Horizon
46 T3 Tomorrow’s Technology Today AUGUST 2019 WWW.T3INDIA.COMLego’s new big Star Wars set, and one
you can expect to see a lot more of as
we come towards its September 2019
release date, is actually three sets and
an app in one box. The Lego Star
Wars Boost set lets kids build three
iconic droids, including R2-D2, and
program them through missions using
an app.
It’s designed to teach kids the core
concepts of coding, with
programming done by dragging
blocks together on a phone or tablet
to form a series of commands. The
droids can move around, but also
have lots of extra things they can do,
partly driven by attachments you can
add to them all.
We had the chance to try out
the new robots with designers Carl
Merriam and Steve Geist, with an early
version of the app. The main
difference from the current Lego
Boost set is that you can have all
three robots built and ready to go at
any time – the original Boost had five
things to build, but you had to take
one apart to build the next.
“We found, from Boost, that the
kids actually use only one of the five
models, because, of course, once you
build one, and then you get into its
character, it’s part of your family now,”
explains Karl. “And then you have to take
apart his face to make the other thing.
Kids don’t want to do that.”
The learning and programming is
based around missions in the app – each
of the droids has a story to follow, and
obviously they’re very different given
that R2-D2 is a hero of the Rebellion, the
Mouse droid is the most adorable part of
the Empire, and Gonk is... a walking
battery that says “Gonk”.
“One of the big things we’ve tried to
do with the missions is actually achieve
some of the things that our characters
do in the movie,” says Steve. “So
you know, R2-D2 can help you fly
an X-Wing, he can talk to a computer
and decode a message; Gonk can
help you power your other droids;
and the Mouse can deliver messages.
“Most missions have a small build
associated with them, so that we
keep going with the ‘build, code,
play’ mentality that we’ve tried to do.”
This will mean building R2-D2’s little
computer interface arm, which slots into
a matching computer terminal, androtates to access files, just like in the
movie. As it rotates, it reveals different
colours on a wheel, which are detected
by a sensor on its front. In the case of
Gonk, you’ll build assorted weaponry,
including a spinning buzzsaw and
punching boxing arms.
In all cases they really wanted to keep
hold of the personality of the droids, so
that kids will engage with them as much
as possible. The Mouse zips around,
Gonk wobbles slowly into place, and R2
is full of little touches.
“We decided fairly early on that we
wanted him to be able to go from a
standing position to a tripod position.
That’s just so much of his character,
being able to do that. The animation that
we get out of that gives a lot of
personality. And obviously there’s
head movements,” says Steve.
“We probably built five different
versions of the mechanisms of R2-D2
transforming, and probably at least five,
six or seven of Gonk walking,” adds Karl.
We expect this to be massively
popular this Christmas. From our
time with the set, it’s shaping up to be
educational and kind of stupidly fun.
with it.First you build the models from bricks, then kids learn to program with blocks
BUILDING LEGO’S NEW
STAR WARS DROIDS