In 2006 Lego launched a more sophisticated successor to the Mindstorms RIS, called Mindstorms NXT which contained a more sophisticated programmable brick based on a 32-bit ARM7TDMI-core Atmel AT91SAM7S256 microcontroller. The programmable RCX bricks have proven to be very robust, and they remain an excellent system for children to experiment with. The Mindstorms RIS sets are really good, and used kits remain readily available on ebay. If you are curious about the MIT programmable brick, then have a look at the Programmable Brick Handbook, available as a PDF from Fred Martin’s website at the University of Massachusetts Lowell here (Fred Martin was involved in the Lego Mindstorms work whilst a student at MIT).

The MIT Media Lab created the forerunner of the RCX brick, which was simply known as “ the programmable brick“. The Lego Mindstorms RIS product was the fruit of a long-standing research collaboration between the Lego company and the MIT Media Lab.

The RCX brick was programmed via an infrared (IR) serial link from a Windows 95/98 PC, and could drive up to 3 motors and receive data from up to 3 sensors. This robotics system used standard and technical Lego bricks together with an 8-bit microcontroller (a Hitachi/Renesas H8/3297 microcontroller) packaged into a neat yellow box known as the RCX brick. In 1998 Lego released the first version of their Mindstorms Robotics Invention System (RIS). The LEGO Company began sponsoring work at the MIT Media Lab in 1985, and this collaboration resulted in the release in 1998 of the LEGO Mindstorms construction kit, which was named after Seymour Papert’s seminal book. His MIT research group eventually became the foundation of what is now the renowned MIT Media Lab. He is widely known for his invention, whilst working at MIT, of the Logo programming language, work which he described in his famous book Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas. Seymour Papert is one of the great pioneers of computer science, as well as also being a pioneer of education in computer science and mathematics.

Lego rcx firmware