Editorial Reviews:
Editorial Review
The Robotics Invention System is the core set in the amazingly innovative and--consider yourself warned--highly addictive Mindstorms series from LEGO. Combining the power of your PC with an onboard RCX (Robot Command Explorer) microcomputer, LEGO gives you the tools to construct thousands of sophisticated robotic inventions. But don't let the technology scare you. As always, LEGO sets can be as simple or as complex as you want. Twelve "Guided Challenges" take you through the construction of various robots, including a light-sensitive Trail Tracker and a freewheeling Acroflip. A CD-ROM graphically walks you through Mindstorms' intuitive programming system. Just build your robot, assemble its instructions on the PC, and then download to the robot's RCX through the infrared transmitter. The transmitter works through a 9-pin serial port on your PC. The 717-piece set includes the RCX and transmitter, the CD-ROM, two motors, two touch sensors, a light sensor, and a Constructopedia to give you more ideas once you've built your first few robotic pals. The Robotics Invention System requires a 90-MHz Windows 95 machine with 16 MB of RAM and 50 MB of hard-disk space. For more robot fun, check out the Mindstorms Droid Developer Kit. --Paul Hughes |
Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Great, invaluable toy!, Aug 10, 2023
Definitely, it is fun to create your own robots. The LEGO company really hit the roof with this one. The programming language for the RCX is easy, and gives you lot of freedom. Thumbs up!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
An investment for my son's future, Jul 27, 2023
I purchased the Mindstorms 1.5 set seven months ago and my eleven year old son is still obsessed. He was able to follow the directions easily and play with the programming from day one. I was relieved at how independent he could be with the set. Later, we also purchased the Ultimate Accessory set with remote control. He doesn't use it as much. My son has now branched off into learning about basic electronics and has been purchasing small items like motors from our local Radio Shack. He is using these things with the Mindstorms set. He never would have been able to progress this far if he didn't have the experience with the Mindstorms set. I feel that he is building his future in engineering (or a similiar field) with this great educational set. (I didn't feel right calling it a toy.)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Get This!!, Jul 26, 2023
I got this when it first came out (I got the 1.0 version) and its great!! YOu can build ALMOST ANYTHING with legos and this proves it! I was able to build a crude copy machine, a electronic dog, and this robot that could wind string (kinda buggy). It is great and has tons of sites on lego mindstorms from making robots to homemade sensors! Its toally worth your money....
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Great Fun!, Jul 9, 2023
Lego invented yet another great toy - Mindstorms. The basis of the Lego Mindstorms system is the programmable RCX brick. This brick of about five inches by three inches holds the magic behind the product.The kit includes over seven hundred pieces, some of them common to Lego sets, others unique. Amongst these, two motors, a light sensor, and a pair of touch sensors are included. With these, your robot can respond to light and touch, making it a smarter Lego brick. Instructions are included to build three different types of robots - the lightning fast Acrobot, the strong Roverbot, and the stationary Inventorbot. The Inventorbot is my personal favorite, a human like robot capable of doing such things as taking his ht on or off, or throwing a ball, along with a few other things. The RCX is programmed in RCX Code, a graphical and basic environment for making robots do things. This is one of the down points of the system; the environment for programming the robots is very basic. However, several third party solutions have been created to solve this problem, and harness the full power of the RCX. One of the more popular ones, Not Quite C (NQC) is a C like programming language created just for programming the Lego RCX. Overall, the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System is great. The product is suitable for people ten and older, and is extremely popular in both the adult and child community. The Lego pieces included alone, are more than enough to build powerful Lego robots, and more are available, both through expansion sets designed for the Mindstorms system, and all of the other Lego kits available.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
This is an awsome toy!, Jun 18, 2023
You build, program and controll your robot. IT's cool. But, if you drop the RCX, it will not respond to the IR tower or the remote from the Ultamant Accessery Kit.
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