Product Reviews

There's a clear link between an obsessive interest in computers and a love of Lego, as demonstrated by Google founder Larry Page's early experiments building an inkjet printer from the plastic bricks. If you want your kids to grow up to be Web 4.0 billionaires, or if you've never quite grown out of the Lego habit yourself, the Mindstorms NXT robotic system could be ideal.

The NXT system consists of software, one controller unit, three motors, pressure, sound, light and ultrasonic motion sensors and a generous helping of Lego bricks and parts to connect them. You create programs on your computer and download them to the controller, which you can then disconnect, allowing your

Lego's programming software has been designed to be simple, and uses a schematic approach similar to a flow chart. You drag commands in order, instructing the controller to turn a motor or take a reading from a sensor, for instance. The system is ideal for kids but will seem a little limiting if you've ever used a normal text-based programming language. The software also includes a series of tasks that guide the user through building different robots for different purposes. You're free to ignore these, of course, and we quickly assembled a three wheeled buggy contraption that raced around the lab grabbing anything it found in its claws.

The Mindstorms system isn't without its limitations. With only three motors you're limited in effect to building mobile robots with one other function or stationary robots with three, and although it should be possible to program the controller via Bluetooth, we couldn't get it to connect to our PC. Fortunately, programming your robot through a USB cable is simple and fast. Nonetheless this is a powerful system, and although the price is rather high you do get enough parts to build some impressive robots. It's an interesting and exciting educational toy, and surprisingly good fun for adults too.