Coding and motors: How Lego's new robot toys fit with the Maker movement
Lego Boost is a simplified version of the company's other robotic toys.
Lego Boost is a simplified version of the company's other robotic toys.
Lego will unveil a new set of robotic toys in the second half of 2017 that let kids ages 7 and up program motors and turn pre-existing blocks into robots using a simplified iOS and Android coding app.
Lego Boost, retailing at $160, will come with instructions for how to build five pre-designed robotic toys, while also giving kids room to innovate using pieces from other Lego sets 鈥� and let the toys 鈥渢alk鈥� via a recording app, according to CNET.
The new kit might be thought of as part of a long-term effort by tech and educators alike to design DIY robotics kits that don鈥檛 seem forbiddingly complex at the outset 鈥� one that looks ahead to what many policy heads see as the role of the burgeoning 鈥淢aker Movement鈥� in powering American manufacturing.
鈥淎t the heart of this movement are so-called makerspaces that welcome a diverse group of builders, hackers, and hobbyists who share resources and knowledge,"聽wrote 海角大神鈥檚 Noelle Swan聽in 2014.
Key to this movement, though, is keeping the bar to entry low 鈥� a challenge that Lego seems to be responding to now, with the complexity of its long-running (and relatively high-cost) Mindstorm toys confounding no small number of adults.
The last version of Mindstorm, writes Mashable editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff in his review of Lego Boost, is 鈥渞elatively complex, uses special pieces and requires a lot more patience on the part of kids and parent to work out even the most basic programs鈥f you鈥檝e never coded before, it can be a little off-putting.鈥�
That doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 been unsuccessful. But Lego Boost might reach beyond just whiz kids.
鈥淏oost eases that process in almost every way,鈥� Mr. Ulanoff wrote. 鈥淭he LEGO pieces are all traditional and you can even use your existing LEGO set pieces with it and the coding is largely confined to code-blocks that already have lots of instructions baked in and fully compiled.鈥�
Its release comes a few months after British tech charity Raspberry Pi marked a milestone in DIY tech, selling its 10 millionth unit of its pocket-sized, $35 computers, as the Monitor聽reported in September: