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1986: Set #8094
Name: Control Center
Series: LEGO TECHNIC
Ages: 10 and up (and schools)
Launched: 1986 (LEGO Dacta), 1990 (retail)
Discontinued: 1996
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One of the big news items from the LEGO Company in 1986 was the new Control Center, launched under LEGO Dacta, the educational division that sells LEGO sets to schools for teaching principles of engineering. The LEGO TECHNIC Control Center wasn't available in regular stores until 1990. This device lets you control two motors, then record the actions of the motors to play them back later. For instance, a machine that holds a pen and moves it across a piece of paper to draw a picture. Recording the sequence would let you play it back and draw the same picture again.
Although the recordings are a simple "program" for the machine, the Control Center was a long way from the true robots of LEGO MINDSTORMS®, which actually respond to their environments through sensors programmed using "RCX code". In the real world, systems like the Control Center are sometimes used to test out robots' functions before they're programmed with a computer.
The LEGO TECHNIC Control Center included instructions to make a plotter (the drawing machine), a grabber arm, a crane, and more. Now, the LEGO MINDSTORMS Ultimate Builders Set (released in 2001) -- using the Robotics Invention System™ -- includes elements for building models like the plotter, a candy-sorting robot, a robotic arm, a wall climber, and more. The quest for the ultimate LEGO machine continues!
LEGO TECHNIC
"Models that work just like real life."
LEGO TECHNIC is a different kind of LEGO toy -- in addition to the usual bricks, there are also gears, pulleys, cams, springs, and many other mechanical functions. Some even have pneumatic systems to control working parts, at the push of a finger! Ordinary LEGO bricks are held together with studs, but LEGO TECHNIC also use friction pins and axles to make structures rigid or flexible. The functions are more complex than LEGOLAND / LEGO SYSTEM models, so LEGO TECHNIC is for ages 7 and up. Many sets in this series come with instructions on powering your models by building in a motor, usually sold separately.
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The Control Center was truly unique, but didn't show up on store shelves until 1990.
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The programmable plotter.
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The original ArtBot.
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The crane.
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Another glance at the plotter.
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The grabber arm.
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