that... interesting? I got my start in programming with the Mindstorms NXT set (this thing: http://www.robotreviews.com/reviews/lego-mindstorms-nxt-8527...), where you got all the parts and instructions needed to build a walking, programmable lego robot. The Spike Prime set looks like... some motors, some sensors, the controller brick, and some parts, but nothing to inspire, no instructions for a cool bipedal robot build, or robot arm, or anything to get the imagination flowing.

Even the bright colors look like something that's designed to educate small kids? The old sets had a "cool" vibe to them. Maybe that made them too gendered, but as a young boy, it certainly helped avoid the shame of "still" playing with lego.

Am I missing something, or does this Spike Prime thing look like less of a replacement and more of a completely different product with a different focus which also just happens to contain programmable lego motors?

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#63

Post by markscianna »

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?

Spike Prime is the replacement, and it’s been a nice upgrade for us

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#64

Post by mFixman »

ievans wrote: post #4

Sad to see this as someone who enjoyed these as a kid and entering robotics competitions based off of them; hopefully the new products will keep the spirit alive. There was even some decent FOSS tooling that developed on top of Mindstorms: I used NXC (Not eXactly C, https://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nbc/welcome.html ) which was a C-like language for programming Lego Mindstorms. It looks like the last release of NXC was…

My first real programming was NQC (Not Quite C, probably related to NXC?). I owe it my programming abilities.

Lego Mindstorms was one of the best creative learning tools you can give a child; my life started the day I stopped using the building manual and started building my own stuff by trial and error.

The world would be a better place if everyone grew up with the opportunities that I did. I wish schools would just let children do whatever with Lego instead of filling your day with restrictive lessons in loud classrooms.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#65

Post by dragonwriter »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #24

It’s a shame but I can see how it’s a harder sell than the nth iteration of a scene from say Harry Potter. IMhO, they could do well by combining programmable elements with thematic sets, say add programmable motion to a haunted house. They have already tip-toed down this path, eg. the roller coaster has an optional motor function. However the pure approach of Mindstorm clearly has too narrow a market.

They aren’t discontinuing it because its hard to sell in that space. They are retiring it in favor of their newer offering in the space (LEGO Education Spike Prime). They also have, for programmable robotics, the younger-kid focussed LEGO Boost. Plus they have at least one DUPLO set aimed at what I think of as the “tactile coding toy” space (where instructions are represented as physical configurations of objects), DUPLO Coding Express.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#66

Post by pavon »

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…

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.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#67

Post by WalterBright »

slimsag wrote: post #13
WalterBright wrote: post #9

I always preferred the Gilbert erector sets.

Erector sets were incredible, as a kid I built RC cars out of those with some over-powered motors and such. Super fun times. I would guess Mindstorms gives more of an intro to programming, while Erector is better for mechanical engineering. (also, hey! I was that weird kid at Handmade Seattle last year who asked to shake your hand :) )

I'd attach Cox engines to them .

It was a pleasure to meet you!

P.S. My mom told me that I couldn't handle the tiny screws used to put the Erector sets together. She was wrong :-) I spent endless hours building things with it.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#68

Post by WalterBright »

kragen wrote: post #33
lupire wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erector was discontinued before Mindstorms were launched, and were not programmable. Mecanno brand has programmable robots, but not the range of sensors that Mindstorms had.

You can still buy them secondhand.

I don't know about Mecano, but the Erector sets online are in pretty sad condition, unsurprising since they're >50 years old now.

Sometimes I'll get from ebay one of the battered metal boxes they came in. They make nice nostalgic decorations.

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#69

Post by colechristensen »

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 I grown man who has built actual robots with all the skills to do embedded programming and mechanical engineering to make robots... I'm still envious of Mindstorms and yet never purchased any despite having the funds to do so.

I think this is the same part of my brain that still thinks getting a PDA is a good idea despite having had a smartphone for I don't know how many years now.

Is there a word for holding on to a desire which has entirely been satisfied with new but different solutions?

Re: Lego Is Discontinuing Mindstorms

#70

Post by primitivesuave »

freetime2 wrote: post #12

Any alternatives that anyone could suggest for young children looking to get an introduction to robotics?

I had tremendous success teaching 7-9 year olds with Piper (https://www.playpiper.com/). It is trivially easy to add moving parts and teach the core concepts of electronics, but the box itself is not great as a robotics platform. In my particular case, the kids also had access to a laser cutter and CAD software that would automatically generate the 2D shapes and joining slots.
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