andythenorth

Matches the box art, no? Although I haven't put my glasses on yet, so eh.

Unlikely we'll ever find out the licensing details, it will be commercially confidential. But Lego has been ranked the most powerful brand in the world in at least 2015 and 2017. https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/apple-rated-worlds-valuable-brand-lego-powerful/1334086

I'll bet you Liebherr are paying TLG, in 'co-marketing contribution'. But the argument is getting kind of old, it comes up in quite a few of threads.

Aside: the planetary also isn't restricted to being used as a wheel hub We now have a compact inline gearbox for any purpose.

it's also worth keeping an eye on the Mindstorms and Robotics forum (it's adjacent to Technic Forum in the list). There are threads covering Spike, Bricknil, Powered Up etc. https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/forum/186-lego-mindstorms-and-robotics/ PU / Control + / Boost / Spike is all initially a little confusing, but fundamentally it's open, flexible, and (mostly) interconnectable. It's very positive.

I really like the top heavy, hench look. It's lolzy, in a good way. Reminds me of chibi-style

The 'license fee' thing is mega lolz. The 'license fee' Lego 'pay' to Mercedes or Volvo will look like this: Mercedes or Volvo license, for free, Lego to use their intellectual property in designs and trademarks Lego commit that Mercedes and Volvo will have a sign-off right on multiple design phases, to check the set is close enough to Mercedes or Volvo brand values Mercedes or Volvo commit to provide Lego with €xxxx worth of media spending and marketing events I co-founded an ad company that works with licensed IP from entertainment franchises like Star Wars and Transformers and with vehicle manufacturers like Audi and Mercedes. They're pretty different arrangements. The licensed entertainment IP costs a crapload for the license (we don't pay that, our clients do), and everything is signed-off right up the wazoo by the licensor. We've had site inspections and all kinds of stuff by people from Hollywood. Meanwhile the car companies just want a good news story, and they'll spend to get it. Get me, I am the big I am eh? What a tool I must look like. Anyway the table shows that there's no specific trend where licensed Technic costs more than, it's just a jumble of price-per-piece. Lego probably just price Technic at what they think people will pay. PPP is weird anyway, cos some pieces are like 0.5g or something, and others are 30g or whatever.

Always the same crap about licensed sets cost more. It's *not* Star Wars. Anyone sensible got the price-per-piece count on licensed sets vs. non-licensed?

Boost Hub has tilt sensor built in, so good chance the Control+ hub in the Liebherr will also feature tilt sensor. Previous pages of this thread might have more info

I had a go with this last night, and got it working very quickly, controlling Boost. Much faster *for me* to understand than the alternatives I've seen (because I'm familiar with python and python modules). Thanks.

See also https://www.wiejelo.com/succesvolle-blussing-van-een-liebherr-lh-974/

I bet €10 that Control+ doesn't use the Spike colour barf / distinctive pastel scheme / description of your choice. On the Spike parts: Technic doesn't need the extra features in the large Spike hub, e.g. multi-segment LED display, etc 42100 doesn't need what these Spike motors do: fine angular precision; totally not needed with the LAs etc in the Liebherr face shovel

Very valid question. I can only recommend these 2 threads in Trains forum, lots of information there

Eh colours what? It's an education set. They use bold colour schemes. Keep up eh? Spike colours are: different to Boost, which is cyan and orange different to WeDo which is cyan, and greens different to Mindstorms, which uses red accents The colour coding makes the parts easy to work with, and easy to find / sort / tidy up / inventory in a classroom context. You spooners aren't the target audience The colours aren't gender specific, most of gender-specific colour theory is bollocks. And yes girls like robots too, who'd have ever guessed? Lego League is a huge educational STEM event in the UK, about 50:50 gender balance in my experience.

Mate that is too true. Staying inside the Lego system is just a convention. It's not even a rule.

Oof such tease 8285, one of the finest ever Technic sets.

Eh, the Spike set is pretty interesting. https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-spike-prime-set/45678?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-82Rm-yx4QIVDrazCh0UmQ10EAAYASAAEgKwAvD_BwE&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMI-82Rm-yx4QIVDrazCh0UmQ10EAAYASAAEgKwAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!790!3!341433731933!b!!g!!%2Blego %2Bspike Page is a bit crap: to see the parts, expand the 'more' link under "Everything you need -- in one box and online." Notable parts: magenta 3x3 frame is not an April's fool (as posted above) hub with 6 or more ports, and PU-style connectors new giant frames wire clips

Long time since I did these, but there were a couple of other colour schemes

Eh the Lepin pieces looking pretty good. From the pictures, the quality is obviously a bit lower, but not bad. Brick purity is over-rated. I just get an itch about businesses making profits from nakedly copying Lego's intellectual property. Got no problem buying 3D printed parts from hobbyists though. Stuff changes eh I've been around Lego internet forums for about 20 years, pretty much same-old same-old for train AFOLs. Lego just aren't going to give you what you want, so why not go 3rd party?

Are these not available from any of the clone brands?

It's a fair point, but tech just doesn't change very fast, compared to the public perception of how fast it changes (which is hyped to sell hardware or software product or services). Change in protocols and programming languages is really really slow. Makes me wonder if we're talking sideways. If your point is that the TLG official app will be dead as a doornail, yair fair point, I agree completely, you can have the $100 AUD on that. But if there are people interested in keeping open source software alive for this, then it's going to be easy to keep alive. I can play computer games from 1984 on my 2018 laptop, and without using any programming skills. But yair, it won't just be hand a phone to the kids. Different world. Really depends on how comfortable you are messing around with the tech. I do it for fun, and in my job. I get the point also, for some posters here Lego Technic is an escape from electronic tech, makes sense.

Yair, mate, I'll take that bet. Assuming I'm around in 20 years. I'm getting on a bit eh. Bluetooth 1.0 is 20 years old. It's not going away. Bluetooth (and USB) are the standards we'll have for the rest of the century, like CAN Bus in vehicles, and the screw-in light bulb. It's not like all those dead tech protocols like SCSI or betamax, or the floppy disk or whatever. If you check the train forum, there are multiple open source apps being built for PU, Boost etc, they're all the same protocol. It's published. Apps built in python, or visual basic or whatever aren't going to just stop working. Compared to some monster 7-stick official TLG remote, this is a better way I'd put $100 AUD on it. See you in 20 years?

Wondering if the turntable will use the new planetary hub part for slew drive. My bet is that it doesn't, for various reasons, but it would be an interesting inclusion.

Eh cool I've updated my original post, thanks

Nah, you can remove the tinfoil All the PU and Boost stuff runs over an open Bluetooth protocol (published by Lego). The train guys have already engineered how to use it, and have automated train setups running, using non-Lego software. Hardware and software analysis here https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/162288-powered-up-a-tear-down/