Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
LEGO Debuts The Next Generation Of Mindstorm Robots
By James Grahame
LEGO announced the next generation of programmable Mindstorm robotic kits at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday. The original programmable LEGO Mindstorm robots components -- released in 1998 -- were a joint venture between the MIT Media Lab and LEGO. They quickly became popular hacking toys.
The iPod-shaped 32-bit controller looks intriguing and supports Bluetooth and USB program transfer. Three new servo motors designs and an ultrasonic distance detector are available. You'll have to wait until August 2006 to get your hands on one of these $249.99 kits.
"The heart of the new system is the NXT brick, an autonomous 32-bit LEGO
microprocessor that can be programmed using a PC, or for the first time
in the retail offering, a Mac. After building their robots, users
create a program within easy-to-use yet feature-rich software, powered
by LabVIEW from National Instruments.
Downloading programs to an invention is easy. Users with
Bluetooth®-enabled computer hardware can transfer their programs to the
NXT wirelessly, or anyone can use the included USB 2.0 cable to connect
their computer to the NXT for program transfer. The robot then takes on
a life of its own, fully autonomous from the computer. The inclusion of
Bluetooth technology also extends possibilities for controlling robots
remotely, for example, from a mobile phone or PDA."
