The History of 1980s Lego Robotics

Hobby robotics became feasible for regular people in conjunction with the home computer revolution of the 1970s-1980s. Lego did not sell digital robotics until 1986. However, for many years prior, hobbyists used Lego parts to design their own robot chassis, combined with electronics that were homemade or provided by other companies. The assortment of technical parts such as beams, gears, axles, and connectors was a obvious choice. The BBC Buggy was an early notable example of a home robotics kit with Lego roots. It wasn't built from Lego, but its designers used Lego for the prototype, according to a 1983 article in Britain's Your Computer magazine.

Regardless of whether your robot itself was homemade or built from a kit, you would control it with your S-100 computer (Altair 8800, IMSAI 8080, etc.), single-board computer (KIM-1, Heathkit ET-3400, etc.), or appliance computer (Apple II, Commodore 64, etc.) -- all such machines had I/O options for connecting your electronic brain to the physical world. It wasn't easy, but it also wasn't rare. Magazine articles and books were available to teach you how to do this. Many users joined computer clubs where you could meet people with similar ambitions. There were also some hardware interfaces that you could purchase just for this purpose.

For example, various companies in the mid-1980s made external control interfaces that could connect to nearly anything. Examples include the Datel Robotek (Sinclair Spectrum), DCP Microdevelopments Interpack (Amstrad, Apple II, BBC Master, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC, Sinclair ZX), Handic Vicrel (Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64), and ProCom SEQ (standalone). Books such as Make And Program Your Own Robots For the Sinclair Spectrum and The Robot Book explained how to use such adapters.

In response to these trends, Lego decided to test the market in 1985 by offering their own simple vehicle that could serve as the basis for a robot. This was set 1038, Universal Buggy. It was the fastest that Lego ever approved a new set, according to former Lego Education engineer Alan Anov, who worked in that part of the company at the time.

Lego also established two partnerships to further develop not just hardware and software, but also to devise educational strategies for K-12 schools.

• The first partnership started with the British government’s Microelectronics Education Programme, a company called British School Technology, and the University of Trent. This partnership was based on a microcontroller developed by the University of Salford in 1984. Salford called it Microelectronics For All and sold it through Unilab. Unilab then transitioned to its own MEP-approved hardware in the form of a 6502 single-board computer called Three Chip Plus. Unilab also offered a series of related software and peripherals called Control Pathways. Unilab's catalog explained (.pdf document), “many of the parts of [Microelectronics For All] can be used on Control Pathways, such as the Lego Buggy”. You can read the the Control Pathways teachers manual (.pdf document).
• The second partnership involved the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab and their collaborator Seymour Papert. This partnership began when Lego executives became aware of Papert and his book Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas, which was featured on Danish television in a show called Talking Turtle. The show first aired in 1983 in the U.K. (BBC) and again in 1984 in the U.S. (PBS). Papert's company, Logo Computer Systems Inc. (LCSI) was devoted to improving childhood education by using computers for hands-on learning.

Meanwhile, there was direct competition forming. Fischertechnik (Germany) debuted a series of computer interfaces beginning with a set simply called Computing (#30554) for machines such as the Apple II, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64/Amiga, IBM PC, and others.

This series of events motivated Lego to build their own complete robotic sets. They developed Interface A which is the hardware bridging personal computers and Lego motors, sensors, and lights.

The work in England led to sets 1090 (Technic Control 1) and 1092 (Technic Control II) for BBC and Commodore computers. Sales were targeted at schools in Europe and Australia, starting in 1986. The work in North America led to set 9700 (Control Center) for Apple and IBM computers in the U.S. market in 1987. Both sets relied on Interface A. Software called Lego Lines was developed by the European team, while a program called TC LOGO was developed by the North American team due to the MIT/Papert influence.

Here’s the BBC airing of Talking Turtle hosted by Archive.org:

Here is a Lego Foundation video about the North American partnership:

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