Can the world stop making things worth buying for a day? On May 4th, LEGO unveiled the latest addition to their Star Wars toy products, one that even Jedi force powers couldn't recognize. The newest LEGO Star Wars BOOST Droid Commander includes creative coding taught by the LEGO BOOST, offering the choice to build three of the Star Wars favorite droid models, R2-D2, the Gonk Droid and the Mouse Droid. The product will launch globally on September 1st, 2019, valued at $199.99, just in time for the release of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker film.
This is the first time ever the drag-and-drop LEGO BOOST coding technology has been introduced to a Star Wars LEGO product. The technology was overhauled to align with the LEGO Star Wars galaxy to create an entirely new play experience so both kids and parents can collaborate together to build, code and play with the droids.
They can also create their own Star Wars stories with different battle scenarios, taking inspiration from over 40 interactive missions. In addition to the playability, coding and collaborative features of the Star Wars LEGO BOOST, kids will be able to sharpen up their STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) skills. Which is an important skill to acquire in today's technological world.
The LEGO Star Wars BOOST product comes bundled with a drag and drop feature to teach coding to kids. (Image Credit: Lego)
By introducing LEGO BOOST with creative coding into the LEGO Star Wars galaxy, kids will be given the chance to advance their skills in the 21st century while being involved in a world with Droid Commanders. The STEAM skills they'd acquire would help them with any future challenges they may face.
The LEGO Star Wars BOOST Droid Commander product has a color and distance sensor, interactive motor, Bluetooth and it includes 1,177 pieces, allowing kids to build the R2-D2 droid, Gonk Droid and Mouse Droid. Each droid comes bundled with their own set of skills, personalities, and Star Wars sound effects and soundtrack. The R2-D2 droid stands at over 7" tall and is 5" wide, LEGO Gonk Droid stands at over 7" tall, 3" wide and is 6" long. Star Wars LEGO BOOST also has an app available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices. By using the app on the devices, kids can develop the droids, insert Bluetooth controlled Move Hub into their selected droid, offering the ability to solver over 40 interactive missions and bring the robots alive with the drag and drop coding feature.
Some of the missions for R2-D2 include: Plot a course, receive and decode a message, assisting the flight of an X-wing, Party infiltration, etc. For the Gonk Droid, a variety of missions include Arena Training, work as a load lifter, ready for fighting pit, power droids, etc. Missions for the mouse droid include thrash sweep, thrash dump, message delivery and locate rebels.
Seeing how a Raspberry Pi and Microbit have been integrated with other LEGO kits, I’d love to get my hands on these kits and do the same.
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