Lego and RM plot robot future

Lego's Education division is entering an exclusive distribution deal with school computer supplier RM. RM's subsidiary Dacta will get its hands on Lego's products - from early learning toys to more complicated robots and mechanical products to help kids pick up hands-on building skills, teamwork and mechanical skills. The …

[MinionZero]

if only

I wish I could have had a chance to learn about robotics when I was at school. :)

[David 146]

RM Subsiderary Dacta?

Eh what? "Lego Dacta" was Lego's educational arm. Now I'm confused. Did RM get the rights to the Dacta name as part of the deal or what?

[amanfromMars 1]

:-( .... 4u2?

Crikey, John, you had me thinking ..... with that coded Pythonesque headline, "Lego and RM plot robot future" .... that there was something worthy and interesting to report, with a stealthy MI6 and Royal Marines initiative for out of this world, programmed units to introduce radical fundamental change to society.

I suppose I should have known better given the missing evidence of their being the necessary intelligence at the top of the present disaster management teams to do anything revolutionary, without asking for dodgy permission from the very programmed units which are at fault and causing faults to grow into catastrophes in the system, and which need to be replaced/lock stock and barrel.

Never mind though, the other lot are bound to have something in the field, testing protocols and security triggers. :-) They always do.

[Anonymous Coward]

my Open University "Mechatronics" module

was done with a pile of Lego and some circuit boards.

the resulting simple robot could read raised letters - as in made up of bars of metal arranged on the table.

I never did get the hang of fuzzy logic though.....

[Robert Forsyth]

Like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052JJGBxFH0&feature=player_embedded

[Anonymous Coward]

Lucky sods!

I would have loved to have a chance to play with LEGO robotics at school! Most of our school tech classes consisted of playing with pneumatics and electronic breadboards, interspersed with hours in the woodwork/metalwork rooms with dangerous electric tools with sharp pointy bits attached!

[Keris]

I, for one...

... welcome our new robotic Lego overlords!

I would have loved to play with Lego robotics as a kid. As a teenager. As a student. As a ... well, OK, I'd still love to play with it at age 54!

(Where's the ROTM icon?)

[Anonymous Coward]

Mechatronics

I worked on some of the software for that course (including the fuzzy logic and vehicle) - I got to play with lego at work all day. Lots of fun. Ah, good times.

[Etrien Dautre]

_big bang_

We know what Lego is, do we not?

Lego /rm ss

[A J Stiles]

Been there

I was a BBC Micro user, and it was practically law that you had to build something that plugged into the user port or the analogue port. (Well, what else were you supposed to do, while you were waiting for Elite or Castle Quest to load from cassette? At least we got prompted to rewind the tape if there was a problem, unlike certain lesser boxen which would die with "R tape loading error 0:1" as soon as look at you, if the fridge cut in three doors down the street .....)

One of my homebrew projects used three relays to control a pair of 4.5V Lego motors; thus allowing my simple caterpillar-tracked robot to travel forwards, backwards and make ha'penny turns. I never did get around to adding more switching channels or sensors, though ..... more's the pity .....

[Adrian Esdaile]

First against the wall when the revolution comes!

WTF? How is it that a Lego brick can be considered 'functional' yet a Choka-Choda bottle is able to be trademarked? How is a Cloakyer-Cloaca bottle NOT functional?

Fscking lawyers and judges, what dimension do they live in?

How is it that the RIAA gets it's rocks off calling grannies and 7-year -olds 'pirates' while countless Merkin companies (Mega-Bloks, I'm looking at you, you pack of thieves) rip off other people's work and pass it as their own? Standards, double, who US?

I feel very sorry for Lego, they are a non-corporate getting kicked around by perverse laws and human leeches.

Shakespeare was so on the ball: FIRST, WE KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!

[Peter Holgate]

Good, yet BAD

The idea is great, just wished they had picked someone other than RM. As an IT technician in schools, RM has caused the most problems for me in over 8 years.