Lego might be fun if you mostly want to do, well, Legos but go with the Arduino Starter Kit, it will be far more versatile.
I’m not a natural when it comes to programming but get by with what I call cookbook programming. I’ll find an algorithm that someone else has written and tweak it to work for me.
The electronics can mostly be done by following a few rules but if your head works like mine it is a rabbit hole and you’ll want to build an ever increasing understanding.
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Your posts keep me excited to get this machine. Thanks, I got my fix. 
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Really awesome!
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Go Arduino, it will, ultimately, serve you better than Mindstorm. I looked at the projects you can make with the “Basic Kit”, if you complete them all you will have covered, to a reasonable level, a lot of what an Arduino can do. After that it’s just a matter of mixing and matching, using code that’s already out there, various shields, components and sensors and you’ll be wondering why everyone hasn’t automated their house or flown to the moon.
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If you have money to burn, look at Littlebits. Those babies come in handy for some rapid prototyping without breadboards or soldering.
But really any random arduino kit should come with some jumpers, a couple of LEDs and enough other interesting bits to get you through 10+ example builds. Should be plenty to get you on your way.
You can buy a cheap components kit, and any arduino board, then follow online tutorials.
I personally am a fan of Sparkfun, but this is not the cheapest around.
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A…MAZ…ZING!!! Love the metal finish and all the electronic bells and whistles.
He must be pretty special…and better appreciate it…lol
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@jkopel, you’re killing me with the awesomeness. I feel like you just revolutionized my thinking about the aesthetic possibilities of planar plywood. I’m adding this thread to the "Transcending the Medium" thread.
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Looking this over again and you really must expand it out into an instuctable. Not to is to cheat the world.
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I just hijacked my wife’s account! This is probably the single most awesome thing I’ve seen. I really like the paint job. I too thought it was metal. it is incredible. You’ve done excellent work and the Trekkie I am just loves it!
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Are we allowed to ask if that was proofgrade used? Amazing work btw !!
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Yes, it was (beta) Proofgrade plywood. I’d know it anywhere. 
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I loved the Krylon hammered paint. I have a green that I am going to get around to using on my bandsaw to go with the Grizzly tools I hope to start accumulating in addition to my Grizzly drill press.
This is such an all-around demonstration of skills: design, wood working, laser cutting, electronics, cultural memes, documentation of build. Thanks for modeling this all for us!
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Way back when MIT was designing the Mindstorms, I applied for being a beta tester. Didn’t make it. The Arduino kits from Adafruit are wonderful. I have given these as gifts to some young folks getting started in electronics. There are so many projects in the Adafruit library and on line that uses Arduino, you can’t go wrong.
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Regarding painting with a spry can, I once painted a short bed van with gloss white. Knowing every spray streak would be visible, but even that would be an improvement.
During application it occurred to me to try rubbing compound so I put on a good coat. The result was perfect, a smooth white gloss without a trace of the spray can effect.
Of course that technique wouldn’t work with a textured finish, but in a pinch you can achieve a professional finish with a simple spray can and some elbow.
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Thanks!
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This kit looks pretty interesting:
http://www.gtronics.net/en/products/arduino-proto-shield-plus
It ships from Italy, but the one I ordered took only a few days to deliver.
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Just want to chime in: love the Arduino stuff. And for those who don’t love typing at things to make them go (or are too young to type well) there are programs to control arduinos with Scratch (MIT block programming language) and even a scratch-like language (ardublock) that compiles to real arduino code…
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I just ordered the Starter Kit! I had no idea such a product even existed, and now my mind is blown away with excitement over what it can do…been living under a rock, I feel like the world has just turned for me…
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You…
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