Cybermaster

Cybermaster was mainly sold in Europe and Australia/New Zealand, but was available for a short time in America via the Lego Club magazines. It was aimed at a younger audience as an early attempt of merging computer gaming with robotics and LEGO. The Pbrick shares many, especially software, features with the RCX but differs in appearance and technical specifications: 1 output (plus 2 built-in) and 3 sensors.

- It uses RF (27 MHz R/C band) instead of IR for communication.
- It has two built-in motors with integrated tachometers and speedos.
- It is limited to passive sensors (a simple A/D with internal pull-up resistors).
- The sensors shipped with it are colour coded and have internal resistors in their open state (allowing the Pbrick to sense which sensor is attached to which port).
- It has a fixed firmware (so it cannot be upgraded or replaced).
- It has limited RAM for programs and only one program slot.

Despite its obvious limitation it has a number of edges over its 'big brother', the RCX.

- The RF link has greater range and is omnidirectional.
- The built-in tacho and speed sensors on the internal motors provides the same function as the external rotation sensor to the RCX, but without using up sensor ports.

This makes it very useful for various mobile platforms and performing basic motion/positioning tasks.

It talks the same protocol as the RCX but cannot communicate directly to it (due to IR vs RF) but with a repeater (a computer with 2 serial ports and a simple program) they can be integrated.

Codepilot

Sold as part of the Barcode Truck kit. This unit was the first programmable brick (or Pbrick). It features a single motor, a single touch sensor and a light sensor. It is programmed by setting it to 'learn' and using the light sensor to feed barcoded commands. The command set is very limited. Since barcode is just a series of variances in light, this form of command entry was dubbed VLL (Visual Light Link) and has been used in several later Lego models.

Scout

Lego also released a brick named the Scout, which has 2 sensor ports, 2 motor ports, a built in light sensor, and no PC interface. The Scout can be programmed, but the user usually selects one of a collection of built-in programs. In order to program the Scout, a user must enable "power mode" on it. The Scout can store one program.
The RCX can control the Scout brick using the Send IR Message program block. The RCX does all of the controlling, and therefore can be programmed with the PC, while the Scout acts as a "slave". The Scout brick must have all of its options set to "off".
The Scout is also capable of using VLL to control a Micro Scout.

Micro Scout

The Micro Scout was added as an entry level to Lego robotics. It is a very limited Pbrick with a single light sensor and a single built-in motor. It has seven built-in programs and can be controlled by a Scout, Spybotics or RCX unit using VLL.
The unit was sold as part of the Droid Developer Kit (featuring R2D2) and later the Darkside Developer Kit (featuring an AT-AT Imperial Walker).

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Image gallery ( LEGO Minifigure )

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LEGO Minifigure Design variations

While nearly all minifigure heads, torsos, arms, hands and legs are the same size and shape, some sets have included figures that deviate from the standard. Minifigures built from special, uniquely molded pieces were first introduced in Life on Mars. Martians are composed of five tools: two pair of double arms, a mechanical torso, a conjoined leg piece, and a head. This configuration is also used for many Star Wars Droids; Battle Droids follow the same pattern, while Super Battle Droids feature a head fixed to a torso, General Grevious has space for four arms, and IG-88 has a head constructed of other Lego pieces. Other droids, such as Droidekas, Spider Droids and Pit Droids, are constructed entirely from standard Lego pieces, yet are still generally considered minifigures. R2-D2 and other astromech droids are constructed from unique parts, with a separate top, body and legs. The robots of Exo-Force and Bionicle miniatures have a design similar to the Star Wars Battle Droids, but with separate legs, movable hands, and a head affixed to a small torso.

Hagrid, the half-giant character from the Harry Potter series, uses a larger minifigure body, with only the head being separable. Minifigures have also featured unique head sculpts that differ from the traditional cylindrical shape; the first was Jar Jar Binks, included in a Star Wars set in 1999, followed by Yoda, C-3PO and Harry Potter goblin figures. Traditional accessories, such as hats and helmets, cannot be placed on these non-standard heads. Some minifigures, such as Wookies, Gamorrean Guards, Ewoks, and SpongeBob, have head pieces that fit like standard heads, but also cover part of the torso, similar to the ghost figures, except that these figures use short or standard legs instead of a brick. Collectors refer to this piece, and figures that use it, as sandwich boards, as it resembles the wearable sign of the same name.

Some minifigures created to resemble female characters, particularly in Castle and Pirate sets, use large sloped bricks instead of legs, to resemble dresses or skirts. However, these sloped bricks are taller than standard minifigure legs, making some characters seem awkward when placed next to taller females. Skeletons, usually found in Castle and Pirate sets, use the standard minifigure head, but unique torsos, arms, and legs designed to resemble a skeletal structure which was redesigned in 2007; although different, these figure parts are still detachable. Ghost figures have a full-body cape which attaches to the head of the minifigure, and a solid brick-like torso instead of legs. Shorter legs, without joints at the hip, are sometimes used to create minifigures which are shorter in stature than standard figures. Such pieces were first created for Star Wars sets but have since been used elsewhere, although primarily in licensed sets. Yoda, young Boba Fett, and Ewoks in Star Wars, goblins and Dobby in Harry Potter, The Penguin in Batman, both SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs in the LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants set, and the Dwarves from the Castle 2007 set all use this shorter piece in the place of standard legs. Additionally, Pirate minifigures sometimes include peg legs and hooks for hands, such as the Aquasharks and Aquraiders from Aquazone and characters in the Adventurers and Orient Expedition sets, most notably the villainous Baron character.

Other variations of the standard minifigure produced for Star Wars sets included the light-up lightsaber (LULS) minifigures. These figures were released as a part of the more expensive Star Wars Episode III sets in 2005. These figures look like standard minifigures, but to facilitate internal electronics, their parts cannot be removed; the only exception to this is the headgear, the left hand and arm, and each of the legs from the hips. When the head is pressed down, an LED illuminates the lightsaber blade. These figures rely on battery power for their special feature. The batteries last three hours and are not intended to be replaced, although replacement is possible. Many fans, especially children, were amenable to this innovation. Others however, particularly adult collectors, found these figures contentious, considering them to be an unwelcome gimmick. The fact that in two cases unique characters were produced solely as LUL minifigs, with no standard version available to collectors, was also an unpopular decision. Following the initial release of these figures LEGO announced no more were to be produced, due to their unpopularity and more expensive production. One set, the 7261 Clone Turbo Tank, which featured an LUL version of Jedi Knight Mace Windu, was even reissued with a standard version of the minifig and an extra Clone Trooper figure to make up the cost of the set.
Yet another variation on the minifigure is the magnet figure, used in such sets as Star Wars, Batman, and City. These figures include magnets in their legs, which allow them to stick to metal surfaces. Magnet figures are nearly indistinguishable from stand figures in appearance. Unlike the LUL figures, only the torso and the hips of magnet minifigures are inseparable.
A variety of clothing and accessories has been produced for minifigures, including caps, hats, and helmets. In Lego Star Wars sets, Clone Troopers and Stormtroopers have uniquely sculpted helmets, adapting the original character designs to the minifigure format. Rock Raiders have green helmets, while Astronauts feature standard helmets in an assortment of colors. Exo-Force minifigures feature anime-style hair, as does the Nightwing minifigure from the Batman Arkham Asylum set.
The most extreme design variation was a minifigure produced in an edition of five of the Star Wars character C-3PO, cast in 14-carat gold.

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LEGO Minifigure Design and construction

Minifigures generally feature six parts (widely referred to as tools in the toy industry): head, torso, hips, arms, hands, and legs; these six parts allow seven points of articulation: swivel head, swivel arms, swivel wrists, and swivel legs. Minifigures are usually packaged as four separate parts in Lego sets: head; torso, arms and hands; headgear; hips and legs.
Minifigure heads are cylindrical, and attach to a long, narrow cylinder molded onto the top of the torso, which allows the head to rotate. This feature also allows items to be attached to the figures over the torso, such as air tanks, capes or breastplates. The heads have a stud on top which is the same size as studs on standard Lego bricks which could allow one to be placed on it. Head accessories vary widely, and include hair, helmets and hats. The legs rotate independently to 90 degrees forward, and nearly 45 degrees backward. Minifigures also connect to standard Lego bricks in both a sitting or standing position. The hands of a minifigure resemble the letter C, which allows them to hold many Lego accessories. There are hundreds of different accessories, including swords, axes, wands, cups, guns, and, in the instance of Star Wars minifigures, lightsabers and blasters. Additionally the tops of the hands are approximately the same size as the studs on standard Lego bricks, which allows Lego pieces to be placed on top of them. These variations allow minifigures to be customized, keeping with the modular design of Lego elements.
In 2001 Lego further expanded the minifigure system, with the introduction of Bionicle figures. These figures are a part of a fictional story developed by Lego, and resemble biomechanical creatures. Initially, these figures were produced without articulation, only able to hold tools and weapons.
In 2003, the first minifigures with naturalistic skin tones (as opposed to the yellow used until this point) were released, as part of the Lego Basketball theme; these minifigures were also created in the likeness of living people. The following year, the use of natural skin tones was expanded to all licensed products; in which figures were created to represent film actors and other living people. Popular examples include Star Wars and Harry Potter minifigures.

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LEGO Minifigure History

When first reIeased in 1974, Lego minifigures were at the same scaIe as the current minifigures. However, these figures differed in tooling and articulation: they had solid torsos without separate movable arms, solid lower body pieces that were not moveable, and heads without printed features. They had a small variety of headpieces, including caps, pigtail hair and cowboy hats. An image on Minifigs.net shows the earlier, larger scale, human figures.

The first modern minifigures were released in 1977, with seven different figures in Castle, Space, and Town themes. For the next 11 years, minifigure heads were produced with a simple facial expression, rendered as two solid black dots for eyes and a smile, also painted in solid black. In 1989, minifigures in the Pirates theme were produced with different facial expressions.The Pirates minifigures also included hooks for hands, as well as peg legs; this was the first departure from the traditional body parts.

Another departure from traditional parts was the use of spring-loaded legs. These legs are joined together at the top. These legs were only featured in basketball sets, 2002-2003.
By 2003, Lego had reportedly produced 3.7 billion minifigures.

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LEGO Minifigure

Minifigures are small, plastic figural toys produced by Danish toy manufacturer LEGO, which are customarily sold with Lego sets, as characters intended to populate modular Lego environments. Although many Lego sets include minifigures, Lego also sells collections of minifigures separate from other sets. They are also referred to as as minifigs, figs or simply Lego people. Minifigures are collected by both children and adults, sometimes independently of Lego bricks themselves.

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LEGO Train Track

There are four different track types: blue, grey, 9V and RC.

Blue tracks are constructed of 2x8 plates as sleepers and pieces of rail. The rails are straight, inner curve and outer curve pieces. The straight pieces and outer curve pieces are grooved on the top to facilitate friction with the drive wheels of powered engines. The inner curve pieces have a smooth finish. The rails are only connected at each end on the sleeper with no intermediate sleepers. When laying out the track, this system is susceptible to distortion which can vary the gauge and lead to derailment.

The grey track introduced in 1980 was an improvement of the same design, with modifications to the rails and a new sleeper plate which included special clips to hold the track together more firmly. In addition, fixing points for intermediate sleepers were provided at the mid-point of each rail making the construction even more sturdy.

For both blue and grey tracks, electrical power (for 12v trains) was provided by means of separate conductor rails placed in between the running rails. It was possible to upgrade from battery power to 12v electrical power simply by purchasing an electric motor unit, transformer and sets of conductor rails (with the exception of special track pieces such as points and crossovers which were available in separate 12v versions, with the electrical connections included).

9V and RC tracks are one piece sections of straight and curved track. The sleepers are formed as one piece with the rails making for a more reliable gauge and turning radius. There are a number of intermediate sleepers which give strength to the piece, but also lend a more realistic appearance to the track. The attached sleepers are made to look like independent 2x8 plates, except for the end sleepers which are special. These end sleepers are shaped like 1x8 plates but have a connectors that allow the tracks to click together. When the end sleepers of two track pieces are together, the end sleepers combine to look like one 2x8 plate.

The track from all four eras are somewhat compatible. The gauge has remained the same throughout, as has the turning radius of the curved pieces. The points vary in configuration which may make laying out combined systems awkward. The end to end connection of the blue and grey track types with the 9V and RC track types only requires some "Lego" ingenuity on the part of the user. Of course, the 9V engines must be restricted to the 9V rails to operate.
Specialized pieces are available as points and track cross sections. Matt Bates created a program called "Track designer" to plan track layouts on the computer.

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