What do a 50 year old man (me) and kids have in common? …. a love of Legos.  Did you know that it is possible to purchase a compass sensor for your Mindstorms kit?  For five years I’ve coached a team of boys in First Lego League (now juniors in high school). The guys just got together, pooled their money and bought the new sensor. Apparently it is accurate to plus or minus one degree.  This should make our robot rock!

Finally, here is a video from the Minnesota State Championship Tournament. We competed in this event two years ago. The Minnesota version of First Lego League was started in 1999 and has grown from 12 teams of kids to 270 teams across the state this year. Pretty cool!  My thanks to Fred Rose, the engineer who really got this started in Minnesota.

Now we are at the high school level with a new team name … S.N.I.P. (Super Nerds In Pink) . Here are some photos from this past year’s high school tournament.  I am the older guy "in pink".

I am a proud papa! My son’s Lego copier created with the new Lego Mindstorms NXT has been featured in one of the top Lego community blogs! If you want to monitor the new world of programmable Legos, try out this blog:

• NXTASY.ORG

And here is the posting with my son’s copier: NXTLOG (learn about Lego NXT moderated forums)
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As a fyi to other parents … the Lego site protects the privacy of the young builders, but it’s still wise to talk to your kids about safe use of the net.