A day after I joined Cigniti in March this year, I stepped into our robotics-testing lab and was quite inspired by the next generation robotics kit that was being tested.  The moment I learned that the current version of the product is already in the market, I instantly knew that Aniketh would love it and that it would be a cool toy for him to engage summer of 2012.

However, I could not find the toy anywhere in India.  Revanth who was in US for a short trip early this summer, and picked up the shipment I had arranged it via amazon.com @ my cousins place in Dallas.  Aniketh who is fond of science kits and experiments, quickly fell in love with Lego Mindstorms 2.0.

Aniketh downloaded designs (in PDF format) for dozens of models, and assembled them with limited direction and help from anyone of us.  He also tweaked the code using the intuitive GUI provided by Lego Mindstorms software.   Aniketh within a month also learned that there is a Android app to control he Bots, and experimented with one

He also spent some of the Fridays at Cigniti to share his learnings and experience as an end user.   Mindstorms is designed for kids 10+ years and above.  I found this toy as a good alternative compared to the several other toys that dumb our kids down, where as this one actually kindles our young one’s imagination.  Possibilities of models one could build are endless.

I have video recorded his tryst with various models and his comments over this Summer using iPhone 4 (smartest iPhone since iPhone 3G) and Radhika recorded one clip using iPhone 3G (smartest iPhone since original iPhone)  :-).  However I found time this holiday season, to assemble below 8-minute video using my favorites movie editing software iMovie from Apple.  Part 2 of this series can be accessed via this link