This is entirely beside the point, but I think Lego instructions were my first real foray into technical documentation. It's surprising how well they worked. Their ability to boil down a complicated process into something a 10 year old could follow was impressive. As I got older I sort of dismissed them as antithetical to creativity, but after doing Lego robotics with some kids I began to realize the value I got from them.
An enormous amount of effort has gone into making Lego instructions as clear as they are, regardless of what age you are and what language you speak. They really show what is possible.
> As I got older I sort of dismissed them as antithetical to creativity
Yah, there's a lot of criticism of the "directions".
My kids build big elaborate modular buildings from the directions... and then leave them as-is...
And then try to build equivalently complicated things from loose bricks (sometimes copying a little bit of a mechanism or a trick they've seen elsewhere).
I think the instructions are great. They just shouldn't be the be-all, end-all.
Brings back an old memory. I took CMU's AI class in 1986. Most CMU classes were really two classes - one about the lectures and one about learning to hack. I did my project for this class in Lisp and wrote an engine to solve Lego assembly problems. While testing, I gave it a problem to solve, and it came up with a better solution than mine. Was my first AI eureka moment.
That sounds really interesting. It was awhile ago so you may not remember, but how did you “operationalize” the problem? I wonder how that kind of problem / task is structured.
I developed an AI to do this- well, I guess it wasn't artificial. I had a kid, and after showing him a few times (and correcting some mistakes due to the instructions sometimes being... as sparse as technically possible....) he had no problem. Now the issue is getting rid of all the 5-year-old Hogwarts Castles, etc...
There is an app that's been linked on HN a few times called Brickit. It analyzes a picture you took of a pile of Legos, identifies pieces with object recognition, then uses AR to highlight exactly which pieces to grab to build a model. If there's such thing as a beautiful app, this is it.
Interestingly, people were predicting[0] in 2018 that the robotic equivalent of this task would be solved by 2023:
> The team also predicts that by the year 2023, a machine will be able to “physically assemble any Lego set given the pieces and instructions, using non-specialized robotics hardware.” The paper cites University of California Berkeley research that showed a machine joining two Lego pieces together in 2016 through reinforcement learning.
I actually find ikea instructions quite clear and reasonable. I don't know why so many people have a hard time with it. Maybe spacial awareness is not something you can learn easily.
Try assembling furniture from another maker (e.g. anything from Target, Home Depot, etc) and you'll be thirsting for the clarity, completeness, and the large, legible print of Ikea instructions.
a bit off topic, but is there like a more affordable lego like alternative? it really disgusts me how expensive lego and litigous they are. so many Americans live in poverty who would love to get their kids to play with lego but can't because its ridiculously expensive.
Thrift stores have piles and piles of Legos. I've seen various small stores around that sell Legos in bulk. They'll have huge bins, and you can buy them by the pound. I used to buy a few official Lego sets back in the day, but also I would buy the big bucket of generic blocks. They were cheap and gave you a huge stockpile.
Who reviews "Bricks" of all kinds including Lego. He consistently is annoyed by how expensive Lego is compared to everything else, with usual worse quality (in terms of design, fun to assemble, etc). If you can bear google translate or even speak German, he may be worth listening to.
Anyway, got sucked into that and got my first "brick" set since around 25 years ago and it felt like Lego (as far as I could remember). Instructions, presentation, the stones, everything.
I believe "Cobi" and "Bluebrixx" are often mentioned as good, affordable (seems about half price for similar set) and lego compatible. From what I understand the patent for the particular form factor of the bricks ran out, which is why there are a bunch of alternative now.
I have to ask whether or not you are referencing some specific sets, like high-end Porsche, Lambo ect. or are you talking about LEGO in general, as it seems you have an axe to grind.
If you are genuine about your inquiry, then at this very moment there are 3 supermarkets around me with a toy aisle and a discount basket which includes discounted LEGO sets (30-50%), either due to products running out or box being damaged. I'm assuming there is something similar near you.
Second, and more important, if you or someone close to you work with an organization that helps kids living in poverty, you are welcome and encouraged to contact LEGO directly and ask for help. They have several organizations and initiatives inside the group that help either by directly donating sets or by donating money for other needs.
If the 400 billion or so Lego pieces that have been produced were pulled out of the attics and garages of the world, the market would collapse over night. I have at least $2k worth of Lego in two giant tubs in my garage, collected over the years my now 20yo son was growing up. I honestly have no idea what to do with them - they're surprisingly hard to give away and I don't feel like dealing with eBay.
Sadly, I suspect most of the pieces out there are in landfills or the oceans.
I’m not sure how they compare in price but I really enjoyed erector set and k’nex when I was a kid 30 years ago. And now I’m a robotics engineer!
Also, an Ender 3 3D printer provides a lot of similar construction skills and learning (with the printed objects) for the price of one high end Lego set.
Side note about MITs marketing... The original paper [0] was published by 5 authors. 3 from Stanford, 1 from MIT, and 1 from Autodesk.
I find MITs aggressive marketing pretty off-putting. Any discovery related to MIT _always_ has MIT in the headline, even if their involvement was secondary. It's annoying and makes me feel like MIT cares more about optics than good research. If I'm not alone in this belief, MIT will erode their brand by doing so. They certainly have for me.
[+] [-] stinkytaco|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] samstave|3 years ago|reply
There was a technical design/drafting book in his book case I picked up where I was around ~6 or so...
I drew every single diagram/ortho/iso whatever in that book. Multiple times.
When I got into middle school, I was opted to elect a highschool class, and I chose technical drafting...
When I went to class, the textbook was the same one from my grandfathers bookcase - I sailed through that, and then...
This was what got me into design and architecture and CAD... I then setup the first cad network in my highschool, while I was still in 7th grade.
I was in VOCAD by 9th, and came in second in the CAD Olympics in 1993 (I was the fastest ever to finish the test in 30 minutes, on a 3 hour deadline.)
THE ENTIRE POINT BEING ;
Get kids in front of technical design/docs/whatever is complex as EARLY as possible.
There is no loss in teaching a toddler calculus. They may wind up being a flamboyant broadway star, but at least they can maths.
[+] [-] rkangel|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mlyle|3 years ago|reply
Yah, there's a lot of criticism of the "directions".
My kids build big elaborate modular buildings from the directions... and then leave them as-is...
And then try to build equivalently complicated things from loose bricks (sometimes copying a little bit of a mechanism or a trick they've seen elsewhere).
I think the instructions are great. They just shouldn't be the be-all, end-all.
[+] [-] paulryanrogers|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intrasight|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LionTamer|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dekhn|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] javajosh|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] russellbeattie|3 years ago|reply
https://brickit.app/
[+] [-] jiggunjer|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rkagerer|3 years ago|reply
Bonus points if it's made out of Lego and can build itself.
[+] [-] dane-pgp|3 years ago|reply
> The team also predicts that by the year 2023, a machine will be able to “physically assemble any Lego set given the pieces and instructions, using non-specialized robotics hardware.” The paper cites University of California Berkeley research that showed a machine joining two Lego pieces together in 2016 through reinforcement learning.
[0] https://www.inverse.com/article/44660-lego-building-ai-robot...
[+] [-] O__________O|3 years ago|reply
https://cs.stanford.edu/~rcwang/projects/lego_manual/
- which includes the paper, code and video.
[+] [-] eatsyourtacos|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mech422|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sschueller|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pchristensen|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] upupandup|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] olyjohn|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Knufferlbert|3 years ago|reply
Who reviews "Bricks" of all kinds including Lego. He consistently is annoyed by how expensive Lego is compared to everything else, with usual worse quality (in terms of design, fun to assemble, etc). If you can bear google translate or even speak German, he may be worth listening to.
Anyway, got sucked into that and got my first "brick" set since around 25 years ago and it felt like Lego (as far as I could remember). Instructions, presentation, the stones, everything.
I believe "Cobi" and "Bluebrixx" are often mentioned as good, affordable (seems about half price for similar set) and lego compatible. From what I understand the patent for the particular form factor of the bricks ran out, which is why there are a bunch of alternative now.
I got that one: https://cobitoys.de/small-army-ww2/panzer-und-fahrzeuge/panz...
I live in the UK, think I got it via amazon, so maybe more difficult for you Americans.
[+] [-] Kosirich|3 years ago|reply
If you are genuine about your inquiry, then at this very moment there are 3 supermarkets around me with a toy aisle and a discount basket which includes discounted LEGO sets (30-50%), either due to products running out or box being damaged. I'm assuming there is something similar near you.
Second, and more important, if you or someone close to you work with an organization that helps kids living in poverty, you are welcome and encouraged to contact LEGO directly and ask for help. They have several organizations and initiatives inside the group that help either by directly donating sets or by donating money for other needs.
[+] [-] russellbeattie|3 years ago|reply
Sadly, I suspect most of the pieces out there are in landfills or the oceans.
[+] [-] ctoth|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] SequoiaHope|3 years ago|reply
Also, an Ender 3 3D printer provides a lot of similar construction skills and learning (with the printed objects) for the price of one high end Lego set.
[+] [-] peterlk|3 years ago|reply
I find MITs aggressive marketing pretty off-putting. Any discovery related to MIT _always_ has MIT in the headline, even if their involvement was secondary. It's annoying and makes me feel like MIT cares more about optics than good research. If I'm not alone in this belief, MIT will erode their brand by doing so. They certainly have for me.
[0] https://cs.stanford.edu/~rcwang/projects/lego_manual/
[+] [-] RcouF1uZ4gsC|3 years ago|reply
They already eroded their brand when they provided cover for Jeffrey Epstein.