After reports from Brick Fanatics and other Lego fan sites, the Lego Group confirmed that the Mindstorms line of products will be discontinued at the end of 2022. The Mindstorms team internally will be reallocated to “other parts of the business,” according to a company statement, although the Mindstorms Robot Inventor App digital platforms will stay online through the end of 2024.
Released on September 1, 1998, Lego Mindstorms was a revolutionary instructional tool designed at MIT that let people of all ages build robotic systems out of regular Lego bricks and a digital control brick.
The set’s success stemmed in large part from the fact that its owners could quickly program the control brick on a personal computer using a drag-and-drop visual programming language, allowing for the creation of complex robots out of a relatively simple assortment of pieces. The Mindstorms series has evolved in surprising ways thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts and researchers over the years, while Lego has steadily upped the ante with each new iteration of the line.
In June of 2020, Lego unveiled the Mindstorms Robot Inventor (51515), the fourth generation of Mindstorms goods following the launch in 1998 and subsequent substantial updates in 2006 and 2013. The 51515 set is now on sale for $359.99, but it may not be around for much longer as Lego discontinues the brand.
Lego hasn’t said goodbye to the Mindstorms name forever, either; in fact, the company plans to keep the Mindstorms trademark in the event the brand makes a comeback. Due to internal Mindstorms resources being redirected and a discontinuation of Mindstorms products after December 2022, it appears that this is the end of the product line.
Meanwhile, Lego will keep up its support for the SPIKE Prime line, which is functionally comparable to Mindstorms but is designed specifically for classroom use.
