The Technic legos, like the ones used in the Mindstorms set, have gears and axles and motors and such. They don't just stack anymore - I was able to build a walking machine with Lego (inspired by the Megalomaniacs' machine on Junkyard Wars) that actually walked. Off the table, of course. -Randy Glenn Measure twice, cut once, curse, discard. Repeat. ================================================= PICxpert@cogeco.ca - PICxpert@yahoo.com http://picxpert.dyndns.org Not that the site works yet, of course... ================================================= -----Original Message----- From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Lawrence Lile Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 11:00 AM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: [PICLIST] [OT]: LEGO as a training aid for young minds Now LEGOs are OK but they only stack like bricks. Being of an older generation I cut my mechanical teeth on Tinkertoys, which I believe help the mind grasp more 3 dimensional visualization. But for the ultimate construction toy you need to add 1 tube of epoxy plumber's putty to a pile of legos, tinkertoys, erector sets, old relays, computer boards, telephones, fishing reels, and so on. Go to a garage sale and buy any kids' construction set that is selling cheap, no matter what brand or condition. Don't let the kiddos play with the putty because they might eat it, but take a tube of this stuff and glue tinkertoys to legos, legos to erector sets, duplo's to legos, and erector sets to tinkertoys. You now have a set of ADAPTER KITS to go between all these sets. Also, skip the expensive robotics kits, grab some motors out of old tape players with the kiddo's help of course and epoxy putty them to a tinkertoy platform, solder them up to a 9 volt battery snap and give the kids some rubber bands for fan belts. Add a few more household items with the glue, say some good wheels off a hot wheels car or a few lamps from flashlights. This is what me and my nephew do. I keep him around for an excuse to play with tinkertoys. -- "Unca" Larry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell McMahon" To: Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 6:38 AM Subject: [EE]: LEGO as a training aid for young minds Fw: [SUGPRO] Rockets & Robotics > FYI ex Sugar Rocket list :-) > > From: "Jeff Grady" > To: > > > I bought my son a LEGO Mindstorm Inventions 2.0 kit for Christmas > and went > > looking for websites that show what others have done with the LEGO RCX. I > > also found a list and joined it. By lurking on that list, I have found > some > > very interesting sites involved in selling/hacking/building/reverse > > engineering mostly LEGO components, but a ton of great info happens to be > > available that you might find applicable to mechanics, electro-mechanics, > > microprocessors, telemetry, etc used in rocketry. What I thought was a > > really expensive ($200.00) toy turns out to be a great learning tool for > > kids. My son can't put it down - says he wants to be an engineer > now...He's > > 9 years old. > > > > Here's the address for the list: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics/ > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads