Rebooting LEGO Mindstorms in a Licensing-dominated Toy Market
A closer look at the upcoming ‘Smart Brick’, the recent failure of LEGO Mindstorms, and an opportunity to teach programming concepts without writing code.
Category: Mindstorms
Review: #45678 SPIKE Prime (LEGO Education)
Let’s take a closer look at the contents, the curriculum, and storage solution that comes with the Education-focused Spike Prime set (and related Expansion Set). We’ll also compare it with similar consumer-facing LEGO Mindstorms products.
Update: LEGO ‘Powered Up’ guide
Several updates to make the guide even better!
Over the past 3 years, The LEGO Group has accelerated their transition from the older Power Functions motors to the new Powered Up system. This year, a few new parts were released, signaling the end of the Power Functions era.
4 new parts added to LEGO Powered Up Guide.
I created a guide to the Powered Up system last year to help people understand the new system. This update makes the guide even better!
What’s new in this update?
- Added four new components to the guide.
Technic Powered-up Battery Box (part 22167), 2-port Small Intelligent Hub (part 67351), Sm. Angular Motor (part 68488), and 3×3 LED Matrix (part 47592). - Added a Table of Contents, Shopping Guide, and more…
Learn more about ‘Powered Up’ at brickarchitect.com/powered-up.
New LEGO Mindstorms; New Labels for Hubs, Motors, and Sensors.
After 7 years, LEGO is finally releasing an updated MINDSTORMS set which uses the new “Powered Up” standard. I’ve celebrated by releasing a beta version of LEGO Brick Labels for these next-generation electronics.
#51515 LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor was announced today, replacing the 7-year old #31313 LEGO Mindstorms EV3 set for consumers. (The new set uses many of the same components as the recently released #45678 LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set.)
#51515 LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor (Coming soon)
#51515 LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor — $359.99 (359.99€ / £329.99), 949 pieces, ages 10+. (Available early in Q4 2020)
Beta version of LEGO Brick Labels for Powered Up components.
I’m most excited because this means that almost all LEGO Electronics components have finally moved away from proprietary connectors, in favor of the new Powered Up interface. To celebrate this milestone, I’ve released a “beta” version of new labels for all of the current Powered Up components.
Download and learn more on a new page that explains the Powered Up system.
Will you be adding the new Powered-up compatible MINDSTORMS set to your collection this fall?
