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You can build anything out of LEGO's. Lego go kart — Parallax Forums

You can build anything out of LEGO's. Lego go kart

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  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2012-09-10 10:51
    When I saw that I could help but picture it doing what the Lego ball did on Mythbusters....

    I know.. I know.. I'm horrible. It is an awesome build.

    Jeff
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-11 00:18
    Yes, you can build anything out of LEGOs, but why would you? Sooner or later one must mature and join the real world. Hello Kitty and Ken are never going to marry. Doremon, the robotic blue cat with no ears and a magic pocket from the 22nd century is just as unreal as the Easter Bunny

    LEGOs are a very odd artifact of modern culture - robotic factories producing vast quantities of precise toy bricks intended to allow children to revisit a fictional childhood that their parents may have wished they had.

    And the product seems to be supporting the economy of at least one European nation and a keystone of Taiwan's plastic industry that consumes quite a bit of our world's oil.

    In other words, it is a huge economic machine that just converts oil into nonsense. Fun is fun, but I am at a loss to see how one gets into engineering school with a rigorous background in LEGO construction.

    On the other hand, I am very fond of bamboo. One might build an entire environment from bamboo and live quite comfortably. Plus it is all biodegradable and locally sources. Timber bamboo is awesome.

    At one time, the inventor of Lincoln logs offered to set me up in business if I could make products of wood. I told him that I though plastic ruined his business. And while very surprised, he said I was quite right. I really couldn't thing of a wood product that would compete against plastics - milling wood is more costly than casting thermoplastic.

    Mr. Robinson said the future was going to be all plastics and here we are. One day everyone will remelt their LEGOs into shelter and furniture, Tupperware will fuel rockets to Titan. Where are we going?
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2012-09-11 03:26
    Why LEGO?
    Sparks creativity and imagination
    Develops problem solving skills
    Engages kids to build to build, create and explore from an early age
    It's a great gender neutralizer for building and engineering activities
    Excellent bi-lateral activity for kids with delayed motor skills (great occupational therapy tool)
    Fun - and kids happen to stay engaged in fun activities
    It's an activity that CAN and is shared by kids and parents and that's an important thing in today's world of personal entertainment devices

    Granted, listing the LEGO kits you've built on your college application probably won't get you into engineering school, participating in FIRST LEGO League and then FIRST Technical Challenge and FIRST Robotic Challenge will probably catch someone's attention....all STEM'd from LEGO.

    I wouldn't be so down on LEGO turning oil into nonsense, I've seen a number of up side effects from LEGO.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2012-09-11 05:59
    When I think back to when I was a kid it seems like my favorite toys were the ones that had me building stuff. I had some Legos, but they weren't common back then. The ones I remember best are American Bricks, Lincoln Logs, and Girders & Panels - which was my favorite. I think these are definitely the kinds of "toys" that kids really need. Telescopes, microscopes and chemistry sets wouldn't hurt either.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-11 10:16
    Frankly, my own creativity didn't get going with an Erector set or Lincoln Logs. It was when I got a hammer and a handsaw that I really felt empowered to make wonderful things. I would scavage construction sites for bent nails and spend days straightening them for projects.

    I can't help but look at LEGOs and wonder "Why bother?" And having taken a peek at LEGOs Mindstorms I was shocked and appalled by the cost of an elaborate system that really buffers a child from learning any real programing.

    Others may claim these are very creative and educational, but it all seems just the opposite to me. When I got my first screwdriver set, I was out of this world. When my aunt surprised me with an electric drill for Christmas, I started to dream of building my own boat.

    Tools and basic materials - not toy blocks and more toy blocks.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-09-11 10:46
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    Tools and basic materials - not toy blocks and more toy blocks.

    My mom (bless her heart) bought me old junk from thrift stores to take apart. That, I think, was a lot more interesting and educational than interlocking plastic blocks. She died when I was nine, but was a huge influence in the few years I knew her.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2012-09-11 11:18
    I myself would prefer Erector over LEGO any time. Even as an adult some pretty useful things can be made from them. The problem is they cost as much if not more than LEGO!!!!
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2012-09-11 11:33
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    I can't help but look at LEGOs and wonder "Why bother?"

    Why bother? For the same reason you grab a microcontroller as a core for a project!

    I never had LEGOs. My trailer-park buddies and I would scavenge the nearby auto-wrecking yard for interesting items.
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-09-11 12:53
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    I can't help but look at LEGOs and wonder "Why bother?" And having taken a peek at LEGOs Mindstorms I was shocked and appalled by the cost of an elaborate system that really buffers a child from learning any real programing.
    The Mindstorms is a very basic introduction to programming and robotics. When you're done and want to go beyond, you can. My coworker is writing MAKE: LEGO and Arduino Projects which is about driving Lego Mindstorms parts with an Arduino. When it's finished, he plans to release an appendix for the Propeller (He's still not on this forum; not sure why).
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2012-09-11 13:06
    Sounds like an interesting book!! I bet a lot of people around here will be buying the
    appendix!!
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-12 08:17
    I am most concerned with what motivates a learner to become a creative user. Tools, good materials, and good documentation. It is also important whatever is provided can be used safely in a home environment. Disassembly plays an important role as well.

    The 'market' for educational toys is full of 'bright ideas' that merely exploit parental deep pockets. Literature that tries to leverage the latest buzz on the Internet is rather useless.

    I enjoyed learning basic electronics from early ARRL manuals and HAM radio exam courses. It seems that with the ability to self-publish via the Internet, we are getting bigger books with less savy authors and very little editorial enhancement. Also, electronic has expanded hugely as an educational subject in its modern form.

    These days, nearly all electronics documentation is what was once called promotional material. If it doesn't have some hooks and fantastic claims, it isn't considered publishable.

    I am a bit surprised Erector sets are still around. I found that the steel had a lot of sharp edges and the nuts and screws would end up everywhere. Actually I think r/c airplanes and boats have quite a bit of wonderful content to motivate creativity. Now that I am sitting on 3 computers and about 50 micro-controllers in various forms, I don't seem why I really needed more than three or four. Things would be substantially different if I had a small machine shop to build the mechanical side of robotic, but I've no place for a shop.

    The fact that construction of electronics has gotten so sophisticated in terms of automation and miniaturization are working against introducing basis to new learners - everything is becoming a black box device with lengthy documentation in a high level of jargon.

    Kids really enjoy having someone show them how to disassemble a DC motor and unwind the copper coils. Suddenly, they can envision how the coils, the brushes, and magnets work together to produce motion. I just don't get that kind of interest out of building blocks.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-09-12 08:57
    Loopy,
    I just don't get that kind of interest out of building blocks.

    I loved my Lego as a kid. Especial proud of the transparent bricks with lamps inside.

    How about a super computer made from Lego (and a few Raspberry Pi)?
    http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/pi_pictures.htm
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-12 09:50
    Lego and Raspberry Pi? Sounds like a marketing ploy - buyer beware. Those clever Brits are lurking here to exploit Parallax's satisfied customers.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-09-12 10:22
    Turns out the Rasperry Pi super computer's frame was built in Lego by the 7 year old son of the Prof that built the computer.
    I'm glad to see that the old style Lego spirit continues.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-12 10:28
    I am sorry, but this Raspberry Pi thing has gotten to be relentless salesmanship. For that alone, I am likely to never buy one. Parallax Forums got a dose of the same thing from Arduinos.

    The web is deteriorating into something that resembles a seedy Asian night market. Have you ever tried to buy something genuine in Kowloon, Hong Kong?
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-09-12 10:37
    Loopy,
    Sorry you feel that way. The Raspberry Pi foundation is a charity with an educational mission. All posts you see here are from enthusiastic users. So I don't think it fair to refere to.it as "relentless salesmanship".

    My position is that Pi and Prop are totally different animals that are not in competition here or elsewhere. In fact I want to use them together in a way that each does what it is best at. I am actively pursuing that goal and hope that the result might get the multitudes of Pi users to adopt the Prop as well.

    Is that so bad?
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-09-12 11:03
    Having spent i8 plus years actively attempting to provide English as a second language education in Taiwan, I have seen a great deal of products packaged as education that will empower people and yet the proof remains in the actual outcomes, not in the asperations or claims of possible success. This includes a lot of charitable institutions including long time Chistian missionarys in Taiwan. It also includes a vast amount of material from major U.K. universities that doesn't deliver in Taiwan. That include Cambridge University, Oxford University and others. Stanford and M.I.T. are beginning to pursue the same modality.

    One doesn't have to dazzle to teach effectively. In fact, the kids that expect the dazzle are difficult to teach. They come to expect the dazzle and will not participate in anything that doesn't have it.

    Brand names, old school university associations, famous people - all have gotten to be signs that the real subject matter may be hidden under a bushel of marketing.

    We all have to sell ourselves to survive, but there was a time when reputations were earned - not created.

    I'd just like a good, no non-sense curriculum based on a simple product that fully delivers a complete course of study. So far I just see a lot of blinking lights and "Hello World" and then you better figure it out for yourself.

    A Propeller Supercomputer or a Raspberry Pi Supercomputer is really not anything close to a real super-computer. Fantasy has taken over and it is up to the user to pay their money and hope all those enthusiastic users will figure it out. That seems to be a sales-driven business model that only hopes the users will tool up their own culture to support the dream.

    At this point, I really am more attracted to the Cubieboard with a SATA interface and I can depend on the Ubuntu Linux community for solid factual wisdom.
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-09-12 13:07
    While I'm certainly more attracted to the Cubieboard as a platform, the Raspberry Pi certainly has pricepoint going for it. Maybe you can buy an MK802 for the same price, but I can't. Having the RPi available for so cheap opens up a lot of applications that need application-processor-level performance in order to run a complete OS (like Linux), but aren't really CPU-power constrained (for example, WiFi access and SOAP/JSON access to web services). A couple years ago, there was the whole "Plug Computing" fad from Marvell, and now there's RPi. From what I can tell, RPi is a lot cheaper, so it has garnered a lot more interest. I've heard rumors that the GPU on the RPi is in the process of being reverse-engineered, but I can't find any references at the moment.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-09-12 13:45
    Heater. wrote: »
    My position is that Pi and Prop are totally different animals that are not in competition here or elsewhere. In fact I want to use them together in a way that each does what it is best at. I am actively pursuing that goal and hope that the result might get the multitudes of Pi users to adopt the Prop as well.

    I agree completely with this. I'm a brand new Pi owner and am very impressed with the value it represents. But it's apples and oranges vis-a-vis the Prop. I think there is the potential of a very useful synergy between them. Furthermore, Heater is indeed a powerful advocate for the Prop. Follow him around the internet and you'll see that he's done a better job promoting the Prop than most of us.
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