Review on LEGO MINDSTORMS 31313 Educational Programming by Adam Davidson

We used to buy a lot of LEGO® MINDSTORMS® sets from Revain. My wife, who teaches children in grades K5-8, uses these sets to help them prepare for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition, as well as to share knowledge and stimulate interest in children who are exploring want to deal with robotics in the future. These must-have LEGO® MINDSTORMS® sets contain the building blocks needed to get kids started with robotics. The predecessor LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547) was popular with children for a few years and has now been replaced by the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 31313. As far as I know this is the third generation of the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® platform and EV stands for evolution hence the EV3 in the product name. LEGO® is no longer releasing NXT 2.0, but by comparison I think EV3 is a natural progression of the product as we continue to evolve with children's interests. There are some general details to keep in mind as your child builds robots with this LEGO® MINDSTORMS® set. The most important part of this set is known as the "BRICK". The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 brick is a programmable intelligence module that can be referred to as your robot's "brain". controls motors and sensors to make him move, walk and talk; as well as provide wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is powered by 6 AA batteries. This kit includes some other parts such as: B. Starter robot building instructions, TRACK3R connection cable, 1 programming USB brick, LEGO Technic elements: 594 in total 1 EV3 brick, 2 large interactive servos, 1 medium interactive servo, 1 touch sensor, 1 color sensor, 1 infrared sensor , 1 infrared beacon. What can you do with this set? - There are five robots that you can build right out of the box - Building instructions along with accompanying programs are available in the EV3 Software. There are also many other bonus fan-made robots that can be accessed through the EV3 Software Lobby or via the LEGO website - all additional fan-made structures can be built using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 (31313) elements . the set is available here. If your child gets creative, they can also create their own design. Additionally, if your child wants to compete in Lego League One, be sure to visit the FLL website to determine this year's design and create an intricate design to compete with others in the same category. Issues from 2014 and issues from previous years can be found in my comments section. Please note: The new "EV3" software is bloated and very slow even on high-end laptops. The previous generation of LEGO products used NXT software. It is currently not possible to program this new EV3 Brick with the old NXT software that children and educators still love. However, you can program your old NXT Mind Brick with the new LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 Home Edition software. However, as shown by practical use by children in the classroom, not all software features are supported by the old NXT engine, which can be frustrating. for now. So we have both the old "NXT" software and the new "LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 Home Edition" software side by side and preferably on different laptops to be able to coexist with the new generation of blocks that are evolving. When using the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 sensors with the old NXT kit, note that the new sensors are all digital and therefore will not work with the old NXT smart brick. However, the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 brick uses the same RJ12 patch cords as the legacy LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT brick, allowing LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 sensors to be used with legacy NXT sensors. It is highly recommended to store them separately in separate storage containers and not to mix important parts. We always buy Sterilite 18748606 Clear Nesting Showoffs Box to keep kits safe once opened. I hope you find this review helpful. Hooray!