Mike Henderson

Just had another reply from Mike Hnderson. In response to his response I thought i'd take advantage of his engineerinbackground, so I asked him what he would change about Lego Mindstorm - apart from the cost. Here's his reply:

Hi James,

Things I would change:

1. Smaller motors -- the current motors are quite bulky
2. One more motor port on the controller unit -- it currently supportsa maximum of 3 motors
3. More on-board memory on the controller unit -- it's quite limitednow, and the ability to store larger/more programs would be great.
4. Smaller controller unit -- The main controller is quite large andheavy, though most of the weight and size is due to battery needs, sothey'd need to decrease battery consumption which would be difficultgiven that the motors and sensors are likely not going to get muchmore optimal in their power needs.

Mike

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Improvements - Relaunch? Big push from lego to reignite their passion for a product. This could be what this commercial is all about. It appears this product does have its short falls, stemming mainly from lego's reluctance to label it anything other than a "niche" product. Thats fine, because i agree, this is a "niche" product. You'd hardly find the cool kids hanging round the bikesheds after school showing off their latest lego incarnation to the nearest buxom filly, (lego haven't provided a cigarette lighter attachment). But what lego are afraid of is it canibalising their other products, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or lego league finalist) to realise that Mindstorm, with a few tweaks could easily be integrated with lego technic and previous incarnations so that they complement each other.