High-tech Legos aren't totally new. Those sets and the new mass-market MindStorms spring from a collaboration between Lego and the MIT Media Lab. There, Fred Martin, an MIT research scientist, helped develop much of the microprocessor technology ultimately used in MindStorms sets. He got involved because he thinks that good toys should lead kids to constructive play. It puts kids in the driver's seat.
Technological toys can also keep adults interested.
Some, in fact, use Legos in their work. Since late July, Fudd has crisscrossed the United States, demonstrating the possibilities of the new set to school children and adults. Fudd has built his creations at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and at research labs and universities. In Las Vegas, his card-dealing robot took an impromptu, and uninvited, turn on a casino gaming table, much to the pit boss's chagrin. The little Lego vehicle held a spool of twine and did a lap around the ball.