Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) Reviewed by Lee Hutchinson @ Ars Technica

Lee Hutchinson's Mindstorms EV3 Review (31313) 01

The new Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) is almost here with an official release of September 1st. The early reviews are starting to be published, with an especially good review by Lee Hutchinson over at Ars Technica. The whole 601 piece set includes an Intelligent EV3 Brick, 3 servo motors, a remote control, a color sensor, a touch sensor, an infrared sensor, an instruction manual, and Mac/Win software. And, to no surprise, no batteries.

Lee Hutchinson's Mindstorms EV3 Review (31313) 02

“Still, price is really the only downside to this set. They’re ludicrously fun to play with, and I had a great time sitting on the floor like a kid piecing a robot together (and the whole process was made even better by the fact that I got to do it on the clock!). It’s hard to deny that making robots and then programming them to do your bidding is just straight-up awesome.”

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Check out Lee Hutchinson’s full review of the Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) over at Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/review-lego-mindstorms-ev3-means-giant-robots-powerful-computers/ 

For a quick video review, Lee Hutchinson made a great video:

BrickPi: Lego Bricks with a Raspberry Pi Brain @ Kickstarter

BrickPi: Lego Bricks with a Raspberry Pi Brain: Robot

BrickPi is a simple system for joining together Lego bricks with the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a super small open-source computer that is powerful enough to play high definition video. The standard connections available are USB, RCA, LAN, Audio, HDMI, GPIO, and SD Cards. With this system you will be able to hook a Raspberry Pi computer into the Lego Mindstorms sensors; specifically 3 motors and 4 sensors. These things combined can be used to create smart robots. BrickPi is looking for funding on Kickstarter, check out the video for more details:


BrickPi will be powered by Arduino and Python. As an added plus, the designers will be providing examples and libraries for all your robotic needs.

BrickPi is made by the people over at Dexter Industries.

“We were founded by John Cole, an engineer who had never touched a soldering iron before 2009, but had a burning desire to make robots. Most of our products before this were for the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or Arduino.

When we saw the RPi, we saw the future and ordered six of them.  After setting up the Raspberry Pi, we were a little frustrated that it stood still. So we looked for a way to make it into a robot.

Thus was born the BrickPi.”

BrickPi: Lego Bricks with a Raspberry Pi Brain: Robot 2

Kickstarter: http://kck.st/13vuWtb
Dexter Industries: http://www.dexterindustries.com/BrickPi/