Lego sets come in all different sizes with different numbers of Lego pieces. Of course bigger sets cost more, but is there a linear relationship between set size and cost? Let’s take a look. Oh, and yes – I did look at this before, but that was a long time ago. It’s time to revisit the data. It’s not too difficult to find data for Lego prices and number of pieces. If you just look on the Lego online store. There you can find both the price and the number of pieces for each set. You can even sort them by “themes” – like “Star Wars” or “friends” Even though it’s easy to get, I only collected price data for a subset of the themes (mostly because I am lazy). If I put all of this data together, I can get a plot of the set price vs. number of pieces in set. Here is what that looks like. Let’s look at the linear function that fits this data. The slope of this line is 0.104 US Dollars per Lego piece. There is your answer. On average, one Lego piece costs 10.4 cents.
Also, I think it’s nice to notice that this data is fairly linear.What about the y-intercept for this fitting function? The value from the fit is 7.34 USD. That means that for this function, if you had a Lego set with zero pieces in it, it would still cost $7.34 – you know, for the box and instructions and stuff. Yes, I know that there are Lego sets cheaper than $7.34 – this is just the y-intercept for the fitting function. Now let me point out the three outliers in this plot. Notice that all of these (one from Duplo and two from the City theme) are train sets. Of course train sets are going to be more expensive than a set with the same number of pieces (but not a train) because of the electric motors and stuff. If you are looking for a “good deal”, might I suggest the Trevi Fountain (21020). This set has 731 pieces for just $49.99. According to the fitting function, a set with this many pieces should cost about 83 dollars. Suppose I break all the data into the different themes.
If I fit a linear function to each of the different themes, I can get both the price per piece of Lego and the price of a zero piece set. Here are the brick prices for some of the Lego themes. The error bars are the uncertainties in the fit parameters. If you know what a Duplo block is, you probably aren’t surprised that they are the most expensive (63 cents per brick). These are bricks created for smaller kids. They are all large so that you can’t swallow them. It just makes since that they would cost more. The other expensive bricks are the City sets. But this is deceiving due to the high set prices of the train kits. I suspect if you removed these train sets from the plot, it would be a more normal price. What about the base cost? This is the y-intercept of the linear fit. Here you will notice that the City theme has a negative base cost. This means that if there were no pieces (on average) in a City set, Lego would pay YOU money. But why is this negative? It’s because of the high price of the train sets.
They increase the slope of the linear fit but also push the y-intercept into negative values. The real bargains are the Architecture themed sets. These have a base cost of only 70.7 cents where as the Marvel themed sets have a base cost of 3.61 USD. I’ve probably already answered some of these questions in the past, but it would still be fun as a homework assignment. Some of these aren’t too difficult. You could think of them as Duplo Homework. Notice that not even once did I use a plural version of the term “Lego”.Building a robot from programmable robot kits is a great way to learn robotics. The most well-known programmable robot kits are LEGO Mindstorms and VEX IQ. We put them side-by-side here to discover their common features and differences. And at the bottom of the page is a comparison table. This review is for their home editions. Both VEX IQ and LEGO EV3 education editions have somewhat different packages, which contain trays for parts, and rechargeable batteries.
The education editions are more designed for classroom use and cost more than home editions. Originally developed at MIT, the third incarnation of LEGO robotics comes with a full curriculum dedicated to teaching programming A kid can progressively learn about the various areas of robotics and build several kinds of robots Intuitive icon-based drag-and-drop programming interface and step-by-step instructions provide a fun learning experience for young kids Intelligent EV3 Brick, 3 interactive servo motors, remote control, color sensor, touch sensor, infrared sensor, and 550+ LEGO Technic elementsAlthough LEGO Mindstorms can easily be used at the elementary level, because of its versatility and capability it is even used at the university level. It is probably the perfect imagination tool for all ages. Check the price and customer reviews Original developed at MIT, the third incarnation of LEGO robotics, LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, is launched worldwide in September, 2013.
It comes with a full curriculum dedicated to teaching programming via EV3. With its step-by-step instructions and intuitive programming interface, a kid can progressively learn about the various areas of robotics and build several kinds of robots. Besides you can control the robot with the enclosed remote control, you can also command your robot with smart phone or tablet with the free Robot Commander app. There are five hero robots you can start to build, including EV3RSTORM, GRIPP3R, TRACK3R, R3PTAR and SPIK3R. You then proceed to other 12 bots with building instructions or programming missions. With LEGO Mindstorms EV3, one of the most flexible programmable robot kits, you can design and create your own robot. Your creativity is the only limit. LEGO Mindstorms has a great community. You get inspired by the creativity of other fans and share your own creations. Besides LEGO bricks and a print building instruction for TRACK3R (to find all PDF building instructions online), the followings are included:
The EV3 Brick serves as the control center and power station for your robot. Color sensor: Recognizes seven different colors and measures light intensity. Touch sensor: Makes your robot respond to touch, recognizes three conditions: touched, bumped and released. Remote Infrared Beacon: Remote controls your robot from a distance, and can also be used as a tracking device for your robots. Large motor (x2): Lets you program precise and powerful robotic action! Medium Motor: Maintains precision, while trading some power for compact size and faster responses. The LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 home edition does not include a software CD in the box. Instead, you will need to download the software for free from the LEGO MINDSTORMS website. The software includes a programming environment, and building and programming instructions for the robots you can build with the set. Check the price and customer reviews for Lego Mindstroms EV3. VEX Robotics offers VEX IQ for elementary and middle school kids, and VEX EDR for middle, high school and beyond.
We review VEX IQ kit here. Take advantage of the versatile, modular, tool-less construction system to build and program robots Follow step-by-step instructions to learn the basics, and then use that knowledge to build anything you can imagine. Robot Brain with 12 self-configuring input/output ports, four smart motors, 750+ pieces, one color sensor, one bumper switch sensor, one touch LED sensor, built in rotational sensors on the motors, and video game style remote control Includes free VEX IQ curriculum VEX IQ kit, like LEGO Mindstorms EV3, is another modular, toolless construction system. Although VEX IQ hasn’t been around as long as LEGO Mindstorms, it is another powerful robotics platform capable of producing highly functional robots, while simple enough for kids without robotics experience to assemble and program. This versatile kit provides a broad range of challenges, and can be used to teach everything from basic to advanced concepts. Its electronics system is especially superb, offering more flexibility and building options than LEGO Mindstorms EV3, although its supporting resources are relatively lean.
Comparing with LEGO Mindstorms’ extremely intuitive software, VEX IQ’s software requires more reading and is harder for younger kids to learn programming. Please refer to the detailed comparison below. Check the price and customer reviews for VEX IQ. “Which is the better system, LEGO Mindstorms EV3 or VEX IQ?” This question has been asked a lot. We compare these two vastly popular programmable robot kits side by side for you to have a better picture. Stiffer pieces click together firmly. Pretty pieces for better looking robots. Additional connector types allow more complex building. Thinner pieces and more flexible to be bended for interesting shapes. Greater assortment of larger pieces. Two large motors and one medium motors The brain allows 4 inputs and 4 outputs Can also be run with 6xAA batteries besides a rechargeable battery. Four small motors for more possibilities. The brain takes up 12 inputs/outputs. Touch LED sensor with the ability to switch output colors is helpful for debugging.
Powered by rechargeable battery only. EV3-G, the graphical software is extremely easy to use and very intuitive. Full-featured content editor to enable documenting on the go. Translated into 15 languages. Modkit, the graphical software is built on the Scratch framework. Runs on browser without software installation. Requires more reading than EV3-G. Harder for younger kids. A very mature system with plenty of third party sensors to plug in Not much third party sensors A huge range of educationally specific materials and books available, filled with excellent and relevant activities. They are high quality and very comprehensive. Official education offerings are relatively lean. The curriculum is fairly broad. To help you select the right robot kit, we would like to talk about programmable robot kits comparing with normal robot kits before we finish this review. A normal robot kit is more like puzzles. It is assembled together to be a particular robot to complete a predetermined task.
Although it is valuable to learn mechanics and acquire assembling skills, there is no room for original design or programming in these robots. A good programmable robot kit can be distinguished from a normal robot kit. Programmable robot kits allow you to program robots to perform various tasks. Because the programmable “brain” is there, the built robot can do a job without being giving a direction at every step. The “brain” sets a programmable robot apart from a remote controlled robot. Let’s compare how they response before bumping into a wall on the left. There is a typical if/then clause programmed in the programmable robot. “If my left sensor detect something , I will turn right.” On the other hand, a remote controlled robot will need a person to press a button to direct the bot to turn right once the person sees the bot is going to bump into a wall on the left. Creativity and critical thinking is required during the process of design and coding programmable robot kits.