Unfortunately the robot store a few blocks away changed the way they do business and closed down their storefront but not before my kids had a chance to visit plenty of times. I must admit I’ve had a fascination with robots dating back to my youth when I won the 5th grade science fair with a shoebox droid that “walked” with a mechanical wind up motor or was it battery operated? Honestly my memory is foggy on that detail but I do clearly remember the battery operated light up eyes.
I’m happy to announce this little passion has been passed right on to my kids. Their fascination I’m sure stems from Star Wars –R2D2 and C-3PO. It just so happened that Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace(1999) was release the year my daughter was born sparking up all of my husband’s youthful fantasies. He couldn’t wait until the kids were old enough to experience the movie magic by his side. Needless to say the movies continued to get released in those next few years reigniting a whole generation and their now being born offspring. Yes, my kids saw the movies way before their ratings deemed appropriate but what are you gonna do when daddy just can’t wait to share this joy and kids instantly positively respond. Yes, the tons of toys that came with them helped and the lines were quickly blurred on exactly whose toys they were—the kids’ or the dads’.
For a good while, our world became Star Wars…movies, DVD’s, toys, birthday parties, learning to read books, countless LEGO construction kits, countless t-shirts, halloween costumes, imaginary play, computer games, Wii games, stickers…need I say more? …yeah. (This madness would then transfer to Pokemon, Harry Potter and now Percy Jackson though none to the detriment or disappearance of the former…they’re all very much still in our lives…remember kids are now only ages 7 & 10). If your kids are younger they’re probably more into the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series.
Back to robots, well with that background is there any wonder we were just thrilled to learn about the Mindstorms NXT system? Coming to think of it, it was also in 5th grade that I had the privilege to take a DOS programing computer afterschool class thankfully sponsored by some unknown entity to our under-priviledged school. At the time, I did not connect the potential of the two together but now it all makes sense. Funny, a year or so back we ran into a little visual programming activity in iknowthat.com that walks kids through programming botz. Botz puzzles perfectly set the stage for what we now look forward to in this LEGO Mindstorms NXT system the kids got from “the three kings.” Is it any surprise they got an R2D2 droid that takes voice commands for Christmas a year ago?
The interesting thing here is that this is not a unique experience. That robot store I mentioned at the beginning…they used to run kid workshops (not necessarily LEGO ones), the last couple years Mindstorms classes became hugely popular in the NYC homeschooling community to the degree that a homeschooled team won a world championship in 2008. A quick websearch reveals a national phenomenon.
Locally it is now being offered for the first time as an after school option at the kids elementary school; you need to pay a good chunk of change for that of course which is why we opted just to get the kit ourselves and have both kids benefit from it for the price of one ten week class for one child and no bot to take home in the end.
“Take LEGO to the next level with MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0. Combining the versatility of the LEGO building system with a microcomputer brick and intuitive programming software, this building kit enables you to construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move. Designed for ages 10 and up, the 2.0 robotics tool set features everything you need to create and program your first robot in approximately one hour. After that, you can create an endless lineup of robots that do what you want–if you can dream it, you can build it.”
LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547)
