Subject:
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RE: End of Mindstorms :-( - I'm very skeptical
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sat, 4 Oct 2003 20:12:33 GMT
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Original-From:
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Liz Bilbro <L_BILBRO@COX.NETavoidspam>
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Viewed:
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1062 times
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Consider that the FIRST LEGO League registered the following number of
teams so far this Challenge Season:
NORTH AMERICA
3.359 teams registered
SCANDINAVIA
325 teams registered
GERMANY
94 teams registered
UNITED KINGDOM
92 teams registered
FRANCE
52 teams registered
Singapore
50 teams registered
Plus four new countries added:
- China
- Korea 80 teams
- Brazil
- Holland 19 teams
For those not familiar with FLL, teams use LEGO Mindstorms to solve
tournament missions. The age range is 9-14, with up to 10 members per
team. See www.firstlegoleague.org for more information.
Last year I coached two teams for a total of 18 kids -- a first year
startup group and we attended an invitational and a tournament. I had a
waiting list for the class. This year, I've kept to one team and still
have a waiting list, because I don't want to overextend again. There
are WAY many more kids wanting to learn than adults wanting to teach.
Last year, there were about 2700 team for the US, so with 3359 this
year, I think FLL is keeping to its record of about 50% growth.
LEGO seems to be heavily involved with the educational side of
Mindstorms; I can't see them pushing FLL so hard and doing Mindstorms
with their Pitsco-LEGO-Dacta arm, Carnegie Mellon University, Tufts
University, plus other Universities, and have no plans to continue the
product line.
It may become unavailable commercially, but I think it will be a long
time before it disappears from the educational venue.
And, if more adults would take the time to stop and teach with LEGO
Mindstorms, there'd be a bigger market. All my students but one bought
their own Mindstorms sets -- and I stock my classroom with eleven sets
plus zillions of extra goodies.
Now, we are using ROBOLAB, rather than RIS this year, because we hit
some major bugs and pains last year. So, personally, I think RIS is
inferior.
But, if you think today's kids don't have what it takes to learn
Mindstorms, take a minute and introduce them. You'll be surprised.
But that's just my 2 cents,
Liz
> -----Original Message-----
> From: news-gateway@lugnet.com [mailto:news-gateway@lugnet.com] On
> Behalf Of John Guerquin
> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 2:01 PM
> To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
> Subject: Re: End of Mindstorms :-(
>
> In lugnet.robotics, Chris Masclet wrote:
> > Hi Everybody, I have the badest new of the world:
> >
> > LEGO stop Mindstorms products.
> >
> > I hear it of several persons, LEGO shop on Paris (they won't receive • other RIS
> > box or additional box) and also from LEGO staff.
> > They have stoped RIS production 3 months ago.
> >
> > They should stop Spybotics production too.
> >
> > They stop it cause they do not sell enough boxes....
>
> At Brickfest 2003 in August Brad Justus clearly stated:
>
> ?: What is the future of Mindstorms? There haven't been many updates
> lately?
> A: It's a real product and it is staying. It IS expensive, so that
> cuts into where it can be sold, it probably will never be a product at
> WalMart(tm) for
> example.
>
> Just because they stop production doesn't mean the line is dead. Who
> knows how much stock LEGO have in warehouses? Plus, it seems to me
> that LEGO shop employees most likely do NOT know LEGO's exact plans
> with regards to
> the future of product lines.
>
> I remember recently hearing the comment that no LEGO product line is
> ever truly dead...the line may change name, not have any new sets for
> a few years, but
> nothing is truly ever dead.
>
> Remember the threads about Technic being dead? And this summer we got
> 5 new products (plus a re-release), and it's so popular that the
> Backhoe is on backorder. Plus some Racers and Discovery Kids sets are
> clearly technic. <http://guide.lugnet.com/set/8366>
> <http://guide.lugnet.com/set/7471>
>
> How about Model Team being dead? We got the Sopwith Camel, the Red
> Baron, the Wright Flyer, and the Star Wars UCS sets since the last set
> called "Model Team"
> in 1999. And those sets qualify as Models IMHO. If that's not enough,
> the 4402 Boat <http://guide.lugnet.com/set/4402>,
> the 4403 Helicopter <http://guide.lugnet.com/set/4403>,
> and the 4404 Land Busters <http://guide.lugnet.com/set/4404>
> Advanced Designer sets are exactly what Model Team used to be.
>
> Sorry about the rant, but I refuse to believe that a company as smart
> as LEGO would permanently discontinue such a revolutionary product
> line as Mindstorms.
> Maybe stop selling it at retail, and make it a Shop@Home exclusive? • Who
> knows.
> Unless they rename it, and it comes back as LEGO ?????????.
> Let's think positively!
>
> Build well
>
> John
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