Anyone here owns a Lego Mindstorm?

[spt60]

Have you ever broken it as you programmed it, the motors or sensors died, how durable is it?

Have you done anything "outside of the box" yet?

[rkawakami]

As nobody else has responded to this with direct experience, I'll toss out my observation.

The very first Thinkpad I bought (600E in 2002) was for my younger daughter's Lego Robotics team. It consisted of six 11 year olds competing in the First Lego League (FLL). As far as I know, none of the teams at her school ever had a breakdown of the RIS programming software, controller or sensors. Of course this was years ago and newer controllers and sensors are now available. The only thing I remember that was a problem was the appetite of the team for AA batteries.

Each year the FLL has a different "challenge", usually with some sort of environmental or scientific issue as the basis for the competition. The year that her team started up the challenge was called "Arctic Impact". Various tasks had to be perfomed with a team-designed robot using the Mindstorm materials (picking up items and moving them somewhere else, negotiating an obstacle course, etc.). Points were awarded for successful completion of a task and deducted if certain rules were not followed (knocking over things or manually returning the robot to the starting point).

Is this what you mean by "outside of the box"?

[spt60]

As nobody else has responded to this with direct experience, I'll toss out my observation.

The very first Thinkpad I bought (600E in 2002) was for my younger daughter's Lego Robotics team. It consisted of six 11 year olds competing in the First Lego League (FLL). As far as I know, none of the teams at her school ever had a breakdown of the RIS programming software, controller or sensors. Of course this was years ago and newer controllers and sensors are now available. The only thing I remember that was a problem was the appetite of the team for AA batteries.

Each year the FLL has a different "challenge", usually with some sort of environmental or scientific issue as the basis for the competition. The year that her team started up the challenge was called "Arctic Impact". Various tasks had to be perfomed with a team-designed robot using the Mindstorm materials (picking up items and moving them somewhere else, negotiating an obstacle course, etc.). Points were awarded for successful completion of a task and deducted if certain rules were not followed (knocking over things or manually returning the robot to the starting point).

Is this what you mean by "outside of the box"?

Thank you for your reply, I intended to buy this cool toy and play with it, thus I was looking for others who's already been playing the toy.

I did come and help out one of the Lego Robotics competition and loved it.

By "outside of the box", I meant doing something that did not come with the manual, something that we did/designed ourselves.

[Mackmirillo]

I have one. It is the original version. look up " nqc" (Not Quite C). It's great. There is someone that made a book scanner with lego, you can find a page about it on the web. I considered making a food dispenser for my dog, but I didn't want to tie up the whole system..... I also made a makeshift intruder detecter and counter when I was 12. I took the passive infrared sensor from one of those motion activated light switch things and used it to detect the number of times someone entered or exited my room. The rcx would count them and then I queried it when I got back to see if anyone (other than myself) had been in the room. I also made a programmable fireworks igniter. Press the button, it beeps 2 times and sets the fireworks off in order - up to 6. I got into microcontrollers after that. As for when they break, that's one of the best parts! Mine never broke, but I repaired one that had the motor driver damaged.
That was a long time ago though :(
If you want to buy mine, it comes with a handy toolbox for all the parts. It's hardly used and in very good shape, though it's about 7 years old.