Happy Saturday! It’s been a busy day … 20k cross country ski workout … attend the Minnesota Lego League Robotics Championship … and now my blog. The treat was the Lego tournament. I watched the best 80 teams from across the state compete in robotics, which leads me to this podcast:

• Lego Mindstorms NXT Viral Marketing Podcast

After having just watched hundreds of kids spend an entire day (and months of preparation), I understand what a great job Lego and National Instruments did with the new product release. This podcast is good for two reasons:

1. I love Legos! Always have … always will!
2. The podcast is a classic viral marketing case study of the huge benefits a company will reap if they include their lead users in the product design and roll-out. I know in our household, we had access to Mindstorms NXT before the official release!

Only seven days till the high school robotics team which I coach competes in their state tournament!

Okay, this site is hot … and deserving of a second post. LegoEngineering.Com (hosted by Tufts University) has some great resources (see my first posting).

Here are the links to the promised (free) eBooks / Manuals:

• NXT Software
• Robolab Manuals (various)

Here is the root link for the Lego eBook Library. Finally, check out my Google Co-Op eBook Manual Search Engine.

(and because I understand how search engines work: Lego Mindstorms, Lego NXT)

While searching for engineering podcasts, I found this great page of Lego podcasts … which is really a misnomer as all the links are really downloadable videos. Having said that … the high school robotics coach in me says "neat"! Here are a few examples:

• Advanced Motor Control
• Using Multiple Events with the NXT
• Making Music with some Nested Forks
• Use Loops instead of Forks

Finally, on a different topic, but still educational in nature for children … Florida State University has a great site named: Molecular Expressions – Science Optics and You. You will find many resources including JAVA interactive tutorials.  It’s worth a visit. (my thanks to Lisa T.)

Rolls Royce has a great educational site which explains how jet aircraft engines work. This is cool …. with a capital "C".  Enjoy the tour yourself, or show your kids … better yet, do both!

Rolls-Royce Educational Sites:

• Aero Gas Turbines (flash animation tour through a jet engine)
• Discover How A Fuel Cell Works (video)

It is important for us to get kids interested in the sciences.  When I was a child, I can remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch Apollo moon space walks.  We need to inspire awe about science in children at an early age.

I’ve spent the last two Saturdays judging mechanical robot design at the Minnesota regional Lego League tournaments. What the children design in terms of programmable robots utilizing light, touch, rotation and sound sensors is truly amazing. If you’ve never seen a Lego NXT robot in action, watch this short video from the Fortune Business Innovator’s Blog:

• The Self Parking Lego Car