Quite a detailed history within, detailing the people, the ideas, the hardware and the software, the design iterations, the classroom experience, the marketing decisions:
LEGO Mindstorms: The Structure of an Engineering Revolution
In the 1970’s, Seymour Papert co-created Logo…
…
To many teachers in the 80’s this “exceptional event” was the publication of Papert’s 1980 book, Mindstorms，after which the LEGO Mindstorms product was named.
…
Dr. Papert co-found the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. Dr. Papert is also a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Laboratory
…
Randy Sargent, Fred Martin, and Brian Silverman were also influential in guiding the evolution of the MIT Programmable Brick. Randy Sargent, a former Master’s student under Dr. Resnick, focused on designing the second generation of the programmable brick — the “grey” brick. Fred Martin, a former graduate student and research scientist, was one of the principal engineers of the “red” brick, the third generation of the brick
…
Brian Silverman, a visiting scientist, wrote the LOGO compiler for the RCX brick, and influenced several of the key technical design decisions.
…
The first generation of the Programmable Brick was developed by 1989. It was named the “6502 Programmable Brick” because of the microprocessor it used. It was wireless — meaning that it was not tethered to a desktop computer — and ran its own LOGO interpreter. The second generation brick, dubbed the “grey” brick, or the “Pocket Programmable Brick”, was designed in 1995. The “grey” brick was smaller, more portable, and more flexible. It facilitated multiple paths of entry to kids, so that it could appeal to kids for a variety of reasons. However, because it was very difficult and expensive to produce in quantity, it was only used in small numbers. Development continued, and the “Red Programmable Brick”, or the “Model 120 Programmable Brick”, was designed in 1996.
…
Bakhtiar Mikhak, a research scientist and former doctoral candidate, worked with Dr. Martin on designing various versions of the Crickets, a smaller, more flexible version of the MIT Programmable Brick.
…
“In classes where we have run the LEGO/Logo Soap Box Derby activity, students wanted to learn about friction, since they wanted to make their cars go further. The students’ level of engagement was obvious from the way they decorated their cars and added small people inside of them. In later sessions, when students were free to build and program anything they wanted, many seemed to become even more engaged in the activity. Students built projects like merry-go-rounds, home appliances, and walking “creatures”. Rarely did they want to go back to their regular classrooms at the end of their LEGO/Logo time. They wanted to stay and continue working.”
image from wikimedia
See previously
Lego Mindstorms RCX computer (robotics)