Posted: 12/5/2011 3:37:06 AM EDT
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Anyone have experience with the Mindstorm stuff?
My youngest daughter participated in a robotics workshop over the weekend and she seemed to enjoy it. It looks like they were using the standard brick with lego sensors and motors. The kits are expensive and I am thinking Christmas. Better than getting her a cellphone... |
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I bought the kit for my kids. Got it from an eBay seller for $150 IIRC. My oldest, and only daughter, started when she went into middle school. She enjoyed it at first, then it devolved into the typical paradigm of most student activities - the kids messing/horsing around, and the parents doing all of the heavy lifting. One of my sons, who loves everything Lego, had no interest in doing it, nor did my other son. Money well-spent.  Sorry for the cynical attitude. |
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My house has always been techno-geek city, but that is one item that we never bought. Both of my sons experienced it, though, at summer camps. I'd suggest using the money to send your daughter to a 2 or 3 week camp that emphasizes this type of thing. From our experiences, it seems like they get more out of it while interacting with other kids and ideas. |
| Mindstorm's are great. I mentor a robotics club that uses them, you can use them to do some advanced stuff if you are willing to learn. I think it is great way to get kids wanting to understand science and math and programming. Lots of resources on the web to aid the self taught. |
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If she likes it, please look into the FIRST Lego Robotics events.
FIRST is the international robotics competition, and they have elementary (Lego) and intermediate school level competitions as well as high school. Went to the Nationals in St. Louis a few months ago, it was awesome. You could get you local school to sponsor a team. http://www.usfirst.org/ |
They are awesome! We did the FLL Competition for 5 years and it was the bomb! I think we own like three sets of the old 1.0 RCX's! 
ETA: http://www.usfirst.org/ You can start your own team for just a couple hundred bucks, and you can easily make up for them with sponsorship deals and grants. http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ The high-school level competition is a bit more expensive, , but well worth every penny. I did it for four years as well.
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Quoted:
Thanks for the input. Wish this stuff had been around when I was a kid. Erector sets were cool though... When I was a kid I had a set of Construx. Those were cool. I only had one motor pack for them though. |
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The team I help with is going to state coming up here pretty quick. My company sponsors it and the kids love it. All of it is easy to get started on. I'd suggest trying to get involved in a park and rec or school based FLL group if she enjoys it. Hopefully she has fun, and wants to venture into bigger and badder robotics and electronics! |