We were wrong. So our approach was to build such a virtual simulation environment for several reasons. LEGOpet Debugging Allow users to 'test-drive' the rules of the vehicles before 'taking them on the road'. That was the idea we had associated with the term virtual brick when we first heard it. And in order to create realistic breakdowns in the simulation a digitized photo was used as background to accurately represent real-world noise.
Virtual environment overcomes limited testing resources.
Another aspect of virtual LEGOpet was that it was easier and cheaper to duplicate than the physical counterpart. A big deal of motivation of the SimBrick project was the experience in schools. There were computers in sufficient numbers, but but just two LEGOpets. Our system is designed to give kids individual spaces to experiment and later apply their programs in the real vehicle. Flexible End-User Programming Rules are composed using the tactile programming approach of Visual Agnetalk Our system as it stands now emulates the programming primitives of LEGOsheets.