



Robot, Machine, Technology, Mecha, Fictional character, Toy, Transformers, Military robot,
Max Burkhalter

You can make a guitar that plays sound effects, a cat that purrs and interacts with you, or a robot that you can make move and talk. The projects are animated using an icon-based coding app, which teaches kids basic coding commands and concepts.

To test the new smart Legos, we enlisted the help of two extraordinary young men: Carson Huey-You, 14, who graduated from Texas Christian University this past May with a degree in physics, and his brother, Cannan, 11, who graduated from high school the same month. So, once again: Carson graduated college at 14, Cannan graduated high school at 11.

Max Burkhalter

Carson: When we opened the box, we looked at the app and we looked at all the different things you could do. Then once we started building, we were able to connect it to the app and start controlling it. We built a little car with a propeller, and then with the iPad app we were able to connect and make it roll around in different directions and do other cool things.

Cannan: The app was easy to use. It had a pretty simple interface. It was maybe a little bit for younger kids, but not too bad. It didn't use any crazy coding or anything. It was pretty easy to figure out.

Carson: Yeah, it's not super-duper advanced, but that's a good thing. You don't get overwhelmed. For an introductory programming experience, where you're telling something to do this or not do that, I think it's good.

Max Burkhalter

Cannan: You don't have to jump right into the advanced stuff, like the Lego Mindstorms sets. You could definitely use the pieces in this set to make other things too, not just the cat or the robot. There are a lot of other pieces, like a conveyor belt and a motion sensor and a propeller.

Carson: The one bad part is, if you don't have an iPad or another platform the app works on, it would be impossible to use this set.


Carson: Yeah, I liked it. There's definitely a lot of potential with this app, and I think overall it added a cool new aspect to playing with Legos. It's a new concept and I think it's really interesting.

Cannan: Same.

This story appears in the September 2017 issue of Popular Mechanics.

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