Subject:
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Re: RCX & RIS, a fading glory?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Jan 2003 14:38:30 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.!StopSpam!net>
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Viewed:
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1521 times
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John Barnes wrote:
> The only bona fide piece of information I have is the recollection of an
> off-hand comment made by one of the TLC staff who was at BrickFest last
> summer who said that if the Spybotics line did not make money, then the
> future for the Mindstorms line was in jeopardy.
That's pretty depressing - if Spybotics don't make money, Mindstorms is
doomed - and if Spybotics does make money Mindstorms *is* Spybotics...so
we're still doomed.
> My concern that the Spybotics line was not very "playable" seems in part to
> be true based on the number of opened and then returned sets I've managed to
> pick up from my local TRU. Quite a few had completed models in them. I
> imagine a youngster dutifully putting it together and expecting it'd run
> around the floor doing something interesting. My initial experience with the
> first one I bought and built was that it didn't do much at all. And if the
> product has about 15 minutes from the time the proud new owner installs the
> batteries to the time they become enthralled watching it motivate around,
> then there will be a lot of un-enthralled kids out there.
What I wanted to see happen would have solved that problem quite neatly.
If Lego designed a SMALL computer which had an external bus onto which could
be plugged ROM chips (packaged in - say - a standard 2x2 brick), then they
could sell the computer with a ROM that has "play value" (makes the robot
play 'tag' with a flashlight or something). There could be a whole range of
ROM chip bricks with different and "interesting-to-kids" programs in them - and
a Flash-ROM chip that you could program yourself as an optional extra (presumably
with some kind of a PC interface and a CD-ROM full of Lego-esque programming tools).
This would allow kids an easy entry into robotics - collecting pre-programmed ROM's
that do fun things - then an upgrade path to something just like Mindstorms.
If you got a little smart about it, I bet you could design ROM-bricks with
flow-chart elements printed on them that could be stacked to build programs...
then progress to a CD-ROM that let you stack 'virtual' ROM-bricks to generate
programs that could be downloaded into a Flash-memory-brick. Kids would be
able to slide from a physical programming metaphor into a virtual version of
the same thing.
> So I am not holding my breath for RIS 3.0. I see less and less evidence that
> the necessary support structure is there to support reconfigurable robotics
> from TLC. Sensors on closeout sale aren't a good sign. The demise of all
> motorized sets using component motors (as opposed to big motor/battery
> combination boxes). The loss of connecting wires etc etc. None of this looks
> overly positive to me.
Yep. We're doomed.
The most depressing thing would be the loss of decent motors. Those are essentially
'consumable' items. They fail. Of my set of a dozen or so motors, two have
failed in the last year...if that failure rate is typical, I'll be dangerously
low on motors within just a couple of years if Lego stop making them. I need
to stock up on those.
---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkEmail: <sjbaker@link.com>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
http://tuxkart.sf.net http://prettypoly.sf.net
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: RCX & RIS, a fading glory?
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| Steve! What a great Idea, having components that you could snap together like code blocks but with real Lego! What a natural idea. If I understand your idea right, you could have a small,say, 4x4 or 2x4 bick ROM computer that has a dedictaed (...) (22 years ago, 30-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: RCX & RIS, a fading glory?
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| (...) Oh, but there is one - it's called the Micro Scout and we all know how versatile and "upgradable to Mindstorms" that is... Any other computeresque brick that does anything kids would find cool (i.e. does more than stand still and react to a (...) (22 years ago, 30-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: RCX & RIS, a fading glory?
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| (...) This is an interesting idea, but I think a bad one. The software should stay where it is now, in the software. Putting the software in hardware just creates the need to buy even more bricks. On the surface, that seems like a good think for (...) (22 years ago, 1-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: RCX & RIS, a fading glory?
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| The only bona fide piece of information I have is the recollection of an off-hand comment made by one of the TLC staff who was at BrickFest last summer who said that if the Spybotics line did not make money, then the future for the Mindstorms line (...) (22 years ago, 29-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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