Lego Boosts Their Robotic Offering

Kids often have their first exposure to robots in school using Lego Mindstorm kits. Now Lego is rolling out Boost — a robotic kit targeting all Lego builders from 7 years old and up. The kit is scheduled to be on the market later this year (it appeared at the recent CES) and will sell for about $160.

[The Brothers Brick] had a chance to try the kit out at CES (see the video below) and you might find their review interesting. The kit provides parts and instructions to build five different models: a cat, a robot, a guitar, a 3D printer, and a tracked vehicle. You can check out the official page, too.

The system communicates with an Apple or Android tablet via Bluetooth. The review notes that the programming language is a bit simplistic, allowing actions to occur due to stimulus, but no real conditional tests and branches. In addition to motor control, the device comes with blocks that can sense motion and color (see right). Builders can integrate the blocks with other Lego designs, too.

We’ve seen lots of additions and enhancements to Mindstorms (along with lots of interesting applications). It will be interesting to see what hacks appear for Boost.

Filed under: Microcontrollers, robots hacks

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