LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547)

I was a huge Lego fan growing up, and played a lot with the Expert Builder (now Technic) series. I purchased this set for my 11-year old and I have been amazed at all the incredibly advanced things you can do with this set. Including, building robots that actually solve Rubik's cube puzzles by reading the colors on the cube and manipulating the cube, reading and solving Sudoku puzzles and penciling in the answers, etc. My son has played with this set constantly for the last month and has built literally dozens of models. The re-playability is incredible, and it seems the more he plays with it, the more he likes it. One great feature is the ability to download building instructions and programs from the Mindstorms website, and other places on the Internet, so the possibilities are endless. My kid started with the basic models and instructions that come with the kit, and they worked really well to get him started. He really liked the ball-shooter and color-sorter models. From there, he branched out to the Mindstorms portal for more models. Then the Internet. Now, he is building his own creations, and using it for school projects, etc. The educational value is fantastic, as it teaches robotic and computer programming fundamentals. My son actually registered for a robotics elective at school after playing with this toy. One word of caution, though. This set definitely requires either a teenage/tech-savvy child, or an adult willing to provide tech support. To play with this toy, you need to install software, connect the Mindstorms brick to your PC, do basic programming tasks with the software, etc. Getting started felt overwhelming at first, but once you get through building the starter model, it's clear sailing. So, if you aren't willing to put in the time with your kid to get him up and running, I wouldn't purchase it. However, once my kid was up and running he quickly became self-sufficient, and for me was well worth the time investment. Besides, I think spending time with my kid was a bonus. :-) I had one minor problem installing the Mindstorms software on a Mac running OS X Snow Leopard. It required a patch available from Lego to get the software to install correctly. Other than that one minor hiccup, everything else has worked great. Also, invest in some good re-chargeable batteries, because you'll need them! One final word of caution...if your a Lego guru, you may end up playing with this thing more than your kid!

Got this at Xmas, son is 13 and sorta of the geeky type of kid but he wanted one. This is a cool toy if your child is going to use it. My son gets fustrated and quits. He did manage to build the robot n make it walk and a couple of other things but that required me pestering him. Lots of small parts to lose and break (havent yet - knock on wood). Its an expensive dust collector now.

I design equipment control's for a living, so I'm fairly adept at these types of embedded processors. Purchasing the NXT kit only seemed a natural way for me to spend more time with my two boys (12 and 9) and sneak in some education at the same time. The Good: > This is an awesome idea by Lego - a toy that can be reused over, and over, and over again and is only limited by the imagination. > It really is a good tool to teach your child the fundamentals of programming. > The software (by Labview) is well done and about as easy as it can be made to be. > The parts are compatible with other Lego products - greatly expanding the capabilities. > It really does lend itself to parent/child together time. The Challenges: (Note that I say challenges, because I would really say that there is anything bad about the product. > If you've never programmed before, you have to expect that there will be a learning curve. Don't expect to be doing anything you can imagine right away. > It really feels to me like a starter kit. Most things that we want it to do, there are simply not enough parts for. For example, a fourth motor would be really useful as well as a third button and an analog input device (an input that varies in value instead of off/on - like a light dimmer). To really make this fun, I think that you either need two of them, or find a friend with one. > You have to find clever ways to attach to the motors and the 'brain' in order to build a stable structure. I know of lots of regular lego parts that could have been included to make this easier. Summary: The Mindstorm is a great product that lends itself to quality parent/child time. The experience is enhanced by a combination of a technically savoy parent and an inventive child. You'll find yourself thinking and building all kinds of interesting devices together. To keep it from going into a closet after the first month, though, you need to plan on further investment. It is a starter kit, and needs further parts to make it really useful. Consider getting together with friends or joining a club. SteveJ

Forse il più bel prodotto della Lego! Bellissimo e stimolante, sempre interessante grazie alla infinità di opzioni di costruzione e programmazione che offre! Le istruzioni sono ben dettagliate, ha di sicuro una longevita' lunghissima, anche se ovviamente usciranno altre nuove versioni. Stimolante non solo per i bambini/ragazzi ma anche per i giovani più maturi... ehmmm! ;-) Ottimo l'uso con pile ricaricabili. Consigliatissimo per iniziare i più piccoli alla logica informatica (ad oggetti) [...]

Compré este producto hace ya algunos años atrás después de mirar varias opciones similares en el mercado (Arduino, etc). Las opiniones disponibles entonces eran bastante favorables lo que me ayudó a confirmar mi compra ya que te los piensas un poco debido al precio. Definitivamente ha sido una compra con diversión garantizada!! :) VENTAJAS: * Recomendado para niños y adultos. * Amplia gama de proyectos disponibles. * Intuitivo y facil de armar. * Diferentes posibilidades para su programación. * Materiales resistentes. * Multiples sensores disponibles. DESVENTAJAS: * La duración de las baterias es corta haciendolo poco atractivo para determinados proyectos. * El uso con transformador limita la movilidad.

offert à un grand, il a pu se régaler et même l'utiliser pour son projet de fin d'étude au bac S. Une petite merveille de technologie, avec un guide tout à fait compréhensible pour monter et programmer de déliceux robots.

I bought for my 11 year old son for Christmas, I had looked at previously but put off by the high cost, but price has come down slightly. I am really pleased with the set and my son thinks it's cool. I would recommend introduction to Lego technics first as it is quite difficult to put together. There is only 1 model to make in the included instructions , but you can down load about 4 more detailed instructions from the Lego website, but to be honest clicking on the computer to go to next page while building is a bit of a pain. You will also need to connect your creation to a pc to program it. The programming in lab view is quite straightforward but you can just download the programs from Lego. This is the best way how to understand how software works. You can connect via cable or via Bluetooth. If you read the blogs there are some Bluetooth compatibility issues not all work. Also it would let me install the software on my netbook (running windows 7 starter) which was a bit of a pain as this had compatible bluetooth . The only real benefit of Bluetooth really is for remote control- there are a few ways around this the simplest is to download an ap to your android smartphone- this is very basic but works a treat. You can also Download iPad ap but this only controls via a pc so you will still need a compatible pc. The phone ap is the cool option. This is a really cool set, once you understand the various sensors you can look to build your own models, there are lots of books available to give you ideas, plenty of bids on YouTube but often you need lots of extra pieces that you probably won't have. Lego don't seem to make expansion sets or general buckets of technic of mid storm parts. The Lego website sells motors, sensors and cables but very little it the way of parts. There are plenty of brick sites and e-bay but can be hit and miss and quite difficult to identify parts in some books. All in all an excellent educational toy. Lego just need to do more with expansion sets.

以前から気になっていたマインドストームをとうとう買ってしまいました． 噂通り，たいへん簡単に作ることができます．英語版でマニュアルもたしかに英語ですが， 組み立て手順は，万国共通の（文字なしの）イラスト絵だけで描かれていて，しかもたいへ ん適切です．マニュアルってこういう風に書くんだと，妙なところに感心してしまいました． 私の場合，最初のロボットの組み立てにかかった時間は40分くらいでした．慣れた方なら ば30分以内に完成させる人も多いと思います． 子供の教育用とがメインなのかもしれませんが，ものづくり意欲に飢えている大人にも， 十分な満足感を与えてくれます．この価格でこの満足感，しかも分解，組み立てを繰り返す ことができるのだから，コストパフォーマンス高いです． 不満点をあえて挙げるとすれば以下の通りです． １．組み立てマニュアルはよくできていますが，組み立て後の各センサのテスト方法やデモ 動作の動かし方については少しややこしい印象です．本体のディプレイの解像度の関係 で表示文字数も少ないのでメニュー構成を理解するのに少し時間が必要でした． ２．部品は結構耐久性が高いように思いましたが，車輪の車軸については結構細いので，力 を入れすぎると折れそうです． ３．別のセット製品だと充電式バッテリーとACアダプタが同梱されているようですが，本製 品にはついていませんので，通常の電池を使用し，ときどきケースをあけて入れ替えな ければなりません．やや不便です． ４．私の場合，自作のセンサやスイッチなどから本体に信号を与えてそれに従って動作させ たかったのですが，インタフェース仕様が公開されていない（と思う）ようです． これから情報を集めます． しかし，このような不満も気にならないくらいの全体的な満足感を味わいましたので，買っ て本当によかったと思っています．