Researchers at the Media Lab were already investigating ways in which Lego and Logo could work together.Īlthough one of the earliest applications of Logo involved the robot turtle, the advent of personal computers had moved the programming language from the floor to the screen. Kristiansen arranged a visit to the MIT Media Lab where Papert worked, launching the long-standing partnership between Lego and the lab.
Kristiansen was intrigued by the possibilities of expanding Lego’s capabilities for learning and play: children should be able to build and control – program – their creations. Kristiansen was struck watching Papert by the similarities between constructionism – Papert’s theory of learning – and his own company’s philosophy about building. Lego had created a special education division some years earlier and with the launch of the Technic line had begun to offer construction sets with pneumatics and motors. In it, Papert demonstrated how children could use the programming language he’d developed, LOGO, to control robot “turtles” – to move the robots forward and backward a specified distance, turn right or left a specified degree, drop a pen and draw. In the fall of 1984, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen – then the CEO of Lego (and grandson of its founder) – happened to watch a television interview featuring MIT professor Seymour Papert.
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