Lego Mindstorms NXT (4494799)

The Lego Mindstorms NXT is the greatest product! It can be used as a toy for a young child or as learning tool for high school, college, and beyond. The easy drag and drop programming that comes with this robotics system is very easy to use even for a child. For the more advanced users, like college students, there is a programming language called "not exactly C" written specifically for Mindstorms NXT. If you are even more advanced, like and electrical engineer, one can easily find the data needed to design your own sensors or input devices. Since it is based on the Lego Technic pieces, you can just snap a project together quickly.

It is a great robotics product fit for all ages!

I love the fact that with Lego Mindstorms you can create all sorts of robots. It's easy to use by young and old, and also that it's not limited to te software and electronic hardware included in the kit (you can make homebrew sensors or use high level languages to program it).

It's been programmed by children as young as 8 years old to graduate students.

Its price is a little on the expensive side but well worth it since it's a pretty robust embedded system (32 bit microcontoller, servo motors, I2C communication protocol, Bluetooth and so much more top of the line hardware).

The strength of LEGO Mindstorm is seen in the regional, state, and national level competitions that have evolved on middle school, high school, and college. These are “extra-curricular” in nature showing the raw drawing power of the mind for mechanical, programming, and tasked-based imagination activities. Problem solving is a critical tool that enables success in any field that learning minds explore.

The “fun” part is the learning is happening without the “did you do your homework?” The individual WANTS to learn and it is reinforced by friends that also are interested in activities based on HANDS ON LEARNING.

Parents or grandparents becoming involved with their son or daughter in this type of extra-curricular activity is providing their child with quality-time that will be remembered from one generation to the next. It is not limited by “my body is getting to old to play.”

My only regret is this robot based problem solving tool wasn’t available thirty plus years ago when I was in the classroom.

My son already owns the 8547. We wanted to supplement it with parts from eBay to make this kit but after doing a lot of research its better off to go ahead and buy this kit, mostly because we want to build battle bots and larger single robots. After pricing out all the parts you might as well buy this kit. The only problem I am having is getting the software to install on top of the newer 8547 software. I have an email in to Lego and they are waiting on me to call to resolve that issue.

The software is really easy to use for the most part. The NXT brick has really good response time, and does NOT lose firmware when the batteries are removed. I love how well the motors work, but they are sort of bulky. The sensors also work good. There is also a nice amount of technic pieces included. Overall, it is a very good set, and well worth the money. I have learned a lot, and now I want a second one.