Review: 9580 LEGO WeDo Construction Set

[JopieK]

Name: WeDo Construction Set

Set No.: 9580

Theme: DACTA > TECHNIC > WeDo

Year: 2008

Pieces: 158

Minifigs: 1,5 (1 torso, 1 pants, 2 heads male/female, hat + hairpiece).

Price: Not yet available in shops.

Introduction:

Today I got 5 brand new LEGO Education sets. When we have got the software, we will help Dacta getting a Dutch version an probably start creating educational materials for the set in the Dutch language.

Here the front of the box. It is quite small, but that is of course convenient for schools.

The box is pretty much filled so that is a nice change, isn't it?! Most other LEGO boxes are filled for 65% with air. You see the inventory card with all the 'normal' LEGO pieces.

Here the other side of the card with the other parts, most of them are technical.

The bags with the parts. They are very nice and colorful, so perfect for kids.

Here the Power Function parts. Still in their bags, nice and shining!

The three PF parts. Two sensors and one actuator. It appears that the sensor should be connected on top of the actuator parts (see inset).

Here is the USB hub. The block apparently lets one connect two actuators and two sensors. There is one actuator (Medium Motor) and there are two sensors available:

a Medium Motor and a Tilt Sensor.

B.t.w. those parts will be also separately sold: 8883 Medium Motor, 9583 Motion Sensor, 9584 Tilt Sensor and the 9581 LEGO USB Hub. (Date is set to 01-12-2008)

Here the parts nicely in the box. Neatly prepared for the next lesson.

Here you can see an example from LEGO that shows an application of this set.

Here you can see the applications for the set that LEGO had in mind:

Amazing Mechanisms

- Dancing Birds

- Smart Spinner

- Drumming Monkey

Wild Animals

- Hungry Alligator

- Roaring Lion

- Flying Bird

Play Soccer

- Goal Kicker

- Goal Keeper

- Cheering Fans

Adventure Stories

- Airplane Rescue

- Giant Escape

- Sailboat Storm

Here you can see the minifig built as a scared boy with a nice lime green hat.

There is also a red 'cabbage' and a girly face so here you have the girl minifig variety.

Maybe some sick children like me will get evil idea's by combining that 1,5 minifig

This set can't be found (yet) on:

Peeron / Lugnet / Brickset /Bricklink entries

But here a link to the LEGO site

I didn't receive the software yet so I couldn't program it or something like that. The first impression of the software was really nice. (see link above)

We will be helping Dacta in our College to make it suitable for technical education in Dutch primary schools. I also didn't have any instructions (they will be on the CD I guess), so I borrowed that one picture from LEGO.

The only thing I think is a bit a shame is that they didn't include one more torso and pair of pants.

Playability: 8/10 (Nice set, children can use it in quite some different ways. Looks easy to use, no comments on software yet)

Design: 7/10 (Nice set, young children will be able to use it for getting technical experience.)

Price: -/10 (Hope it will not cost more than 75€ so a lot of schools can buy it, but you never know)

Overall: 8/10 (nice set, very useful for technical education to younger children)

I hope to have the software soon, come see our school stand at LEGOWorld to see the sets working (we let children built with it).

It will be a great set in education. Children can learn enough about motors, gears, sensors, etc. without it being too difficult. The programming environment looks also promising. This will help preparing children for the NXT (so we will try to integrate it into our continuous robotics curriculum for Dutch primary and secondary schools).

As you can see on the box, you can e.g. create a crocodile that opens its mouth when you come close, the tilt sensor will make sure it is not tilted too far and then it can lower its upper jaw after a while again.

Edited September 18, 2008 by JopieK

[VBBN]

Nice review!

I've never heard of this set before...And I am loning that femaleface/lime hat.

[WhiteFang]

JopieK, you never failed to amaze me. Although this is not a system set, but this is an eye opening experience to explore educational software "DACTA". I hardly venture in this forum much. Somehow, this is a review that I need to take a look.

I am very sure that you are the first one to write up a DACTA Reviews. I will recommend this review to one of my friends whom is a teacher, teaching autistic kids. He has been exploring these educational software, hoping that these kids are able to interact and construct models that are able to function and expose them to robotics.

Thanks for doing up this review!

[JopieK]

JopieK, you never failed to amaze me. Although this is not a system set, but this is an eye opening experience to explore educational software "DACTA". I hardly venture in this forum much. Somehow, this is a review that I need to take a look.

I am very sure that you are the first one to write up a DACTA Reviews. I will recommend this review to one of my friends whom is a teacher, teaching autistic kids. He has been exploring these educational software, hoping that these kids are able to interact and construct models that are able to function and expose them to robotics.

Thanks for doing up this review!

Jups, it's a nice set and I thought it would be nice to share it. It will be great also for children with mental problems I'm sure...

[KimT]

Hopefully you'll post pics of more of the creations in that box.

I wish the school where I work had the money for DACTA sets, but they're extremely expensive.

Nice work by the way