lego mindstorms nxt

Meet AlphaRex. He's one of the robots I will be building shortly with my new Lego Mindstorms NXT set. I have been looking forward to this for a long, long time.

One of the reasons I have remained a fan of Lego over my 40 years is that Lego never compromises their quality. I have Lego parts that were purchased in the 1960's, that were used continuously by myself and my siblings until probably the mid-1980's, and those parts are not worn out at all.Perhaps a bit scuffed up from being stirred around in a box while we searched for the elusive 1x2 flat plates, but otherwise perfect. They still hold together as if they were new. And not only are the parts durable, the instruction booklets are durable. With the robotics, the software is well-thought out and properly presented. Everything in the Lego world is presented with a professionalism and a respect for the consumer that is unmatched.

As a Robotics Invention Systems 1.5 user (the previous Lego robotics incarnation) I was continually amazed at the capabilities of the base system, and even more amazed at how far the user community was able to recreate the system. I became a huge fan of Dave Baum's NQC, using the BricxCC IDE to develop and test programs far more complex than the original Lego IDE would allow. And it didn't stop with software: The number of 'homebrew' passive and non-passive devices that were developed by the user community was staggering. Mike Gasperi is the undisputed homebrew sensor King. Ralph Hempel has written two programming languages for the Mindstorms Series: pbForth for the Robot Inventions System series, and now pbLau for NXT. And there are more, such as LegOS.

It looks like that enthusiasm has carried over into the NXT world as well. If you look at Phillipe Hurbain's website, you will see the kind of dedication Mindstorms has invoked. I cannot think of another 'toy' that pushes people so hard to think and create. It would be interesting to find out how many software and hardware engineers, who are at the top of their game, played (or more likely still play) with Lego. Alot, I bet. Probably well over 80%.

Lego has become the seminal cross-generational toy. People who loved it as kids love it as adults. For people like me, there has always been Lego, and there will always be Lego.