indent { list-style: inside disc; text-indent: -15px; } table. callout { font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1. 3em; } td. think { height: 125px; background: #9DC4D8 url(http://images. amazon. com/images/G/01/electronics/detail-page/callout-bg. png) repeat-x; border-left: 1px solid #999999; border-right: 1px solid #999999; border-bottom: 1px dotted #000000; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 250px; } td. glance { height: 100%; background: #9DC4D8; border-left: 1px solid #999999; border-right: 1px solid #999999; padding-top: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 250px; } img. withlink {border:1px black solid;} What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Detailed gunship is ready for intragalactic battles The Bad: Nothing In a Nutshell: This Star Wars inspired building set is sure to keep imaginative kids busy for days At a Glance Ages: 9 to 14 This detailed ship is ready for battle. View larger. Lightsabers make hand-to-hand combat exciting. View Larger. Confront the Separatist Crisis Drawing from the wealth of Star Wars lore, the Clone Wars are part of a back-story of intragalactic unrest that set the stage for the original trilogy. They are portrayed in a new animated movie, TV series, and video game, which help fill in gaps that appear between the other movies. With this set, you can be part of the action. Take up the battle against the Separatists using the Republic Attack Gunship, a heavily armed and armored Clone Wars troop carrier that's ready to invade even the most hostile terrain. Included Lego figures represent the well-known characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon, Asajj Ventress, and Commander Cody. Of course, there's Clone Trooper mini-figures as well. There's a cool speeder bike that deploys from the back, and multiple decals to create different gunships for your army. Arm your favorite figure with a lightsaber in Jedi blue-green or Sith red, and let the intragalactic battles begin. There's even a healing chamber that helps your characters recharge after a tough battle. Preparing Your Gunship for Battle With 1,034 pieces in 18 bags and two instruction booklets, the Republic Attack Gunship took our eight-year-old tester just under eight hours to build. He broke the construction up into three shorter sessions to make it more enjoyable and had only one slight difficulty. While Lego instructions are known for being colorful and accurate, there were a handful of pieces in our booklet that appeared clear when they were in fact yellow. This didn't do anything to diminish our appreciation for this model. Our tester struggled to find anything negative to say, and he gave this ship a fun factor score of one million, based on a scale of one to 10! Cockpits in unexpected locations on the wings, unique sliding doors, the zoomer buggy, and an emergency capsule for sick and injured characters ranked high on the list of cool features. That's not all though. There's also a front side compartment that opens so you can remove the command station, eight positionable flick-fire missiles on top, two rotating missiles in front, and a top compartment which opens to provide access to the spy droids. When asked if there was a downside to this gunship, our tester could only reply, "It's the best ever! I just like the whole set. " Soon after completing construction, he had a big battle with all the ships in his collection and commented on how this set includes updated pieces that he's never seen before. Even though there's plenty of features on just the Republic Attack Gunship to hold a child's interest for a long time, we can imagine how much fun the set would be with a whole group of friends and siblings plus all their Star Wars ships. We also appreciate the way that Lego systems never limit imaginative play. All the cool hardware that makes up the Republic Attack Gunship can be used to build any structure or vehicle your child dreams up. What's in the Box 1,034 Lego pieces and two instruction booklets.

This is the controller for the robot-it's brain, if you will. It has three ports on top for connecting to the servo motors and four ports on the bottom for connecting to four different sensors: Touch, Light, Sound, and Ultrasonic (see detail below). The NXT: the computer-controlled brain of the Mindstorms robot Touch Sensor: enables the robot to feel and react to its environment Sound Sensor: enables the robot to react to sound Light Sensor: can detect light and color Ultrasonic Sensor: allows the robot to measure distance and react to movement Servo Motors: ensures the robot moves with precision The set includes Ethernet-like wires for connecting all of these to the NXT, as well as software and a basic USB cable for downloading programs from your computer. Then there are all the Lego parts, hundreds of them, and most are very small. It would be a good idea to get a plastic organizer for the different parts-it would not only make construction and storage easier but also part loss less likely. Hitting the Bricks The instructions for MNXT are simple, illustrated, and they gently take the new user on an introductory path through the system. The quick start guide promises a 30-minute robot building and programing intro, though for me it was closer to 50 (I'm a little old and slow). It starts with a simple diagnostic routine which shows you how to test the function of all sensors, then proceeds to step-by-step picture instructions for building a basic first robot. It's about as complex as building a piece of Ikea furniture. Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects. Next, I installed the software. Be sure to check the system requirements (below). The software is well-designed and very intuitive. It comes with built-in video instructions on how to create your first simple program and download it to your NXT. Bringing It To Life Programming is the real gem in this system. It has a drag-and-drop interface using pre-programmed objects that you pull from a palette and snap to other objects. Each object is configurable. For example, the Sound object brings up a sub-window that allows you to choose between a tone and a list of sound files, set the volume, set duration, and so on. Little Lego bricks between the objects reinforce the idea that building a NXT program is like building a Lego model. Programming this way is much easier than, say, creating a web page from scratch. Lego even offers a software development kit for getting deeper into the programming. Mindstorms NXT "challenges" from top: Tribot, RoboArm, and Spike. There comes a genuine thrill from seeing something you've created-even something simple and silly as my first program-come to life in a robot. It's akin to seeing yourself on TV for the first time. I played that program a dozen times. The software contains "challenges," which are similar step-by-step instructions for creating and programming more complex models, such as a robotic arm that can "perform simple tasks and react to different colors. " Each challenge is divided into smaller tasks with step-by-step building, programming, and testing guides for each task. Accessing your latest program once it's downloaded to the NXT is pretty easy. Lego has set it up so that you can execute it by pressing the big orange center button four times in a row after start-up. I was surprised to find out that you don't need a computer to program the NXT. You can program directly into the NXT Program submenu. Bluetooth Ready The NXT also has built-in Bluetooth wireless technology. If your computer has Bluetooth, you can test and download programs to the NXT without connecting the USB cable-a really handy feature if you're programming a complicated dance routine and you don't want your robot getting tripped up in cables. If your phone or PDA has Bluetooth, you might be able to use your device to control the robot. Best of all, Bluetooth allows you to create a network of up to three NXT devices. Think of the possibilities: three NXTs plus three sets of blocks and sensors equals bigger, more complex robots. My one and only complaint is that I wish the sensors had more "studs," those little round parts that allows Lego bricks to interlock. -Porter B. Hall.