theBrickBlogger.com — Sharing the Passion of the LEGO Hobby!

LEGO BOOST – a new type of LEGO robotics

by Thita (admin) on January 10, 2017

Last week LEGO announced an interesting new robotics system called LEGO BOOST. It is aimed at kids as young as 7 years old, who are not quite yet ready for LEGO MINDSTORMS, but would like to get into programming. LEGO BOOST is also cooler looking than LEGO WeDo, the curriculum-based classroom product available to schools. Below is the press-release with detailed information, as well as a video-introductions. 🙂

#17101 LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox, available August 2017

Combine the versatile LEGO building system with advanced technology to boost your creativity with the awesome LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox.

Download the free tablet app to your device and follow the step-by-step instructions to build and code any of the 5 multifunctional models. Experience Vernie the Robot—a moving and talking robot; the M.T.R.4 (Multi-Tooled Rover 4)—a robust, versatile rover with 4 different tool attachments including a spring-loaded shooter; the Guitar4000—a musical instrument with pitch bend and sound effects; Frankie the Cat—an interactive pet that plays, purrs and expresses its mood; or the AutoBuilder—an automated production line that really builds miniature LEGO models!

Bring your creations to life with the app’s intuitive, icon-based coding interface and complete an array of exciting activities designed for each model. This set also includes a playmat for use with specific activities, and a LEGO BOOST wall poster!

Take your LEGO play to the next level with the amazing LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox. Build and code interactive, motorized robots, models and creations with distance, color and tilt sensor technologies.

Includes 843 LEGO pieces, plus a LEGO Move Hub, Interactive Motor and a Color & Distance Sensor.
Move Hub features Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity, two encoded motors, activation button, internal tilt sensor and a light.
Interactive Motor is an encoded motor.
Color & Distance Sensor detects distance, motion and color, and can also function as a light.
Check out the cool white, orange and blue color-scheme.
Rotate Vernie’s head to activate its shoulder-mounted spring-loaded shooter.
Build the M.T.R.4 (Multi-Tooled Rover 4) and try out the different tool and customization attachments to prepare the vehicle for an array of exciting activities.
Learn how to play a song and rock out with the Guitar4000.
Look after your own pet with Frankie the Cat. Be sure to feed it the right food—or it might get upset!
Construct, code and operate the AutoBuilder to produce real miniature LEGO models.
Build and code robots and models, and complete exciting activities with the playmat and intuitive LEGO BOOST app, available for iOS and Android tablet devices.
Easy-to-use intuitive software with icon-based drag-and-drop coding interface.
Building instructions for all 5 models are included with the free LEGO BOOST app.
This product requires 6 AAA batteries (not included). Alkaline batteries are recommended, but rechargeable batteries can be used, though may result in weaker power output.
Vernie the robot stands over 10” (27cm) tall.
M.T.R.4 (Multi-Tooled Rover 4) measures over 4” (12cm) high, 9” (23cm) long and 5” (14cm) wide.
Guitar4000 measures over 1” (5cm) high, 16” (42cm) long and 5” (15cm) wide.
Frankie the Cat stands over 6” (17cm) tall.
The AutoBuilder measures over 10” (27cm) high, 7” (19cm) long and 6” (16cm) wide.

➡ Build the creation you want – LEGO BOOST combines the endless play opportunities of a traditional LEGO set with an endless variety of movement and sound capabilities made possible through an easy-to-use, app-based coding environment. LEGO BOOST has been developed for children ages 7 and older by an international team of LEGO designers. Using familiar LEGO elements and simple coding language, LEGO BOOST delivers an intuitive approach and opportunities for quick success.

Powered by a Move Hub, a LEGO stud-covered brick with built-in tilt sensor upon which children can add LEGO elements, motors and a sensor that combines color and distance detection, LEGO BOOST brings movement to any LEGO creation. The set includes building instructions for five diverse models; Vernie the Robot, Frankie the Cat, the Guitar 4000, the Multi-Tool Rover 4 (M.T.R.4), and the Autobuilder, each designed to give children the basic building and coding skills needed to express their creativity by personalizing whatever they build.

“We know that children dream of bringing their LEGO creations to life, and our chief ambition for LEGO BOOST is to fulfill that wish. Once children build a LEGO creation, we give them simple coding tools to ‘BOOST’ their models by adding personality,” said Simon Kent, design lead for the LEGO Group. “We want children to first and foremost have a fun and limitless play experience, adding the coding opportunity is the means to get there.”

➡ Coding brings your creation to life – LEGO BOOST introduces children to coding through a free downloadable app that contains the guidance, building instructions and simple coding commands to bring to life five LEGO creations, one at a time. Much like building with LEGO bricks, children build behaviors and actions by linking digital coding blocks in an easy-to-understand horizontal layout. To further personify the experience, LEGO BOOST lets children add voice recordings to their creations, adding personality without requiring spelling and typing. The app also includes more than 60 activities designed to inspire additional building, coding and play.

➡ Creative canvas lets you boost any LEGO creation – To further inspire creative building and coding, the LEGO BOOST app includes a “creative canvas” that includes basic building instructions for three simple base models that children can use to customize their own LEGO creations. The three bases available at launch include: a walking base for making animals like a dragon or a pony, a driving base for building vehicles like a dune buggy or rover, and an entrance base so that children can make their own castle, fort, or even a futuristic space station. Once children are comfortable with building and coding the various LEGO BOOST models, they can use the kit to “boost” any LEGO creation – from LEGO City and LEGO Friends to LEGO Ninjago and The LEGO Batman Movie.

LEGO BOOST will be available at most stores and online shopping sites where toys are sold, through select consumer electronics retailers, and at LEGO Stores and shop.LEGO.com in the second half of 2017 and will have a suggested retail price of $159.99 USD $159.99 (EUR) and $199.99 (CAD). For more information, visit LEGO.com/BOOST.

I find this to be a very interesting development. While LEGO MINDSTORMS is definitely popular and extensively used in school programs and after school activities, the $350 price-tag, the 10+ age-range, and LEGO Technic-based building system didn’t make it accessible to everyone. The LEGO BOOST hardware seems to be more similar to the LEGO WeDo educational kit, and they also both use mostly regular LEGO system bricks instead of just LEGO Technic. So it seems like LEGO BOOST is a simpler, friendlier and cheaper version of LEGO MINDSTORMS, but cooler, fresher and more accessible than LEGO WeDo, which is geared towards schools. I just hope it won’t end up lie LEGO FUSION, which also sounded excellent and had great potential, but ended up being full of problems.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox so far? Is this something you are interested in? How do you think it compares to other LEGO robotics kits? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 17 comments }

LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse & more!

by Thita (admin) on January 9, 2017

in Other LEGO Sets & Themes

Last week we discussed the #10255 LEGO Creator Assembly Square, the “big” LEGO Modular Building for 2017, and today we will look at the #31065 LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse, which is part of another series, often referred to as the “little brothers” of the LEGO Modular Buildings. 🙂

The smaller LEGO Creator buildings include the #31026 LEGO Creator Bike Shop & Café released in 2014, the #31036 LEGO Creator Toy & Grocery Shop released in 2015, the #31050 LEGO Creator Corner Deli released in 2016, and now the #31065 LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse. This is clearly a series that LEGO fans love, and LEGO designers intend to continue as long as there is interest.

LEGO Creator Bike Shop Small Modular Buildings

All of these LEGO Creator houses are 3-in-1 sets, meaning that they can be assembled in three different ways. So if you have three of the same set, you can create a really nice and cohesive street scene, as you can see it done with the #31065 LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse in the picture below by JANGBRiCKS. And of course, the sets in the series can also be mixed and matched for all kinds of configurations to add to a LEGO City layout, or can be used to set up a similar but smaller street as the LEGO Modular Buildings.

In fact, because these smaller LEGO Creator buildings are still considered minifig size and are similar in style and colors as the LEGO Modular Buildings, they can be added to the same street with their big brothers, either as they are or with some modification. The small LEGO Creator buildings open up like a doll-house instead of the stacked design of the Modulars, but this is simple to rectify. They can also be made taller, to match the roofline of the larger buildings. In the picture below you can see the #31026 LEGO Creator Bike Shop & Café next to the #10243 LEGO Creator Parisian Restaurant, so you get an idea of the scale.

LEGO Creator Bike Shop & Cafe Next to Modular Building

The #31026 LEGO Creator Bike Shop & Café was received enthusiastically by LEGO fans due to its nice design and sweet colors. It contained 1023 pieces with the original price of $90. The following years LEGO cut the piece-count and price by half, creating less substantial, but still excellent looking buildings. The #31036 LEGO Creator Toy & Grocery Shop is 466 pieces with a price of $40, and the #31050 LEGO Creator Corner Deli is 467 pieces with a price of $40. I believe that LEGO might have felt that the first building in the series was too close in piece-count and price to the LEGO Modular Buildings, and releasing smaller sets made more sense to appeal to a different customer base.

For 2017 we get the LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse, which is 100 pieces more than the sets in the last couple of years, and $10 more expensive. I’m sure LEGO will eventually find the right contrast between these smaller sets, and their big brothers, while also keeping them compatible. Below is the official description.

Take a trip downtown with this Manhattan-inspired, three-level townhouse, featuring an authentic beige, black, white, brown, sand-green and dark-red color scheme, blue front door, large bay windows, basement windows, black railings, steps, balcony and an exterior stairway, plus a park area with a buildable bench, signpost and street lamp. Fold out the Park Street Townhouse to create a double facade and to access its detailed interior with flat-screen TV, sofa, fireplace, kitchen and a bedroom. Rebuild this 3-in-1 LEGO Creator model into a City Café or a Suburban Home with greenhouse. Includes two minifigures, plus a buildable dog and bird. Park Street Townhouse (folded out) measures over 7” (20cm) high, 9” (24cm) wide and 2” (7cm) deep. City Café measures over 4” (11cm) high,9” (24cm) wide and 3” (8cm) deep. Suburban Home measures over 6” (16cm) high, 6” (16cm) wide and 4” (12cm) deep. 566 pieces. Price: $49.99 – BUY HERE

As you can see, this set has a really nice color-scheme with sweet details both on the inside and the outside. It is also interesting to see how the same pieces are reused in the alternate models. Also, I haven’t mentioned this, but the dollhouse style opening of these buildings give them another look, so they are technically 6-in-1 buildings. In the video-player below I have included JANGBRiCKS review of this set, so you can see it better. And I have also added reviews of the previous three sets for your convenience.

In summary, these smaller LEGO Creator buildings are an excellent option if you don’t have the display-space or the fund to get the larger LEGO Modular Buildings. And the sets can also be used to add additional buildings to the Modulars. Plus, they each have three alternate buildings in two different layouts, so they are extremely versatile. You can get all of them, or multiples of one of them, or just one, and you will have plenty of fun. The #31050 LEGO Creator Corner Deli and the #31065 LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse are both available under the LEGO Creator section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the little brothers of the LEGO Modular Buildings? Do you have any of the sets? Which one do you like the most? And how do you like this year’s set? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 15 comments }

Next Posts Previous Posts

LEGO BOOST – a new type of LEGO robotics

LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse & more!

Get new posts by email: