Future of Mindstorms

[Jim]

For a long time, I have been wondering if there is any news on the future of Mindstorms? I would love to see a new NXT set, with more possibilities, combined with Power Functions (this can already be done with 3rd party sensors, etc).

A seperate battery unit and control unit would be awesome. Motors with a more conventional dimension would be nice too, like the PF motors.

[Ondra]

Imo mindstorms is dead.Lego isnt computer facility and how many customers buy mindstorms for their kids?This set isnt cheap and If you didnt understand programing is also flustrating.I think new mindstorm set will not be introduced, but wd see something as control center.

[Jim]

Imo mindstorms is dead.Lego isnt computer facility and how many customers buy mindstorms for their kids?This set isnt cheap and If you didnt understand programing is also flustrating.I think new mindstorm set will not be introduced, but wd see something as control center.

Browsing the internet clearly shows Mindstorms is far from being dead. In my opinion Mindstorms should be considered more of an adult product and/or an educational tool. In both ways it's a very popular product, so my guess is that at the end of the day Lego does profit from having a product like Mindstorms.

[Sokratesz]

Merging a new generation of mindstorms with PF would be a good move. It would allow people to use their existing PF heavy models such as the 8043 excavator and the 8075 dozer with it, and of course the trains. I would also like to see a minimum of 5 motors controllable..

- Sok.

[imajor]

Imo mindstorms is dead.Lego isnt computer facility and how many customers buy mindstorms for their kids?This set isnt cheap and If you didnt understand programing is also flustrating.I think new mindstorm set will not be introduced, but wd see something as control center.

You must be joking. I read somewhere (can't find it now) that Mindstorms is one of the most successful sets of lego. Also, as far as I know Anders Christensen Gaasedal (the designer behind 8043) left the technic group to join the designer group of mindstorms. So I hope they are preparing something exciting on the mindstorms line now.

[Jim]

Merging a new generation of mindstorms with PF would be a good move. It would allow people to use their existing PF heavy models such as the 8043 excavator and the 8075 dozer with it, and of course the trains. I would also like to see a minimum of 5 motors controllable..

- Sok.

That was indeed was I was thinking of.

Having a seperate control unit and power unit (battery box, rechargeable battery, etc) would be beneficial in several ways. The NXT unit is quite large and having two units will give you more flexibility in placing the units in your model. And the power unit can be replaced without the need to remove the control unit. And the option to use multiple power units.

Controlling more motors would be great. Maybe adding some extra motor types (L and S).

A control center still is an option. Using the same (seperate) power supply, but without the NXT control unit. I see loads of options

You must be joking. I read somewhere (can't find it now) that Mindstorms is one of the most successful sets of lego. Also, as far as I know Anders Christensen Gaasedal (the designer behind 8043) left the technic group to join the designer group of mindstorms. So I hope they are preparing something exciting on the mindstorms line now.

You are absolutely right. Comes to mind that I have read that article too. That's what made me wonder what the future will bring. Thanks for reminding me of this article

[Burf2000]

Imo mindstorms is dead.Lego isnt computer facility and how many customers buy mindstorms for their kids?This set isnt cheap and If you didnt understand programing is also flustrating.I think new mindstorm set will not be introduced, but wd see something as control center.

How on earth can it be dead, they use it in thousands of schools and for education. The set is cheaper than other USC sets

Long live Mindstorms

[Ondra]

For schools maybe, but for regular customers is in my country uninteresting.I work with NXT 2.0 for first lego league...What can i said?Very bad concept exceeding lego standarts.Hard to programing for non IT experts.Behavior of robots is not accurate, every time we did same request to robot, he does anything else.And last bad implenting to models because of huge main brick with lack of connections and terrible and big motors and only 3 can be connected to brick

Remember mindstorms is still a toy mainly for kids, not professional robot.If there will be next mindstorms, I hope will be smaller, easier to program and concept will be something as first mindstorms kit(Easy to build and implent).

[Aqualize]

I have the NXT 2.0. Use the robotics invention kit (or what it was called) at the university for real-time programming-course a few years ago.

My own NXT I've not gotten around to program much (I have leJOS NXJ on it).

I don't think I will run out and buy the next mindstorms but I would like to point out some expectations I have.

• Control more mindstorms motors (rotation aware). We are now used to PF and can control 8 motors at the same time differently (or more if they are on the same channel), we require a cheap and easy way to do this. The cheapest IR link sensor on bricklink costs $80 and there are totally only 8 pieces available. It is to expensive today I think.
  
• Separate control unit and battery box. Perhaps move to PF battery box, there are 6 AA batteries in both, why have more types of battery boxes than needed.
  
• I presume and expect that they keep the open philosophy so groups implement their own OS's.
  
• The control unit needs to be expanded in term of processing power. Compare to what a smartphone is capable of. If I remember correctly the NXT brick have some 32 or 64 kB memory. It wouldn't cost them anything to get a tenths or a few hundred megabytes nowadays. Also I don't know what processor it is exactly (but some ARM-variant, right?). They have come quite far also so they should be able to update it significantly.
  

[Burf2000]

For schools maybe, but for regular customers is in my country uninteresting.I work with NXT 2.0 for first lego league...What can i said?Very bad concept exceeding lego standarts.Hard to programing for non IT experts.Behavior of robots is not accurate, every time we did same request to robot, he does anything else.And last bad implenting to models because of huge main brick with lack of connections and terrible and big motors and only 3 can be connected to brick

Remember mindstorms is still a toy mainly for kids, not professional robot.If there will be next mindstorms, I hope will be smaller, easier to program and concept will be something as first mindstorms kit(Easy to build and implent).

I will agree that the motors are huge and a poor shape, and the connectors are very limiting, bring back RCX's

[Toastie]

I will agree that the motors are huge and a poor shape, and the connectors are very limiting, bring back RCX's

I could not agree more. RCX, yes, they rock. The NIX PBrick is OK though ...

However, what worries me very much is that "Mindstorms" items have entirely disappeared from the LEGO "catalogs", at least from the stuff they send me. What's going on here? Anyone experienced the same?

Regards,

Thorsten

[Nazgarot]

I could not agree more. RCX, yes, they rock. The NIX PBrick is OK though ...

However, what worries me very much is that "Mindstorms" items have entirely disappeared from the LEGO "catalogs", at least from the stuff they send me. What's going on here? Anyone experienced the same?

Regards,

Thorsten

Yes, and it worries me to..

I hope they are only removing them from consumer sale, and focusing more on educational sets. That could give us some interesting things in the future, but they might be hard to get. Or maybe they are removed for a time, befor relaunching a new mindstorm series. Lets hope...

Edited September 1, 2011 by Nazgarot

[mescalinum]

I also hope for a new NXT 2.0 set...

by the way, since the NXT 2.0 motors are already studless*, I doubt there will be an evolution on that.

maybe something along the RCX philosophy (i.e. regular motors + a new PF rotation sensor) would make sense?

*: when I discovered PF, I've been a bit disappointed, maybe because I was expecting something more, like servo motors ...or anti-gravitational motors -ahem, ok, they added IR remote with speed control... I'm too demanding- but I see the main reason of PF was to finally kill the last bit of studded pieces and go 100% studless

by the way, PF wires have two extra control signals, maybe in the future we will see something "special"?

I'd love to see a new range of PF I²C sensors

[PerryMakes]

Something is definitely in the works...

They are either gearing up for a HUGE new release, or it's going to be very bad news. I'd like to think it's the former - and won't accept anything else

[DLuders]

One can download a 642-MB, Windows-based "Virtual CD" of the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 software here, and then follow the steps to install it on an Apple MacIntosh-based machine.

[fyrmedhatt]

I could not agree more. RCX, yes, they rock. The NIX PBrick is OK though ...

However, what worries me very much is that "Mindstorms" items have entirely disappeared from the LEGO "catalogs", at least from the stuff they send me. What's going on here? Anyone experienced the same?

Regards,

Thorsten

Lego did include a full page on Mindstorms NXT in the American Summer 2011 catalog, so I don't think it has been forgotten about.

I'm curious about what a new Mindstorms set would include, I'm guessing a new generation brick could shrink significantly in size with all the advances in compact computing in the past five years, and the computer hardware related costs are always decreasing, so a slight drop in the price wouldn't be unexpected.

Anyways, I doubt lego would cancel the line, as it is a very successful line with a lot of fans, and it has opened a whole new educational market for them where they are the only player. Proper integration with power functions makes a lot of sense, Lego seems to be trying hard to accomplish that with the rest of their products.

[PetrXP]

I will agree that the motors are huge and a poor shape, and the connectors are very limiting, bring back RCX's

The connectors are very limiting. What did you mean?

[Follows Closely]

My soon to be 10 year old asked for this for her Birthday in November. Are there any rumors that may influence my buying decision. I also want to purchase two, one for each older kid so we can have battles.

[Sokratesz]

My soon to be 10 year old asked for this for her Birthday in November. Are there any rumors that may influence my buying decision. I also want to purchase two, one for each older kid so we can have battles.

It doesn't seem like they will be discontinued any time soon, and if anything, the criticism they receive here is that of AFOL's who want to take the set beyond what it is meant for. In and in itself they are still great toys with a challenge. Just make sure you have enough additional bricks to build nice stuff from, the part count in the NXT sets is fairly low.

- Sok.

[Jim]

It doesn't seem like they will be discontinued any time soon, and if anything, the criticism they receive here is that of AFOL's who want to take the set beyond what it is meant for. In and in itself they are still great toys with a challenge. Just make sure you have enough additional bricks to build nice stuff from, the part count in the NXT sets is fairly low.

- Sok.

I totally agree with Sokratesz.

And even if the set will be discontinued, you can still have fun for ages. Especially if you buy two

The process of building a (simple) robot, programming it and exploring the possibilities is just plain fun. It's a great way for a 10 year old (or an adult) to learn some programming and thinking out of the box. It's fun, it's educational, so go ahead and buy them. Of course you can start with one, just to be sure you and your kids like it.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Gekke Ted

[Follows Closely]

It doesn't seem like they will be discontinued any time soon, and if anything, the criticism they receive here is that of AFOL's who want to take the set beyond what it is meant for. In and in itself they are still great toys with a challenge...

My main concern is that I don't want to buy 2.0, then have 3.0 come out a month later.

...Just make sure you have enough additional bricks to build nice stuff from, the part count in the NXT sets is fairly low.

- Sok.

We have been accumulating LEGO for 2.5 years now. All the technic has been tossed into a large tub to be sorter when the kids where older. That time is now here! Below you will see our non-technic blocks.

I totally agree with Sokratesz.

And even if the set will be discontinued, you can still have fun for ages. Especially if you but two

Two is a must. I have bought a few other Technic sets with the intention of bring them out when the kids are a bit older, sets 8110 and 8043. I thought that the motors could be used in conjunction with the NTX. Bad assumption I now learned.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Follows Closely

[Burf2000]

The connectors are very limiting. What did you mean?

The fact you can't join cables together, you have to buy custom NXT cables to go over long distances.

[Jim]

My main concern is that I don't want to buy 2.0, then have 3.0 come out a month later.

It won't. Otherwise we would have probably known. Most of the time, the new to be released sets are leaked very early on.

(no garantees of course hehe)

We have been accumulating LEGO for 2.5 years now. All the technic has been tossed into a large tub to be sorter when the kids where older. That time is now here! Below you will see our non-technic blocks.

Nice setup!!

Two is a must. I have bought a few other Technic sets with the intention of bring them out when the kids are a bit older, sets 8110 and 8043. I thought that the motors could be used in conjunction with the NTX. Bad assumption I now learned.

It's not a bad assumption. There are third party sensors (hitechnic) which can be used to send controls to the IR receiver. And there is a sensor to receive RC commands from PF remotes. So they can be used in conjunction. There's a nice Wall-e model on the net, which uses both NXT motors and PF motors.

This is the IR receiver

http://shop.lego.com...tics-ByCategory

And the IRLink Sensor (transmitter):

http://shop.lego.com...tics-ByCategory

They are officially supported by Lego.

You can take a look on the hitechnic website for loads of other cool sensors, building instructions, etc.

http://www.hitechnic.com/

Edited September 20, 2011 by Gekke Ted

[Burf2000]

MindSensor also make some nice sensors but not approved by Lego for some reason

[Jim]

MindSensor also make some nice sensors but not approved by Lego for some reason

Indeed!

MindSensors.com and Hitechnic.com are the ones to look for.

I think the MindSensors are a bit too "non-Lego" if you understand what I mean. Hitechnic makes sensors which basically have the same shape as the standard Lego NXT sensors and therefor can be fitted alike.

If you want to take NXT robotics to the next step, MindSensors sure has some cool stuff!

Edited September 20, 2011 by Gekke Ted