• Intelligent brick with 32-bit microprocessor; more memory and flash
• Three interactive servo motors features built-in rotation sensors that aligns speed for precise control and new sound patterns and tones
• 577 specially selected LEGO TECHNIC elements for sturdy and durable building and improved functionality and movement
• Icon-based drag-and-drop program building environment
• 6 AA batteries required which is not included

• Super Structures 50 Model Building Set
• Heavy Hauler
• Radica Cube World Dodger & Whip Interactive Game
• Discovery Exclusive Remote Control Roboquad
• Erector T.Rex - 4.5V Drill / Motor

Bow to the next generation of LEGO Mindstorms now, with a 32-bit processor, redesigned sensors, Bluetooth and more.

Features:

• LEGO's newest robot-building kit, with greatly improved functionality
• 32-bit command center with large LCD, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth interfaces that allow robots to walk, talk and interact with their environment
• Technic blocks ("studless legos") create a more human, less boxy look
• Intuitive GUI and drag-and-drop icons are PC- and Mac-friendly
• Redesigned touch and light sensors, new sound sensor and ultrasonic sensor
• Now with three motors redesigned for smoother, more reliable operation
• 6-wire digital cables for more precise connections
• 5 main themes (8 different models) Vehicle: Roverbot, Animal, Scorpio; Machine: Robotic Arm; Human: Humanoid; Gadgets: Clock, Music, Game and Movers
• Models are all built within the LEGO Technic System

Includes:

• 577 pieces
• Quickstart Guide helps you build a robot ready for action within 30 minutes
• Model-specific building instructions, tips and tricks, testing methods and programming options
• Easy-to-use software
• Test panel

The power of the LEGO building system, an intelligent command center and easy-to-use, drag and drop programming software unleash the power of your robot-building imagination.

Safety warning: This product contains small parts that may present a choking hazard for young children.
Sure, Mindstorms NXT is a toy, but it is an important toy, like a piano or a chemistry set. It's one of those items that engages an imagination and possibly opens doors to new interests. Since our future is surely to be shared with robots--it's already started happening, just look at Roomba--those robots will need, at least initially, humans to program and maintain them. Those people, years from now, will likely remember their experiences with Lego Mindstorms.

Out of the Box
The main part of the kit is the NXT itself. It's about the size of an iPod (though a bit thicker) with a a loudspeaker, a monochrome LCD, and navigation keys on the front. This is the controller for the robot--it's brain, if you will. It has three ports on top for connecting to the servo motors and four ports on the bottom for connecting to four different sensors: Touch, Light, Sound, and Ultrasonic (see detail below).

The NXT: the computer-controlled brain of the Mindstorms robot Touch Sensor: enables the robot to feel and react to its environment Sound Sensor: enables the robot to react to sound Light Sensor: can detect light and color Ultrasonic Sensor: allows the robot to measure distance and react to movement Servo Motors: ensures the robot moves with precision

The set includes Ethernet-like wires for connecting all of these to the NXT, as well as software and a basic USB cable for downloading programs from your computer. Then there are all the Lego parts, hundreds of them, and most are very small. It would be a good idea to get a plastic organizer for the different parts--it would not only make construction and storage easier but also part loss less likely.

Hitting the Bricks
The instructions for MNXT are simple, illustrated, and they gently take the new user on an introductory path through the system. The quick start guide promises a 30-minute robot building and programing intro, though for me it was closer to 50 (I'm a little old and slow). It starts with a simple diagnostic routine which shows you how to test the function of all sensors, then proceeds to step-by-step picture instructions for building a basic first robot. It's about as complex as building a piece of Ikea furniture.

Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects.

Next, I installed the software. Be sure to check the system requirements (below). The software is well-designed and very intuitive. It comes with built-in video instructions on how to create your first simple program and download it to your NXT.

Bringing It To Life
Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects. Each object is configurable. For example, the Sound object brings up a sub-window that allows you to choose between a tone and a list of sound files, set the volume, set duration, and so on. Little Lego bricks between the objects reinforce the idea that building a NXT program is like building a Lego model. Programming this way is much easier than, say, creating a web page from scratch. Lego even offers a software development kit for getting deeper into the programming.

Mindstorms NXT "challenges" from top: Tribot, RoboArm, and Spike.

There comes a genuine thrill from seeing something you've created--even something simple and silly as my first program--come to life in a robot. It's akin to seeing yourself on TV for the first time. I played that program a dozen times.

The software contains "challenges," which are similar step-by-step instructions for creating and programming more complex models, such as a robotic arm that can "perform simple tasks and react to different colors." Each challenge is divided into smaller tasks with step-by-step building, programming, and testing guides for each task.

Accessing your latest program once it's downloaded to the NXT is pretty easy. Lego has set it up so that you can execute it by pressing the big orange center button four times in a row after start-up. I was surprised to find out that you don't need a computer to program the NXT. You can program directly into the NXT Program submenu.

Bluetooth Ready
The NXT also has built-in Bluetooth wireless technology. If your computer has Bluetooth, you can test and download programs to the NXT without connecting the USB cable--a really handy feature if you're programming a complicated dance routine and you don't want your robot getting tripped up in cables. If your phone or PDA has Bluetooth, you might be able to use your device to control the robot. Best of all, Bluetooth allows you to create a network of up to three NXT devices. Think of the possibilities: three NXTs plus three sets of blocks and sensors equals bigger, more complex robots.

My one and only complaint is that I wish the sensors had more "studs," those little round parts that allows Lego bricks to interlock. --Porter B. Hall

Customer Rating:
Summary: Lego Mindstorms NXT
Comment: My son has been wanting this set for a while and we got it for him for Christmas. He absolutely loves it! I don't know if he even read the instructions that came with the set - there are so many robot programs on the internet that he has tried. He is having a blast with it. But then again, my son is a computer geek.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent gift
Comment: Excellent gift for my 10 year-old boy. He's actually learning programming skills. Holds his attention much longer than the typical xmas gift:). Definitely worth the money!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A 2-star, "Out-of-box" review
Comment: A lot of good reviews have been written on this product, and on the strength of those reviews, I bought this kit for my 12yo son this past Christmas. Today, I want to share with your our out-of-box experience, so you know what you might encounter.

My son was certainly eager to begin building his first robot on Christmas Day. The first suggested robot is the Tribot, I think it's called. It's a three-wheeled robot with claws. We installed the software on the kids' laptop and tried to set-up Bluetooth to communicate between the laptop and the robot. That connection, however, didn't work. Nor did it work on my own laptop, either. After doing some web searches, it looks like our Dell-branded laptops have a Bluetooth implementation that doesn't work (or doesn't work well) with the Lego Mindstorm NXT robots. I don't know if that's a Dell issue, a Lego issue, both or neither. But it was our first disappointment nevertheless.

The next disappointment came after we used the USB cable to install a program in the Tribot. The program was fairly simple -- move forward, sense a ball using a touch sensor and grasp it with the claws, backup an unlimited amount of time until the sound sensor detects noise, then turn around 180 degrees and open the claws. Problem was, the sound sensor apparently kept detecting noise even though we weren't making any, and so the program kept ending prematurely after 1, 5, maybe 8 or 9 or 10 seconds after it began backing up. This quirky behavior greatly deflated my son -- how can you have fun instructing a robot that doesn't follow directions?

I contacted Amazon's Customer Service -- the best! -- and they overnighted a replacement unit. My son built the same robot from kit #2, but this robot had much worse problems than the first: the motors ran in the opposite direction from what the program instructed (and, no, we triple-checked the cabling -- this wasn't an assembly problem), one wheel failed to brake properly, and the reduced-power instruction to the wheels failed to execute properly. Oh, it also exhibited the same problem with the sound sensor, too. And yes, I was running the *exact* same program between the 1st robot and the 2nd robot -- downloaded from the same laptop on which the program was originally written. Yes, I know that we shouldn't have experienced variation in the way the program ran between the two robots. I'm just here to tell you that WE DID. And that was maddening. (I posted the my results on YouTube -- search "bocawade" for the NXT videos).

Now I searched the Internet for answers, and found an enthusiast site where I learned quite a bit [...] First off, the "sound" sensor isn't really detecting sound as much as vibrations. The nuance between "sound" and "vibrations" meant that our robot, running on bumpy living room tile, apparently sensed a vibration where none was intended. That solved our initial problem with the first robot.

Along the way, I discovered a programming language bug that's used to program these robots. Using a Loop block with a Count = 3, the last program instruction before the end of the loop -- a Touch sensor block -- needed to be touched for as many times as the program had looped. In other words, during the first loop, the touch sensor needed to be touched only once to send the loop to the beginning. On the second loop, the touch sensor had to be touched twice, and on the third loop, it had to be touched three times, and so on. This programming language bug was later confirmed by one of the members of the [...] site. To me and my son, though, this was utter nonsense and just continued our frustrations.

Did I mention Lego's technical support? I tried contacting them for answers, but they were really no help whatsoever. Again, the enthusiast site -- [...] -- said that Lego's "technical support" was good for nothing much more than replacing missing pieces from a kit.

It's now a week after Christmas. We're going to ship the 2nd robot kit back to Amazon and keep the first, now that we know what the issues were with the sound sensor. But it was hardly a good week between Dec 25 and Jan 1.

Most people don't have this kind of out-of-box experience, I think. But I'm writing this lengthy review just to forewarn you of some issues you might encounter along the way. Don't look to Lego for technical help. Don't be surprised at a robot that doesn't perform correctly (and your program isn't to blame for that). Don't think a "Sound" sensor is detecting sound like you'd think it would.

I'm still expecting my son will have a lot of fun -- and frustration -- in making robots. Software development can be very frustrating, I know (I'm a software developer by trade). But Lego could provide customers with a better out-of-box experience from the get-go (like, include a few already-written programs along with the software to write programs with, and include videos showing how those programs should affect a specific robot model).

So, the two-star rating is strictly for the out-of-box experience alone.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best of Legos and Robots
Comment: We've only had it for a few days but the experience has been great. The Legos work like Legos do. My son is pretty good at putting them together and I'm good at the programming. I'd say the programming part could use one or two more tutorials showing how you can combine actions, but otherwise a fine toy.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great introduction of computerized robot to kids, build interest in engineer
Comment: This one has engaged my 8-year son immediately for 1 whole week and he is able to follow all the instruction step by step by himself to build different robots, also he is creating his own ! This is a great interest building tool in robot/computer/engineer world for kids.

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