We recently had a brief hands-on with the new Lego Mindstorms NXT pre-production models first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sadly, it wasn't appropriate for us to pull apart the existing models and start to play around with our own designs.

While our initial impressions were positive—although likely clouded by our excitement at getting to play with the new kits—we were struck by the large size of the provided sensors, especially the head-like ultrasonic unit. We hope that the size was predicated by the need to cram in lots of electronics and not a need for anthropomorphizing the units. Robots don't have to be cute, hard as the notion is to resist. (There is an argument to be made that children may find humanoid robots to be more appealing, but we feel that kids will love robots no matter the machines' appearance.)

We also noticed that the sensor interconnects were six-pin plugs, not four-pin RJ11 as some have reported.

Søren Lund, Director of the Mindstorms project, said that no expansion kits were immediately in the cards, as Lego is focussing on selling the NXT in as complete a form as possible—for now. Lund expressed a clear desire to work on expansion sets and accessories in the future, but reminded us that the launch of the Mindstorms NXT kit is still many months away.

In the meantime, if you haven't read Brendan I. Koerner's captivating piece for Wired about the development of the Mindstorms NXT project, including the hand-picked fans who comprised the Mindstorms User Panel (MUP), then we sincerely suggest giving it a look. It suggests that the ivory tower years of Lego product design may be firmly behind us, to the betterment of both the fans and the company's bottom line.