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LEGO 31313 Mindstorms EV3 Robot - $354.45 Delivered @amazon au
LEGO 31313 Mindstorms EV3 Robot - $354.45 Delivered @ Amazon AU
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deal junkie on 03/04/2020 - 16:43 amazon.com.au (574 clicks)
Last edited 03/04/2020 - 16:48 by 1 other user
Last edited 03/04/2020 - 16:48 by 1 other user
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Heard it’s retiring in September, better wait and see what’s the coming next gen looks like.
It is getting old (5+ year). I do not own one, not sure is it still "up-to-date" and worth spending over $300.
From a purely technical standpoint, Mindstorms has been surpassed by competitors like VEX IQ, which despite being assembled from plastic, interlocking components like Lego, are a much more direct simulation of real-world robotics, both in the programming software and in the actual design applications and example designs provided.
Linus Tech Tips did a fairly good job at reviewing the Mindstorms EV3 set and as he rightly points out at the end, it's a step backwards from even the previous-generation Mindstorms NXT in terms of included sensors and the EV3 Brick's boot-up time.
At the end of the day, regardless of whatever improvements are made to the Mindstorms PLC brick, new kinds of sensors and the Mindstorms API to allow for more complex programmable logic, what lets Mindstorms and any motorised Lego sets down are the piss-weak power functions motors and the reliance on Infrared for remote control instead of radio waves, and that's something Lego will likely never change as their intense focus on being family-friendly and child-oriented precludes motorised Lego sets from being too fast or having motors that can generate significant torque, as in their minds, this is not appropriate for children (somehow; despite the fact plenty of kids of the same age group that Lego is recommended for, play around with RC cars capable of speeds much faster than any RC Lego vehicle).
As imaginative and theoretically complex as your designs can be with the Mindstorms kit, and as much as it can serve as a good thought exercise for children to wrap their heads around mechanics, physics, robotics and so forth, there is always a limit to how ambitious your designs can be simply due to the fact that so many ideas that you can translate into a Mindstorms robot will move and actuate in slow-motion basically, unless you want to spring for some after market BuWizz or SBrick motors (which can produce a heap of speed and torque, but many people would find that too much of a hassle).
Having been into Mindstorms since v1.5 back in the 1999, I can say that's probably the biggest let-down with each generation of this theme, and believe it or not the RC race cars/buggies I made in v1.5 (the ones included in the instructions) are actually faster than not only the ones you can make with EV3 but faster than most other motorised Technic sets released in the last 2 decades as well.
It's seriously disappointing that Lego used to make much faster motors nearly 2 decades ago, and yet now you have to look at 3rd-party, after market motors in order to get your money's worth from the several hundred-dollar sets you pay for.
As is tradition with the Lego group, they keep taking 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.
Good price.
I have this one. Flash the brick using Educational version and you can use it to for data logging. Get additional sensors from Gumtree/eBay.
I have this set, it's hella fun. you can hack linux into the control brick, buy aftermarket LED lightstrip controller units that have compatible control blocks in the mindstorms programming UI. I wouldn't recommend it to under 8 year olds tho, they'd have more to get out of the newer Boost or Wemo stuff.
in stock again on amazon for $354.45
This is a good price. It's usually around $420.