Lego released the Boost series of products Creative Toolbox at CES in 2017, aimed at the children's education market, bringing simple programming and robotics experience to children over seven years old. Unlike Mindstorm, which is aimed at teenagers and above, all Boost programming is performed through a tablet app. The design is biased towards teaching rather than creation. I hope that while bringing the fun of assembling Lego, you can also learn about programming and The first set of starter tools for machinery.
However, since the launch of Creative Toolbox, Boost has not had a new product of the same series for about two years. It was not until the middle of this year that the second set of Boost series products "Boost Droid Commander" with the theme of "Star Wars" was launched. Its three models are all based on the robots in the Star Wars world. One is the familiar R2-D2, the other is the Imperial MSE-6 repair robot nicknamed "Mechanical Mouse", and the last one is "with feet" The generator" GNK robot, nicknamed "High Energy Robot". This box set has a total of 1,177 parts. The difference from the previous Creative Toolbox is that its three models can exist at the same time, and you don't need to remove them to form another shape. The
box and App
open the Droid Commander box. In addition to up to 12 bags of components, the central controller Move Hub, an interactive motor and a color and distance sensor, it is surprising that it is only so thin inside. Thin a manual? It turns out that this is also one of the features of the Boost series. It does not provide a paper manual. Instead, it allows you to download a dedicated app on the Internet, and use the guidance of the app to complete the assembly of the Droid in a more interactive way. Therefore, in the manual, there is actually only one page that prompts you to install the app, and one page that guides you to install the six AAA batteries of the Move Hub (the batteries are not included in the box and need to be prepared separately). The remaining steps are all Finished on the app.
App is called "Lego Boost Star Wars". It currently supports iOS, Android and Fire OS. It is simpler on the iOS side. It can be used on devices with iOS 11 and above. On the Android side, it is because of the contending of hundreds of schools. Lego can only The basic requirements are listed (Android 6 or above, 1GB RAM, BTLE 4.1 or above, dual-core 1.4GHz or above, speakers), and we will know which models need to be installed. Although it can be installed on mobile phones and tablets, considering children’s eyesight and ease of operation, it is better to recommend a tablet with a size of 10 inches or more.
Xiaobian here is the version of iOS installed on iPad Pro, the size is 825MB. After starting an animation (I... can't understand what the animation wants to express orz), you can change the language to Chinese (both simplified and traditional) in the upper right corner, and the app will confirm whether you have Move Hub, and guide you to set the Bluetooth and microphone permissions of the smart device, and connect with the Move Hub. After some software updates, the assembled Lego parts will be "unlocked" for you to use. To be honest, up to this step should not be easy for children to handle. Maybe it would be better to ask adults to help.
assemble
and then come down, which is to choose one of the three models to fight! Presumably everyone should be the same as the editor. R2-D2 is the first choice for construction, right? At the beginning of this year, Lego began to provide a new interactive assembly manual called "Instructions Plus" on its Lego Life app, and the system used here seems to be copied from that system. Its functions are actually quite advanced. Not only can you drag left and right up and down to rotate the model, you can also turn on the "translucent mode" to preview what it looks like after completion. When you press Next, you can also choose to let the app prompt you for the parts to be used in this step, and find all the parts in advance. withCompared with paper, the biggest advantage of this kind of digital manual is that when the model needs to be turned, it can take you to turn in a very visual way, unlike the paper, sometimes it is not clear which one to turn to. In addition, when the installation position of some small parts is uncertain, you can also change the angle, or even zoom in.
In terms of the assembly process, Lego has actually simplified it as much as possible. Not only the number of pieces used in each step is very small (basically no more than four pieces, most of them are one piece), and there are very few same things made several The situation is to lead you step by step. But having said that, I think this group may not be suitable for the first time to contact Lego, or even the challenge for children who have only played Lego system (System). In the internal structure of
, it uses a lot of Technic components and assembly methods, coupled with the application of a large number of side construction methods, in some places it is unexpected to group it and it is a bit of a headache. The younger children are probably better if someone takes them.
deserves special praise. In this group of products, especially the R2-D2 as the protagonist, Lego designers have paid special attention to the details, making it as close to the original R2-D2 appearance as possible. Even because of its construction method and the use of newer components, the editor feels that it is more like R2 than the UCS series R2-D2, which was built with a square barrel and a hemispherical head in 2012. -D2 some. After
is put together, it is time to start the robot for the first time. Following the guidance of the smart device screen, it will teach you how to place the boxes representing "Start" and "Start Robot" in the middle of the program area, and then press "Start" to execute the program, the tablet will send out R2-D2 Sound, matching the robot's head, and then... it rushed towards the table and committed suicide. Boost "horsepower" seems to be quite strong, if you want to play safely, you may need a larger table, or follow Lego's advice, just put it on the ground. The linkage between the
physical robot and the app
Move Hub actually has four "input/output" ports in addition to the built-in microphone. A and B are two independently controllable motors on the body, while C and D are two "interfaces" that can be connected to other devices. In the R2-D2 group of Boost models, one is followed by the color and distance sensor (hidden near the belly on the front of the finished product), and the other is the motor located in the center behind the robot. This motor controls the movement of the robot's head through the connection of a series of gears in the fuselage.
Although input and output are relatively simple, R2-D2 can do a lot. After teaching you how to write Boost "program", the app will unlock a control interface, allowing you to directly use the joystick to remotely control the movement of R2-D2, and design six "custom buttons" on the side to allow you Write your own program to go up. The next app of
is basically a process of solving tasks and obtaining new "actions", enriching what your R2-D2 can do. The first task is to help Luke Skywalker find the way. The program is written using the distance sensor to make R2-D2 move forward until it stops when it hits an obstacle in front of it and makes a sound. After the first mission, the app will ask you to open the "Universal Parts" of package 12, make the props used in subsequent missions, such as red and yellow "flags", and let R2-D2 walk around the obstacle. The story of the entire mission of
roughly revolves around the five planets of Tatooine, Alderaan, Death Star, Hoth, and Beth. Every new planet unlocks a certain number of missions on the previous planet. Since the mission is not just R2-D2, which represents the rebel army, the mechanical mice and high-energy robots of the Imperial Army should have the opportunity to appear. Therefore, you can’t just keep the R2-D2 kind of robot, but must switch. To the other two robots. Lego learned in the original version of Boost that many children, after forming one look (mainly the robot Vernie) and having fun for a period of time, would be reluctant to take it apart and replace it with another look. So in the Droid Commander group, Lego designedThe three robots are all "shells", and the only thing that needs to be shared is the Move Hub itself. It doesn't take much effort to remove the Move Hub, so the burden of switching between the three groups of robots is much smaller. There are probably two shortcomings of the
system. First of all, although Lego is obviously doing its best, but after all, it is impossible to replace the shell completely, but there are some small components to be disassembled after all. If these extra small components are not put away, they will not be assembled into a robot next time, so always pay attention. It seems a good idea to put them in a small box together with the 12th package of "universal parts". Another disadvantage of
is that because the Move Hub is an indispensable part of the assembly, the appearance of the model will inevitably be affected after it is missing. Among the three models, the high-energy robot is the only one that has hardly changed. Except for the big hole in the back, it is the same as before. R2-D2 is the second place. Since the Move Hub is its "front foot", it can still be seen after dropping. It is R2-D2, but it feels like something is missing. The worst thing is the mechanical mouse. After the Move Hub is missing, the second half is missing, even the wheels are gone, so I can’t see what it is. The official picture actually shows how to make up the wheels for the mechanical mouse, but I don’t know if it’s not deep enough in the story of the app. The editor has not been able to find its assembly method in the app, so I can only "look at the picture and tell the story." ", disassemble the existing parts to restore the official image. After the mechanical mouse has wheels, the most appropriate way to display it is to keep the mechanical mouse and the high-energy robot as they are. The Move Hub is installed in R2-D2. After
has assembled the three models and played their respective tasks for a while, I can only express admiration for Lego's ability to make so many changes around the theme of "robots". The three robots have completely different styles, but the editor will not spoil you about the differences and what they can do. Is
worth buying?
In terms of absolute price, although the $200 price of this group is much cheaper than Mindstorm, it is still a price point that makes people look at it. However, after actually playing it, I think it can definitely be called something Value, even excellent value for money.
is from the perspective of Lego bricks. Compared with other Lego box sets of about 1,000 pieces, the Droid Commander set is not only hollow for all three models (to put the Move Hub), but also uses quite large pieces. The parts make you equivalent to twice or even three times the "volume" of the general box set. Of course, from the perspective of presentation, most people are probably much less interested in high-energy robots or mechanical mice than R2-D2, but they are all robots after all.
Then on top of the Lego notebook, you have the motor, optical sensor, distance sensor and sound sensor functions brought by the Move Hub. Even if you don't play any tasks, the Move Hub with smart device app is enough to transform a robot that was originally a model into a remote control robot, and you can write your own "program" to make it do what you want. This combination of "input" and "output" allows the robot to respond to the surrounding conditions, which is already a step higher than the combination of Powered up / Control+.
Finally, there are various tasks in the Lego Boost Star Wars app. Most tasks require you to assemble exclusive props (there are more than forty kinds of looks), so before you need to use your own creativity, Lego has prepared a lot of things waiting for you to complete Compared with the box set that generally only has one set, two sets, and at most three sets of models can be assembled, it undoubtedly greatly extends its playability.
Conclusion
Boost Droid Commander is really a very strange product among Lego, straddling the intersection of models, programming, remote control robots and app games. As a tool for children's education is its original intention, but it is just as fun for older friends to play as a remote-controlled robot model. Relying on the guidance of the app, Droid CommAnder has multiple changes in the physical composition (mostly various props from the 12th pack of parts), so that its physical Lego itself has a high playability; and the introduction of app tasks and programs is Brings more playability to it on another level.
To be honest, apart from the fact that high-energy robots and mechanical mice are not particularly popular in the Star Wars world, this group of Lego is really not picky. If there is a chance, I really hope everyone can play and see its three completely different ways of playing.
