LAS VEGAS—Fifteen years ago, LEGO launched its Mindstorms line of robotic building blocks. By combining a microcontroller and servos with the classic bricks, LEGO created an accessible way for kids to get into robotics and programming. The Mindstorms series saw updates with the Mindstorms NXT set in 2006 and the Mindstorms NXT 2.0 set in 2009, but there hasn't been a new LEGO robotics set in nearly four years. That changes with the announcement of LEGO Mindstorms EV3.
The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 set uses the new EV3 Intelligent Brick, which serves as the brain of the system. Like previous Intelligent Bricks, the EV3 brick can be programmed to perform in various ways, reacting to stimuli from sensors and activating servos to make the robot built with the set move. The EV3 Intelligent Brick has a faster processor and more memory, and has more flexibility for programming the brick directly and has more support for mobile devices. It uses a new Linux-based firmware and has a USB port and SD card slot to accept programming, and is compatible with iOS and Android devices out of the box.
For building robots, Mindstorms EV3 will come with an Autodesk-powered 3D building app that walks users through assembling projects, like interactive versions of LEGO's visual building instructions. Mindstorms EV3 will also be available for native Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Danish, and Spanish speakers, in addition to the English, French, German, and Dutch versions previous Mindstorms sets have been released in.
LEGO Mindstorms EV3 will hit stores in the second half of the year, with a suggested retail price of $349.99 in the United States.