lego education mindstorms

Lego is moving on from its Mindstorms educational robots

It’s spiking the brand, and focusing on its lego education brand..

By Mitchell Clark

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As reported by Lego fan sites like Brick Fanatics and Brickset , Lego is discontinuing its Mindstorms kits, which are meant to let people make robots out of Lego bricks, pins, beams, motors, gears, and other pieces, and then program using Lego’s control hubs ( via Gizmodo ). The devices have been sold as a way to let children and adults easily build and program robots since 1998 .

While the company isn’t completely done with the idea of educational robotics kits, it will stop selling its Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit by the end of this year.

• Lego’s new Mindstorms EV3 robotics platform comes with Android and iOS support

The company’s statements suggest there’s an end date on its support for the various apps used to program and control Mindstorms robots on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Fire OS, saying that it’ll keep them going until “at least the end of 2024.” That doesn’t mean that the robot control units will necessarily become useless bricks. There are open-source tools for writing and uploading code to them that aren’t made by Lego, though a lack of official tools could make things more difficult for younger or inexperienced builders.

People with Mindstorms kits may need to get creative to program them — but that’s the point of Lego.

According to the statement posted by Brickset , Lego will have the Mindstorms team working on other parts of the business, though it didn’t provide specifics as to what they’d be doing. Lego didn’t immediately reply to The Verge ’s request for comment.

For those paying attention, the move isn’t necessarily a surprise: when the company retired its Mindstorms EV3 system last year, it pointed customers towards its Lego Education Spike kit rather than the Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit that was also available. Currently, the latter is the only thing on the Mindstorms section of Lego’s site , and it’s listed as “temporarily out of stock.” The Spike Prime kit, however, is still available, and Lego says that platform is currently its plan for supporting its “build and code” idea.

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The Brothers Brick

World's no. 1 source for lego news, reviews, and fan creations., a history of lego education, part 3: mindstorms over matter [feature].

LEGO Education is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and we are exploring the history of this unique division of the LEGO Group. Part 1 presented an early history of LEGO Education, while Part 2 outlined the development of the first LEGO robotics platforms. In our 3rd and final installment, we dive into the story behind the game-changing release of LEGO Mindstorms.

Evolution of the RCX programmable brick

Despite the improvements made in the 1990s, a storm was brewing in 1997 – LEGO Mindstorms, to be exact! Named after Papert’s Mindstorms book, LEGO Mindstorms was the next iteration of LEGO robotics products. The goal of Mindstorms was to provide a programmable brick that didn’t require connecting to a computer to operate a robot. To that end, they produced the RCX ( R obotics C ommand E X plorer) brick.

Development on such a system began in MIT’s Media Lab during the 1980s and, by 1987, the result was a prototype unit molded in gray plastic. Testing with fifth and seventh grade students proved to be promising. As PC ownership began to rise in the 1990s, LEGO became increasingly interested in getting Mindstorms out to the general public. From 1994 through 1996, development took place on the 2nd iteration which came to be known as the “red brick” since it was molded in red plastic. The casing was designed to be strong enough to endure prolonged use in schools, and 100 units were produced for testing in the education sector.

Observations from the testing period proved valuable in driving forward the development of the RCX brick. The team decided it was necessary to decrease the weight of the brick, as it’s 13 oz (368.5 g) weight was considered too heavy for incorporating it in models. Their red brick had six sensor outputs and four motor input ports. To lighten the load, the yellow brick limited the number of ports to three input and three output. A decision was made to retain the LCD screen because it allowed children to learn how sensors worked in real-time — No need to run the model back to the computer to figure out what was wrong.

Testing the waters

In November of 1997, LEGO carried out a soft launch of Mindstorms in the form of opening a LEGO Mindstorms Center in Chicago, IL. While sets weren’t yet on the market, the LEGO Mindstorms Center allowed the public to familiarize themselves with the product. Children could program LEGO robots to participate in two activities, such as a Mars rover simulation with Exploration Mars and friendly competition with RoboSports. LEGO Mindstorms Centers would eventually make their way into LEGOLAND theme parks, alongside popular attractions like Miniland and the LEGOLAND Driving School.

To tide people over until the Mindstorms launch, LEGO released the Barcode Multi-Set in 1997. The base model was a complex-looking dump truck, powered by the included programmable “Code Pilot” brick. Unique for its time, functions were operable thanks to a barcode reading feature and touch sensor; the unit was even capable of playing sound. Like the Technic Control Center sets that preceded it, everything was operable without a PC.

The launch of LEGO Mindstorms….and Cybermaster?

The official global unveiling of Mindstorms was held at the Royal College of Art in London on January 27, 1998. The other product featured was Technic CyberMaster set 8482 , which was advertised as a more “action-packed” robotics kit. Set 8482’s primary models emphasized combat, with “the Crusher” being the motorized model. Control via computer was made possible via a radio-controlled programmable brick . If Mindstorms was LEGO’s educational flagship, CyberMaster was the equivalent of their version of Saturday morning cartoons. While children attending the event likely enjoyed trying out Cybermaster, the theme would be limited to 8482 and 8482/8483 (same as 8482, but with the addition of a storage case). Set 8450 The Mission released in 2000 ad possessed many hallmarks of the theme but without the Cybermaster branding. This was probably due to the fact that, while it included interactive software, it did not come with the programmable brick.

Even with a second product on-hand, the star of the show was Mindstorms. The unveiling was well-attended by members of the global press, and children aged 11 and older were bused in to try out the product; this also made for some good photo-ops! Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was also on-hand for interviews and, by all accounts, he was filled with pride regarding an achievement over a decade in the making. He addressed the crowd with an inspiring speech:

For many years we in the LEGO Group have had a dream: that we could combine the creative qualities of the LEGO bricks and the basic LEGO values with the strength and potential of the computer. Today — after more than 10 years of creative research and development work — we can present a new generation of intelligent construction toys and learning tools to children…. New we are able to combine the LEGO Universe with the computer — and put a computer into a LEGO brick.

The U.S. unveiling followed on February 3rd at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan . While Mindstorms was the main attraction, LEGO also harnessed the star power of NFL star Joe Montana, who demonstrated an American football quarterback robot. The event kicked off enough buzz to hype it up for that year’s New York Toy Fair .

Promotion of LEGO Mindstorms continued in the months leading up to the September release date, including a demonstration in Denmark to Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

The birth of FIRST LEGO League

While hype for Mindstorms was real, the project with the longest reaching impact was LEGO’s participation in 1998’s 7th annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) competition at Disney World’s EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida. FIRST was incorporated in 1989 by entrepreneur/inventor Dean Kamen as a means of exposing children to the joys of science and technology, and robotics competitions would became a cornerstone of the program. The 1998 FIRST competition was huge, with nearly 10,000 people converging on the “house of mouse” for the event.

To promote LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO sent their own team called the LEGO Maniacs. The team consisted of thirty-three students from eight schools, teachers, and a group of employees from LEGO System Inc.’s Production Department. Judging by the images below, the robot appeared to be made out of non-LEGO components but bore the LEGO logo and the team’s name. Nevertheless, the robot still had to be built from the ground-up over the course of six weeks. On the first day, the Maniacs placed 20th out of 160 teams. Unfortunately, on day two they failed to meet the three-win-in-a-row requirement needed to move forward.

That same year, FIRST LEGO League (FLL) was formed by LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and FIRST founder and entrepreneur/inventor Dean Kamen. Through FLL, children would build their own LEGO robots to tackle challenges in a competitive forum. Initially, FLL began with pilot programs in the U.S. and Denmark, proving successful enough to go international. Since then, FLL has expanded into 98 countries with 320,000 participants.

The release of Mindstorms products for schools

In 1999, LEGO Dacta adopted Mindstorms as an education tool with ROBOLAB and e.LAB. ROBOLAB came with its own software and allowed children to program their own robots. With e.LAB, the focus was on educating students about energy, and it even introduced a condenser and solar panel to LEGO’s portfolio of elements.

From Papert to Resnick – the passing of the torch

The success of Mindstorms was a win for both LEGO and MIT, with LEGO appointing MIT’s Mitchel Resnick as the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab – a title which he still holds to this day. The title was named after Seymour Papert, MIT’s original LEGO Professor of Learning Research. To celebrate Resnick’s status as the new LEGO Professor, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen presented him with a framed gold-plated RCX brick.

The path is never-ending

After receiving his award, Resnick gave an inspiring acceptance speech in which he declared, “we should think of computation as a new design medium…. [and] we want to make tinkering with computers just as easy and natural as tinkering with LEGO bricks.” Since then, Resnick’s vision has come to fruition in various iterations of LEGO computer programming products. LEGO launched Mindstorms NXT in 2006, NXT 2.0 in 2009, and Mindstorms EV3 in 2013. To reach even younger children, LEGO released a simple coding platform called WeDo in 2009 — WeDo 2.0 followed in 2016.

Now, in 2020, that path has culminated with the launch of LEGO Education’s Spike Prime programming kit. It’s drag-and-drop interface is definitely in line with Resnick’s goal to make programming easy and enjoyable for the engineers of tomorrow. As for what the next development in LEGO programming will be, it is perhaps best summed up by another 1999 quote from Resnick; “we need to create a new generation of technology that is worthy of a new generation of children.” In an ever-changing world driven by advancements in technology, there will always be a need for development behind new educational tools to set children up for success into adulthood. And with that, LEGO Education will be there each step of the way.

Read our previous installments in the LEGO Education history series

If you haven’t yet already, be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 of our History of LEGO Education feature. Having learned about the history of LEGO’s robotics platforms including Mindstorms, you might want to check our review of LEGO Education’s new Spike Prime set.

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3 comments on “ A History of LEGO Education, Part 3: Mindstorms over matter [Feature] ”

I wonder where is this golden rcx module now, what’s its value or if it even exists anymore. Does anybody knows?

@Łukasz Thorson

Isn’t it likely Resnick still owns it?

So assuming they did the right thing and picked a day when nobody was out of the office to take the photo, I count twelve women to five men on the LEGO Education team. Given the widespread drive to get young girls interested in STEM fields (and an apparent move to slip a thumb on the scale by widening to STEAM fields), and the long-standing perception that LEGO is a “boy’s toy”, I’m curious if this has resulted in any noticeable shift in the demographics of their customers. Or if this new Spike system have any impact going forward.

I ask this because the last year that Brickworld was held at the original location, they had the most depressing keynote speaker (after which they even shifted away from limiting the role to LEGO employees). She stood there and outlined her role in the company, which basically consisted of participating in the development of every single failed attempt to tap into the girls market up to that point, and pretty much nothing else. It was a bit telling that, when I asked later on if she’d been involved with the Friends theme right after it launched, I found out she was no longer with the company. So, they’ve finally proved that it’s possible to reach across the gender divide, but they’ve still got a pretty rough track record in terms of picking the people who should do it. Since this is a product line that has to also be marketable to boys, it’s interesting to note that this is the most brightly colored robotics system they’ve produced, but without being quite as “girly” of a color palette as the used for Friends.

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MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Retirement FAQs

LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 launched in 2013 and has enjoyed a long and incredibly successful journey. The product has now reached its natural end of life and will be listed as “retiring soon” on the LEGO® Education website.

With the changing curriculums in education, we see great opportunities with our newest solutions such as LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime , and are excited to see what the future of LEGO Education will bring. LEGO Education will support updates to the current apps on the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 platform and Consumer Service will be available for tech support and to fulfill tech spare parts until 2023. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions. Thank you! FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why is LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 retiring?   EV3 launched in 2013 and has enjoyed a long and incredibly successful performance. It has reached its natural end of life. When will MINDSTORMS Education EV3 retire?  MINDSTORMS Education EV3 will no longer be available for purchase starting June 30th, 2021. LEGO Education will continue to support the current apps for two years from the exit date. How long will consumers be able to purchase LEGO Education EV3? In the U.S., sales will continue until June 30th,2021 depending on stock availability. On July 1st, EV3 will be removed from the U.S. shop page. Customers in markets outside of the U.S. will be able to purchase LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 through partners until the product runs out of stock. What will happen with MINDSTORM Education EV3 Lesson Plans?  All content will continue to be live and visible for the 2 years maintenance period. After the 2 years, MINDSTORMS Education EV3 lessons will be available on the “retired products” webpage. Is the product retirement global or will there be a roll out on how it retires across markets? The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 retirement is global. The solution will be discontinued worldwide on June 30th, 2021. In markets with third-party partners, sales may continue beyond June 30th, 2021 until the partner is out of stock. How long will customers outside of the U.S. be able to purchase EV3? Customers in markets outside of the U.S. will be able to purchase LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 through partners until the product runs out of stock. Who should we contact if they have product questions or issues after June 30th, 2021?   They should still contact Consumer Service for parts and technical support.  

Leave a Comment

Thanks for answering those questions. They are so helpful! concrete patio contractor

So we have EV3's. A lot of them.

We have been doing the update for them to V1.10. However, the EV3 Lego Education Classroom App for Chromebooks only works on some devices that we had it installed on.

We can no longer add the app to other devices for use because it now shows unsupported.

Any ideas? Any way to get a download of the app to install on our c/books to run?

It seems as though all our classrooms are being forced to now buy SPIKE. We have over $14,000.00 in EV3's we bought and now they seem rendered at a no go…..

So, what are the next steps we can do???? HELP!

I don't really like Spike. It only has 6 ports compared to the EV3 8 ports. The wheels have poor traction and get dirty easily. The pieces with studs are not useful when building a practical robot. EV3 is by far more superior. The next version of EV3 should have looked like the Vex IQ which has a total of 12 ports. Even the name Spike sounds bad. It sounds too much like Covid. Get it ? Spike in Covid cases ? A much cooler name would be…EV4. Like !👍 Right now the app EV3 Classroom is secretly damaging the LCD screens of the EV3. Its all gone black ! Overall Spike is a pooly designed product.

I apologize if this is a stupid question, but I understand the EV3s are end of life and mindstorm is being discontinued and we will not be able to purchase them in the future.

Will we still be able to use the newer LEGO EV3 classroom software to program them moving forward for years to come? Or is the software end of life as well?

I am a teacher and this is a major change considering I need to rewrite an entire curriculum and order a whole new fleet of robots and I need to know if I have to rush to do this or if I have time over the course of a few years to roll this out while still using the old EV3s as long as they continue to physically function.

I just want to know if I can continue to use the EV3s and EV3 classroom software until my EV3s physically start to die out.

Please help 🥺

Will support for the EV3 continue through June of 2023 to provide for the completion of the academic year? The first paragraph states ‘until 2023’ and I would like to clarify whether that is referring to the calendar year or academic year. Please advise. Thank you for your assistance.

There should be some form of financial assistance to move away from EV3 considering how much educators have invested in EV3 over the years. The clumsy way the new scratch based app was introduced and documented was bad enough.

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The Difference Between LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition (#31313) and LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 (#45544)

This article covers the difference between the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition and LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 products. Other articles in the ‘difference between’ series:

* The difference and compatibility between EV3 and NXT ( link ) * The difference between NXT Home Edition and NXT Education products ( link )

One robotics platform, two targets

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 robotics platform has been developed for two different target audiences. We have home users (children and hobbyists) and educational users (students and teachers). LEGO has designed a base set for each group, as well as several add on sets.

There isn’t a clear line between home users and educational users, though. It’s fine to use the Education set at home, and it’s fine to use the Home Edition set at school. This article aims to clarify the differences between the two product lines so you can decide which product works best for you.

Which set to choose?

The facts and figures on this page may help you decide which set works best for you in terms of hardware and software, but there are other criteria as well. Which set is the most fun? (And won’t end up gathering dust)? See this article for some additional considerations.

LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set (LEGO #31313) is the one you’ll find in toy stores and many online stores, as shown in Figure 1 ( link ). It is often referred to as the Home Edition or Retail Edition. Right out of the box you can build 5 robots including EV3RSTORM, GRIPP3R, TRACK3R, R3PTAR and SPIK3R ( link ) and 12 bonus models ( link ).

You program the robot with software that you can download from the LEGO MINDSTORMS website for free ( link ). You can also control your robot with your smart phone, or with the infrared remote control that comes with the set.

The set contains 1 EV3 programmable brick, 2 Large Motors, 1 Medium motor, 1 Touch Sensor, 1 Color Sensor, 1 Infrared Sensor and an infrared remote, as shown in Figure 2. The set also includes 7 connector cables and a USB cable for programming.

You’ll need 6 AA batteries for the EV3 brick, and 2 AAA batteries for the remote. Instead of using 6 AA batteries, you can purchase the LEGO EV3 Rechargeable Battery and charger. (See “The EV3 Rechargeable Battery” below.)

The set further contains nearly 600 building elements, including beams, axles, gears and connectors, as shown in Figure 3. The inside of the cardboard packaging contains a mission pad ( link ). You can view an unboxing video of the set here ( link ).

LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set (LEGO #45544, see Figure 4) is available from LEGO Education and various education resellers worldwide ( link ). The set includes building instructions for one vehicle with various sensor attachments. More building instructions are available here ( link ). Software tutorials are available as part of the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 programming software, which can be downloaded for free ( link ).

The set contains 1 EV3 programmable brick, 2 Large Motors, 1 Medium motor, 2 Touch Sensors, 1 Color Sensor, 1 Ultrasonic Sensor and 1 Gyro sensor, as shown in Figure 4. The set also includes 7 connector cables and a USB cable for programming. The set includes a rechargeable battery for the EV3 brick and a charger.

The set contains nearly 540 building elements, including beams, axles, gears and connectors, as shown in Figure 6. The sturdy plastic box further contains storage bins for your Technic elements.

‘Upgrading’ Elements from Education Edition to Home Edition

If you have the Education Core Set (#45544), you may still want to build the robots of the Home Edition set (#31313), the 12 bonus robots ( link ), or robots from books about the Home Edition set ( link ). To do so, you’ll need to purchase separately the Infrared Sensor ( link ) and the Infrared Beacon ( link ), as well as certain Technic building elements.

To find the parts you need, start with the diagrams above. You may already have many of the pieces in your LEGO Technic collection.

Below you’ll find several lists that show which parts you need to upgrade so you can build the robots of the Home Edition and the robots in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book.

Matt O’Brien created a list of the parts required to upgrade the combination of the Education Core Set (45544) and Expansion Set (45560) to Retail Set (31313) ( link ).

Peter Bittner has also made a nice Excel Sheet ( link ) that you can use to find which parts you need to upgrade from the Education Core Set (45544) to the Home Edition (31313), or from Education Core + Expansion set (45544+45560) to the Home Edition (31313). He has additional information here. ( link )

You can order most elements from LEGO ( link ), or Bricklink ( link ). See also the instructions in the above files. Alternatively, you could get a large LEGO Technic set or a MINDSTORMS EV3 expansion set (See ‘LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set’ below). You’ll get more value for money this way and it saves you some time, but you may still need to buy certain pieces separately.

‘Upgrading’ Elements from Home Edition to Education Edition

Similarly, if you have the Home Edition set (#31313), you may still want to build the robots of the Education Core Set (#45544, link ). To do so, you’ll need to purchase separately the Ultrasonic Sensor ( link ) and the Gyroscopic Sensor ( link ), as well as certain Technic building elements. Note that the Infrared Sensor has exactly the same shape as the Ultrasonic Sensor. Both sensor can sense distance, but the Ultrasonic Sensor is more accurate for distance sensing. On the other hand, the Infrared Sensor also serves as the receiver for the Infrared Remote. It’s up to you to decide whether you need both sensors.

EV3 Programming Software Versions

LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 robots can be programmed from a computer (PC/MAC) or a tablet (iOS/Android). The tablet app is a simplified version, leaving out several programming options. The PC/MAC programming software is the full version (and just as easy to use).

Both the computer software and the tablet app comes in two versions: The Home Edition and the Education Edition for teachers and students.

Home Edition Software

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition set (#31313) does not include a software CD in the box. Instead, you will need to download the Home Edition software for free from the LEGO MINDSTORMS website ( link ). The software includes a programming environment, and building and programming instructions for the robots you can build with the Home Edition set.

The software does not require a license key, so you can download the software early to see if you like the programming language, and to avoid waiting for a big download when you want to get started building and programing.

The installation file is about 700 MB in size. I found the following system requirements in the installation folder. I added a few comments in parentheses–they are not official comments. If you’re in doubt: Download and run the free software to see if it works before you buy the set!

Prerequisites:

* Silverlight 5.0 or newer (Installer is included – no need to download separately) * Microsoft Dot Net 4.0 or newer (Installer is included – no need to download separately)

Operating systems:

* Windows: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, Windows 10 (32/64 bit) with the latest service packs. (Note that it does not work on Windows 8.0 RT or 8.1 RT) * Macintosh: Mac 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 and later with the latest service packs

System requirements:

* 2 GB of RAM or more * 2.5 GHz processor or faster (This is the minimum for a dual core processor. For example, my quad core processor is just 1.7 GHz and it works fine.) * Minimal supported screen resolution—1024*768 * LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 does not support tablets or certain netbooks with hardware that does not meet the above requirements.

Education Edition for Teachers and Students

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 software (#45544) can be downloaded here for free ( link ). The installation file is about 700 MB in size. The system requirements are the same as given above. As of 2017, no paid license is required to download, install, or run this software.

The software includes a programming environment, and building and programming instructions for the robots you can build with the Education Core Set (#45544) and the Education Expansion set (#45560). In addition, it contains a data logging environment for science experiments. For example, you can plot a graph of the light level in a room, and see it change over time.

Using the Home Edition Software with the Education set

The EV3 brick in the Home Edition set is the same as the EV3 brick in the Education Core Set, so you can use either version of the programming software to control your robot. In fact, you can install both versions of the software on the same computer, if you like.

So it is perfectly possible to use the Home Edition software with the Education Core Set and vice versa. When you do, you’ll need to add a few programming blocks to the software to be able to control the Gyroscope and the Ultrasonic Sensor. See this page for download and installation instructions.

LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set

You can upgrade the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Set (#45544) with the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set (#45560, link ). This allows you to build bigger robots such as an elephant and a stair climber ( link ). The set includes over 850 building elements including beams, axles, and gears, as shown in Figure 7. It does not contain any electronic elements.

While this add on pack was made for the Education Core Set, it’s also an excellent parts resource for use with the EV3 Home Edition (#31313). You won’t be able to build all of the models from this add on pack because you may be missing some elements from the Education Core Set, but the pieces are very useful to create your own robots. In particular, the set contains 9x O-frames, 6xH frames, 13x 15M beams, and numerous gears including a differential and a turntable.

The EV3 Rechargeable Battery

The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition set does not include a rechargeable battery. You can simply use 6x AA batteries. You may want to invest in 6 high performance rechargeable batteries with a dedicated charger. If you do, you’ll probably want to get at least 12 batteries so you can use one set while you charge the others.

You can also purchase the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 rechargeable battery (#45501, link ) and the charger (#8887, link . Be sure to buy the charger that fits the plug in your country). This allows you to charge your robot while it’s on. No need to take your robot apart when the batteries run empty. The battery does make your EV3 a bit bigger (precisely one LEGO unit), as shown in Figure 8.

Working with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 books

Several LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 books have been published and a few more books are on the way. When you plan to buy one of these books, be sure to check in advance which LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set is covered. Some books contain instructions for robots you can build with the Home Edition set (#31313) while others contain instructions for the Education Core Set (#45544). Alternatively, just get the book you like, and upgrade your LEGO collection with the pieces needed for the activities in that particular book.

To use the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Discovery Book, you need the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition. This book helps you get the most out of your EV3 set. You’ll build cool robots, all the while learning about EV3 programming. You can learn more about the book here .

This book is divided into several parts. The first parts (Chapter 1-9) introduce the reader to programming. The programming software for the Education or the Home version is essentially the same, so you can use this book to learn how to program regardless of which set you have. New concepts are demonstrated using a simple vehicle robot. If you have the Education set, you can build the vehicle according to the instructions in that set, and just follow along with the programming tutorials in this book. The same holds for the programming tutorials in Chapters 14-17, which you can also do with the pieces in either set.

In addition to programming tutorials, the book also contains chapters (12, 13, 18, and 19) with building instructions for bigger robots, like the walking humanoid on the front cover of the book. These robots can be built with the pieces in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition (#31313).

Apps for Smartphones and Tablets

You can control your EV3 from your iOS ( link ) or Android ( link ) smartphone or tablet. The official Commander app is targeted at Home Edition users, with specific controls for the Home Edition robots, but it also works with the Education Core Set. In particular, if you have the Education Core Set, you can use the TRACK3R controls to drive the Educator Vehicle. In addition, you can create their own customized remote to control each motor connected to the EV3 brick. You can also program the EV3 with a tablet ( link ).

Purchasing Bluetooth and WiFi dongles

When you’ve created a program in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 PC/MAC software, you transfer it to the EV3 brick using the USB cable included in the set. Once transferred to the brick, the robot can run the program on its own. In addition, you can program your robot wirelessly using Bluetooth or Wifi (using a USB WiFi dongle). This way, there’s no need to connect the USB cable each time you change the program.

While this works great for small setups at home, it can be frustrating to set up in classrooms, because classroom computers may not have administrator rights (for Bluetooth drivers) or they might not have access to configure wireless network settings (for WiFi). If you plan to use wireless capabilities in the classroom, consider buying just one dongle so you can try it out before you buy one for each set.

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Kids learn best when education is made interactive - and even better when it's creative and fun! You can take playtime to the next level with programmable toys that fulfil exciting different functions. Kids 6 to 9 years old and young adults will love learning the basics of coding languages as they assemble, then program robots to dance , fight and play sports . With a Scratch-based LEGO® MINDSTORMS® app supporting the toys, builders can interact with the toys from their phones, build their own models and share them online on LEGO® Life. These sets are a great next step from the LEGO® BOOST range as girls and boys develop their skills and gain an understanding of how technology and coding work together.

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