Interview with Lee Magpili LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Designer

Former NYC FLL Emcee, coach, mentor, and teacher Evan Weinberg recently met up with Lee Magpili, LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 designer (also a former New Yorker) over tea to discuss the new EV3.

Check out the interview here:

http://evanweinberg.com/2013/06/27/tea-with-lee-magpili-and-the-lego-mindstorms-ev3/

MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Preview

I was recently awarded a Grant from LEGO Education (LE), to be a part of the "LEGO Education EV3 Seed Project." As part of the program, LE sent me a number of EV3 sets before their public release to try out in my robotics camps this summer.

The boxes came this week - here's a first look:

They are not the final version of what will be shipped this August. Usually LE MINDSTORMS kits come with a nice layout of how to organize the parts, but since this is a beta, I had to create my own organizational system.

I was given a PDF file of the parts list and made stickers of what parts should go where. I also labeled each bin with leftover price stickers I had around the house. 

Here's the parts list of the Core Set from LEGO Education:

I separated parts in the top bin into the categories that I will use to teach my students how to use and identify LEGO TECHNIC elements.

• Angled beams
• Straight beams
• Connectors
• 2 & 4 prong connectors
• Gears
• Axels (and all parts that have an axel pin)
• Friction pegs
• Bushings
• Pulley and skinny tire
• Ball parts (the new LE EV3 kit comes with an AMAZING ball attachment that can be used as a 3rd wheel- say goodbye to complicated pivot wheels!)
• Treads
• Misc. Parts

I separated parts in the top bin by:

• EV3 
• 2 large motors
• 1 medium motor
• Ultrasonic sensor (1)
• Touch sensors (2)
• Color sensor (1)
• Gyro sensor (1)
• Tires (2) & hubs 
• Wires & USB cable

I also laminated the bottom bin parts list for student reference.

Here are copies of the files I used for part stickers and bottom bin.  The top two .jpg's for the top bins, and are best printed at 60%, the third .jpg is the bottom bin reference sheet and can be printed at 100%. I print these on full sheet ink jet labels from Staples.

Top bin File #1:

Top bin File #2:

Bottom bin reference sheet:

The LE EV3 software should be coming next week. 

Stay tuned for first impressions of the software!