Written by: Kenneth R. Madsen, at 22:04, on 4/3 - 2013

Two weeks ago we were attending the LEGO World event in Copenhagen, Denmark as exhibitors at the LEGO MINDSTORMS booth for the forth year in a row. It's always a great pleasure to be part of this event and this time it was very special as the LEGO MINDSTORMS Retail team showed off the upcoming EV3 to the public for the first time. They showed the first five models while claiming that 12(!) more models will be available at release in fall 2013!

Visitors could try to build one of the 5 models, TRACK3R, using the 3D Building Instruction App, developed by AutoDesk, as well as trying out a prototype edition of the Remote Control App, where the visitors could control R3PTAR and SPIK3R. GRIPP3R was used to show off the new programming environment in order to offer a hands-on experience for kids, where also the TRACK3R model offered an insight to the improved on-brick programming, which runs solely on the EV3. There were also WiFi-dancing EV3RSTORMs, Sumo-bots fights using the TRACK3R model, as well as a GIANT red dragon and EVAN, both made by Lee Magpili.

Furthermore the 15 years of LEGO MINDSTORMS were the focus of a historical showdown with the full line of the MINDSTORMS products ever produced, lined up together so the visitors clearly could see the evolution from the old RCX, to the NXT and the upcoming EV3. It was quite interesting to see the old models again and thinking back on where it all started.

Right, remember we said that we had made a large improvement to the Cargo Terminal? Well, the improvement turned out to be very popular among the visitors as you can see in the image below.

With support from the LEGO MINDSTORMS Retail team, we were able to design a new forklift and joystick based on the EV3. By utilising the possibility to use 4 motors on the EV3, the forklift is now capable of using its forks while driving! And the new joystick allows you to do just that! It was great to see that both kids and adults had a hard time getting away from the joystick once they had familiarised themselves with the controls.

We have borrowed the design of the forklifts omniwheels from Yoshihito Isogawa, as the wheels are perfectly suited for the instant direction changes required. Do take time to head over to his site to see his other very clever technical solutions - so cool!

Another improvement for the forklift is its better lifting height, as it now have a three-section tower and is thereby able to lift twice as high as the old forklift. This made us develop a new higher pallet rack, that we named 'The LEKEA Pallet Rack' since it is as easily assembled as an IKEA furniture, just made with LEGO bricks.

We will finish off by thanking the LEGO MINDSTORMS Retail team and the rest of the crew at the MINDSTORMS booth for a great event! And of course also a big thank you to all the visitors and we hope you all had a blast - we sure did!

Leg godt!
Team BrickIt.dk