Lego will phase out its Mindstorms robotics kits by the end of the year

Mindstorms robotics kits, developed by Lego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been on the market since 1998. (MIT). Lego has now confirmed that it will discontinue Mindstorms at the end of the year and will continue to support the mobile app for at least another two years, according to Gizmodo.

Starting almost 24 years ago as the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System, the kits employed sophisticated Technics components with gears and other robotics parts, driven by the basic “Brick” processing unit. They made a significant stride forward in 2006 when the business introduced the NXT generation of Mindstorms kits.

Another significant advancement occurred in 2013 with the release of the EV3 robots platform. This new range was backward compatible with the NXT series, and it improved sensor load and processing power. Lego recently released mobile applications that convert iOS and Android smartphones into remote controllers for Mindstorms creations. Finally, it established a Mindstorms community where users could share and collaborate on their inventions.

The last announced product was the Robot Inventor series from 2020, but with nothing seen since, the writing appeared to be on the wall for Mindstorms – especially given Lego’s concentration on other educational projects.

It was one of the first toys to actively encourage STEM learning while piquing the interest of both children and adults in robotics. While the age in robotics education has come to an end, there are now a plethora of kits on the market, including Lego’s own Boost robotics kit for beginners. If you own a Mindstorms robot, it may soon become a collector’s item.