Brandon mindstorms for the perfect iRobot.

A couple of years back, the CSIRO visited Parap Primary to demonstrate to the pupils on the future world of robotics technology. Since then, Brandon has been absolutely enthralled by it all. First of all he loves building/making things with his hands, and secondly, he can make these things that he built to work. Just the thought of it would excite him to no end.

He has always been interested in Lego and totally loves it, we indulge him because we find Lego-play educational and creative. But for a boy who gets Lego most of the time for his birthday, Christmas, achievement reward, or simply when a sale is on, his sets can only get bigger or more complicated. He has mostly built difficult sets beyond his age group like the Space Shuttle that we got him for his last birthday, Star Wars Millenium Falcon for Christmas and Queen Anne's Revenge as a reward for his school achievements. So where can you go from here?

Then he discovered Lego Mindstorms. Mind you, we would've indulged him at the drop of a hat, but we didn't get it initially when he asked because it cost $500 here in Australia....plus he was only 8 then and I think it was a bit too rich for that age. Then just after Christmas last year, he brought it up again and he even showed me the limitless capabilities of the robot via Youtube. OK, he does know how to sell himself, and he did get me hooked. Since turning 10 this year, I thought he'd be old enough to handle such toy and started shopping around. After some net-surfing, I found that the Lego Mindstorms are sold even cheaper in the US. They are only US$250 rrp! Sometimes, I can't imagine how Australia can justify such jacked-up prices. So I managed to get one off the net from the US, and with our Aussie dollar stronger than the greenback, I shaved off an additional  $15 with the strong exchange rate at the time. And he got it on the morning of his birthday :)

We are very impressed with what you can do with this toy, and yes, it's capabilities are limitless. Basically, the Lego Mindstorm kit contains software and hardware to create small, customizable and programmable robots. They include a programmable computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and Lego parts from the Technic range to create the mechanical systems.  Good thing is that this toy is versatile for extended play and the range of things you can do with it is endless.

Here are a couple of videos that Brandon showed me of what a Mindstorm can do. Someone wrote the program to enable the robot to solve the Rubik's cube and Sudoku. Brandon is not up to that stage yet, but he'll get there eventually. All I ask from him is that he builds me a robot that can help clean the house. Not a big ask.....really.