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