Lego

NASA launched its Juno spacecraft today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying three intrepid astronauts toward Jupiter.

The trio embarking on this dangerous five-year mission are only 1.5 inches tall, but their courage is giant. The Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and astronomer Galileo, all in Lego form, left Earth aboard 2.5 million pounds of thrust coming out of an Atlas V rocket for a date with our planet's biggest brother in 2016.

"The inclusion of the three mini-statues, or figurines, is part of a joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the partnership between NASA and the Lego Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics," NASA said of the plastic pals. … Read more

A skilled Lego hobbyist has pieced together a detailed monument to The Dark Knight in time for Comic-Con in San Diego.

Flickr member "Orion Pax" (Alex Schranz) gave CNET and Crave permission to share his Batcave creation. Schranz reports that he "terminated" between 8,000 and 9,000 parts to build the cave.

In other words, the bricks in question are committed to this one-of-a-kind build. Lego Batman's lair stands on a 40-studs square base, 68 standard bricks high. If you don't know the size of a standard Lego brick, what in Gotham did you spend your childhood doing?

Schranz installed a neon lamp behind the scene for its moody lighting, and he took these photos with a Canon EOS 1000D. The entire project took about one week to finish.

"I always felt like doing something with all the collected Batman (Lego pieces)," Schranz said. "I'm working on a new piece now, and it should be done in a week or so."

For a more thorough tour of the Caped Crusader's plastic home, check out our gallery. … Read more

BILLUND, Denmark--Though it's hard to imagine a time without Lego, the world-famous plastic bricks didn't exist until 1949. And today's brick, with its three little tubes that ensure a snug fit with other bricks, didn't come on the scene until 1957.

But the Lego company has been around much longer than that. It may be something most people have never even heard about; Ole Kirk Kristiansen's little outfit began in this small Danish town as a one-man operation turning out wooden toys. Being a world-famous brand was surely not on Kristiansen's mind at the … Read more

Lego said Friday that it will begin selling a new Star Wars model seat featuring Darth Vader's own personal ship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor. The set will go on sale on September 1 on Lego's Web site and in its branded retail stores.

This will be the longest Star Wars Lego model at 50 inches, and it takes 3,152 bricks and pieces to put together. All told, it will weigh eight pounds. One feature will be a command bridge underneath a removable section of the top of the model. Inside will fit mini-figures of several Star … Read more

BILLUND, Denmark--There are a lot of different Lego sets. There are pirate sets, Star Wars sets, city sets, space sets, and many more. But at the heart of it all, at the heart of a toy empire with many millions of passionate fans throughout the world, is the brick.

A single Lego brick is nothing special. But put two together and you can start to make things. Add another, and another, and the number of things you can make starts to go up exponentially. Let's say you had six standard four-by-two red bricks. With those pieces alone, there are … Read more

Not to be outdone by Boy Scouts who can now earn a robotics badge, a team of Girl Scouts from Iowa has created a prize-winning prosthetic device to help a 3-year-old girl born without fingers on her right hand.

The Flying Monkeys robotics team developed the BOB-1 tool as part of the FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition, an international kids' robotics program.

The Monkeys are 11 to 13 years old, including one who has a limb difference that provided inspiration for the invention. The girls consulted a prosthetics maker and an occupational therapist and came up with a design that has a platform strapped to the arm as well as a cylindrical holder for writing implements or other tools.

The device helped 3-year-old Danielle hold a pencil with her right arm and write for the first time. It also netted the Flying Monkeys an FLL Global Innovation award of up to $20,000 to patent the invention, which they have applied for (PDF).

Danielle's family has worked with the team to improve the device and would like another for a 5-year-old boy it adopted who also has a limb difference.

FLL is part of the Girl Scouts' focus on STEM skills. The FIRST Championship, which just wrapped up in St. Louis, featured the Girl Scout GENIUS team, which installed a rear-view camera and sensor system on a wheelchair to improve visibility and navigation.

I can't imagine what these girls will be inventing 10 years from now. … Read more

It's a throwback episode of Crave this week as we reminisce about Lego figurine space helmets, vintage Atari computer keyboards, and Disney's Star Tours merchandise. Also, Darth Vader puts his star power behind a new line of coffee and an adorable coin-operated robot brings panhandling into the 21st century.

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Built during World War II, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Intrepid served with distinction in several conflicts, and performed other duties, before being decomissioned in 1974. After sailing thousands of miles around the world, the massive ship eventually became a sea, air, and space museum in New York.

Now, following all those decades of service, the Intrepid has been reimagined with Legos.

About 250,000 pieces were used to construct the 550-pound model, which is now viewable to the general public in the museum through September 2011. The ship was built by artist Ed Diment, a 39-year-old Lego … Read more

On the anniversary of Russia's triumphant manned space flight, Donald and Eric scheme to put America back on top by building a life-size, fully functioning Imperial AT-AT. Less ambitious projects are also covered, including a Lego Ghostbusters car, a 360 video capture lens for the iPhone, and a digital film roll to give analog cameras new life.

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