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Courtesy
of LEGOLAND ApS
Miniland |
By Charles Siler
With nearly 600 plastic building bricks coming off
of the assembly line every second, it is hard to
think of anything else when Lego comes to mind.
But the Lego Group is also a leader in using innovative
technology to help their toys keep pace with the
digital age.
Fingerprints of the world’s third largest
toymaker can be seen in nearly every facet of modern
life, from Lego themed amusement parks and clothing
lines, to robots and award-winning video games.
In fact, in 1947 the Lego Group was the first company
in Denmark to establish a plastic injection-molding
machine to produce toys, the Lego interlocking brick.Those
little, plastic bricks have become cultural icons,
associated with child’s play everywhere, but
they are really symbols of innovation. In 1966 Lego
began making toys with motors when they created
the first electric powered Lego model train. With
the successful marriage of fun, imaginary play and
leading edge toy technology, Lego found a recipe
for success that has sustained them for 74 years.
That doesn’t mean that the Lego Group hasn’t
experienced it share of rough times. The Lego Group
has survived a world war, seen two of their wooden
toy factories burn down and faced years of losing
profits. But a refocused and reenergized Lego company
is poised to make a strong comeback after forays
away from their core market.
After cutting about 1,000 jobs, the company is
making toys that appeal to young boys, leading the
way with Lego sets themed on the Star Wars stories,
Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Batman, Spngebob SquarePants,
Avatar: The Last Air Bender in addition to their
traditionally themed city, Viking and pirate sets.
Another large market for the Lego Group are the
"Adult Fans of Lego", or AFOL’s,
a term coined in an online discussion between adults
who are enthusiasts of the toys company and their
products. The Lego Group has recognized adults as
a major part of their business, and has moved to
capitalize on their interest by creating very adult
toys.
While trying to reengage their core consumers,
Lego has offered the Lego Digital Designer on their
website. The Digital Designer is a free program
that anyone can download to their computer. The
program allows enthusiasts to create 3-D models
of their own Lego creations with a full catalogue
of virtual Lego bricks. With easy to use controls
and rich, detailed graphics, the lets the user’s
mind come to life in all of its electronic beauty.
But the experience doesn’t have to end their.
Designers can share their models online in the Lego
gallery; they can download and print the directions
to make their creations out of real Lego bricks;
or they can use the Lego Factory function to create
a parts inventory that can be filled at their local
Lego store or LegoLand theme park. The Lego group
has even used the online gallery to host design
contests, where the winners’ creations are
selected by their peers to be given full production
by the Lego Group.
The Digital Design program began with the launch
of version 1.0 in 2003. Now version 1.6 is available
with "click-stick" building assistance,
the program is easier to use than ever. The program
also offers templates of Lego creations that can
be used to create everything from cars and houses
to tracks and trains. The possibilities truly are
endless.
While the Lego Group has embraced the internet
and the interaction it allows with their customers,
they have also gone super high-tech with their robotics
program, Lego Mindstorms. The Lego company expanded
their production lines to include lights, cameras,
sensors, gears and accessory motors that compliment
the Lego RCX. The RCX was a programmable brick that
could be connected to a PC and given instructions
to carry out very complicated tasks.
Weeks after the Lego Mindstorms line was introduced,
a Stanford graduate student, Kekoa Proudfoot, reverse
engineered the RCX brick and posted his discoveries
online. In the proud Lego tradition of embracing
user-end creativity, the Lego Group declined to
take legal action against the distribution of their
proprietary software and promoted the spread of
information about their toys.
Since then, Lego has used feedback from their users
to create an improved version of their Mindstorms
program, which is the Lego Mindstorms NXT. The NXT
is truly cutting-edge, using ultrasonic sensor technology
to enable Bluetooth control of the NXT robots. Since
command of the NXT robots can come from any Bluetooth
compatible device, Lego enthusiasts can now control
their Mindstorms robots from their cell phones.
The Mindtorms line has led to many competitions,
where Lego builders create robots to accomplish
several tasks, with the most famous being the MIT
6.270 Autonomous Lego Robot Design tournament.
It is this culture of embracing innovation that
has made Lego products successful the world over.
The Lego Group has managed to create a sub-culture
of Lego artists, enthusiasts and grown-up kids.
It is this spirit that has taken the Lego Group
from their humble beginnings as a struggling toy
maker in Billund, Denmark to an international giant,
and it is that spirit that will carry them well
into the future.
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DENMARK
