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Subject: 
RE: What's next for MindStorms
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Fri, 31 May 2002 20:37:27 GMT
Original-From: 
Bill Blackmer <BILL@BBCCD.saynotospamORG>
Viewed: 
679 times
  
I would have to agree with Rob here. If the Spybots can not communicate
with other Mindstorms stuff then they become a 30 day toy. Its amazing
the Lego price for a short-term kit is $60.00. Maybe I need to find a
job in Denmark!

My family and I are big fans of Lego Technical, Mindstorms, Pirates, and
Trains. You can always take them apart and rebuild or reprogram them.
Your imagination rules. If the Spybots are fixed instructions or gsmes
in a Scout like format with no communications then my boys will have
them in the closet in 30 days.


Anybody know any big new technical kits coming out ?? I wish for more
complex things like the Space Shuttle.

Thanks

Bill


-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Limbaugh [mailto:RLimbaugh@greenfieldgroup.com]
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 1:20 PM
To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
Subject: RE: What's next for MindStorms


The 40t double-bevel gear is one I haven't seen before.  The smaller two
are readily available in the various Bionicle kits.

Gigamesh interests me because of all those gears, the 12 triple rotors,
and the 18 bogey wheels.  Snaptrax, Shadowstrike, and Technojaw all have
pretty common parts in them.  The "special" parts all appear to be those
found in Bionicle Bohrok sets.  The exception is Technojaw's tie-rod
arms.

As you mention, the value must be in the smarts.  If we're lucky,
they'll be some moderate combination between the Bionicle Manas and
Mindstorm Scouts.  The Spybots appear to have more than one motor output
and the review suggests they have behaviors similar to the ones
programmed into the Scout.  Multi-player missions suggest the Spybots
are addressable like the Manas.

Hopefully the embedded system won't be locked like the Scout is, and
hopefully they'll respond to IR messages from other Mindstorms stuff.
Otherwise, these Spybots will wear out their novelty rather quickly.


-----Original Message-----
From: Benton Jackson [mailto:goatrider@spambegone.goatrider.com]
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 3:32 PM
To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
Subject: Re: What's next for MindStorms


It looks like it's more along the lines of the micro-scout, but it
sounds a bit more capable. The $60 price can include more smarts,
because there aren't that many lego parts with each, only about 200.

I'll bet AFOL's can find a lot more to do with this.

I noticed one interesting part- a double-bevel gear that's smaller than
a 40 tooth gear. We can always use more gear ratios!

I have a hunch that there might be something else in the works, because
Target had a panic sell-off of all their mindstorms kits at $99. They
know something! And these spy-bots are clearly not going to affect
mindstorms sales.

In lugnet.robotics, Simeon H.K. Fitch writes:
In lugnet.robotics, "Laura O'Grady" <l.ogrady@sympatico.ca> writes:
I think there are plans for new kits and the theme is spying.

Thanks to you amazon.com reference, I did some searching and came up
with this review:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/358/358642p1.html


Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a true MindStorms kit. Here's a
quote from the reviewer:

"...the Spybotics line draws its roots from the ever-popular MindStorms

systems. Spybotics, however, is aimed at a slightly younger audience
and generally takes the blocks into new territory. "

Bummer.

Simeon



Message is in Reply To:
  RE: What's next for MindStorms
 
The 40t double-bevel gear is one I haven't seen before. The smaller two are readily available in the various Bionicle kits. Gigamesh interests me because of all those gears, the 12 triple rotors, and the 18 bogey wheels. Snaptrax, Shadowstrike, and (...) (22 years ago, 31-May-02, to lugnet.robotics)  

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