| Lego is a line of toys manufactured by Lego Group, a | | | | out of every million fail to meet its stringent standards. |
| privately held company based in Denmark. Its flagship | | | | It is thanks to this care in manufacturing that the Lego |
| product, also commonly referred to as Lego, consists | | | | Group has maintained such a high degree of quality |
| of colourful interlocking plastic bricks and an | | | | over the decades. |
| accompanying array of gears, minifigures (also called | | | | Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at a number of |
| minifigs or "Lego People"), and other pieces which can | | | | locations around the world. Moulding is done at one of |
| be assembled and connected in myriad combinations, | | | | two plants in Denmark and Switzerland. Brick |
| including cars, planes, trains, buildings, castles, sculptures, | | | | decorations and packaging is done at plants in |
| ships, spaceships, and even working robots. | | | | Denmark, Switzerland, United States, South Korea and |
| The Lego Group had very humble beginnings in the | | | | the Czech Republic. Annual production of Lego bricks |
| workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter | | | | averages approximately 20 billion (2 — 1010) |
| from Billund, Denmark. Christiansen started creating | | | | per year, or about 600 pieces per second. |
| wooden toys in 1932, however in 1947, he and his son | | | | Lego today |
| Godtfred Kirk Christiansen obtained samples of | | | | A Lego City.Since it began producing plastic bricks, the |
| interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company | | | | Lego Group has released thousands of play sets |
| Kiddicraft. These "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building | | | | themed around space, robots, pirates, vikings, medieval |
| Bricks" were designed and patented in the UK by | | | | castles, dinosaurs, cities, suburbia, holiday locations, wild |
| Hilary Harry Fisher Page, a child psychologist. A few | | | | west, the Arctic, airports, boats, racing cars, trains, Star |
| years later, in 1949, Lego began producing similar bricks, | | | | Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Batman, SpongeBob |
| calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." The first Lego | | | | SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and more. |
| bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were | | | | New elements are often released along with new |
| developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that | | | | sets. There are also Lego sets designed to appeal to |
| could be stacked upon one another; however, these | | | | young girls such as the Clikits line which consists of |
| plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had | | | | small interlocking parts that are meant to encourage |
| several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular | | | | creativity and arts and crafts, much like regular Lego |
| bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly | | | | bricks. Clikits do not interlock with regular Lego |
| that they could not be pulled apart. | | | | elements. |
| The company name Lego was coined by Christiansen | | | | Recently, the Lego line has expanded to encompass |
| from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play | | | | accessory motors, gears, lights, sensors, and cameras |
| well". (For other translations, see Trivia below) | | | | designed to be used with Lego components. There |
| The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly | | | | are even special bricks, like the Lego RCX that can be |
| regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. | | | | programmed with a PC to perform very complicated |
| Many of the Lego Group's shipments were returned, | | | | and useful tasks. These programmable bricks are sold |
| following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys | | | | under the name Lego Mindstorms. |
| could never replace wooden ones. | | | | There has been a recent update of Lego Mindstorms |
| By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the | | | | called Lego Mindstorms NXT. It is more advanced, has |
| junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his | | | | a bigger screen than the RCX, and has a new array |
| conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the | | | | of sensors. They include touch, sound, light, and a new |
| idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense | | | | ultrasonic sensor technology. There is also a Bluetooth |
| potential in Lego bricks to become a system for | | | | compatible hookup that can send and receive |
| creative play, but the bricks still had some problems | | | | messages from one's cellphone and other Bluetooth |
| from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was | | | | compatible devices. |
| limited, and they were not very versatile. It was not until | | | | There are several which use Lego bricks and the |
| 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed, | | | | RCX, among other microcontrollers, for robotics. The |
| and it took another five years to find exactly the right | | | | earliest, and likely the largest, is Botball, a national US |
| material for it. | | | | middle- and high-school competition stemming from the |
| Design and manufacture | | | | MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. A related |
| Since their introduction in 1949, Lego pieces of all | | | | competition is FIRST Lego League for elementary and |
| varieties have been, first and foremost, part of a | | | | middle schools. The international RoboCup Junior |
| universal "system". Despite tremendous variation in the | | | | autonomous soccer competition involves extensive |
| design and purpose of individual pieces over the years, | | | | use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which is often |
| each remains compatible in some way with existing | | | | pushed to its limits. |
| pieces. Lego bricks from 1963 still interlock with those | | | | BIONICLE is a line of toys by the Lego Group that is |
| made in 2007, and Lego sets for young children are | | | | marketed towards those in the 7-16-year-old range. |
| compatible with those made for teenagers. | | | | The line was launched in January 2001 in Europe and |
| Bricks, beams, axles, minifigures, and all other elements | | | | June/July 2001 in the United States. The Bionicle idea |
| in the Lego system are manufactured to an exacting | | | | originated from the earlier toy lines Slizers (also known |
| degree of tolerance. When snapped together, pieces | | | | as Throwbots) and Roboriders. Both of these lines had |
| must have just the right amount of "clutch power"; | | | | similar throwing disks and characters based on |
| they must stay together until pulled apart. They cannot | | | | classical elements. |
| be too easy to pull apart, or the resulting constructions | | | | Lego Group operates several Legoland amusement |
| would be unstable; they also cannot be too difficult to | | | | parks in Europe and one in California. On July 13, 2005 |
| pull apart, since the disassembly of one creation in | | | | the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for |
| order to build other bricks and another is part of the | | | | $460 million dollars to the Blackstone Group of New |
| Lego appeal. In order for pieces to have just the right | | | | York while the remaining 30% is still held by the Lego |
| "clutch power", Lego elements are manufactured within | | | | Group. There are also several Lego Brand retail stores, |
| a tolerance of 2 µm. | | | | including at Downtown Disney in both the Disneyland |
| Since 1963, Lego pieces are manufactured from a | | | | and Walt Disney World Resorts and in the Mall of |
| strong, resilient plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene | | | | America in Bloomington, Minnesota. As of year end |
| styrene, or ABS. Precision-machined, small-capacity | | | | 2005, there are 25 LEGO Brand Retail stores in the |
| moulds are used, and human inspectors check the | | | | USA, a number of stores in Europe, and a franchised |
| output of the moulds, to eliminate significant variations in | | | | LEGO store in Abu Dhabi. |
| colour or thickness. Worn-out moulds are encased in | | | | Lego has also successfully branched into video games |
| the foundations of buildings to prevent their falling into | | | | that appeal to a wide age range, with titles like Lego |
| competitors' hands. According to the Lego Group, its | | | | Star Wars: The Video Game. |
| moulding processes are so accurate that only 18 bricks | | | | |