Technic

Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex movable parts, such as machines with wheels, in addition to the simpler brick-building properties of normal Lego. more...

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The concept was introduced as the Expert Builder series in 1977 and was renamed Technic in 1984.

Technic sets are often characterized by the presence of special pieces, such as gears, axles, pins, and beams. Some sets also come with pneumatic pieces or electric motors. In recent years, technic pieces have begun filtering down into other Lego sets as well, most notably the Bionicle sets (some of which were sold as part of the Technic line), as well as a great many others.

The style of Technic sets has been changing over time. Technic sets produced since the year 2000 use a different construction methodology, described as "studless construction" (Studs are the small circular knobs which appear on traditional LEGO bricks). This method utilizes beams and pins rather than technic bricks.

Mindstorms, a Lego line of robotic products, also uses a large number of Technic pieces, although it is sold as a separate line of products. The next generation of the Mindstorms range, the Mindstorms NXT range (released Aug 2006), is based on the studless construction method.

"Studded" versus "Studless"

Although studless beams have been present in Technic sets for many years, the change from primarily studded to primarily studless construction represented a major paradigm shift and has been quite controversial.

The primary advantage of studless construction is the addition of new construction methods that were previously unavailable. The new studless beams are exactly 1 unit in height, in contrast to studded beams, which are a non-integer multiple of one unit. It can be awkward to use studded beams in vertical structures because it is necessary to insert plates between the studded beams in order to get the holes to line up . Studless beams allow greater flexibility when building in multiple dimensions, while remaining compatible with "classic" studded beams. Some builders also believe that models constructed with studless beams look nicer than their studded counterparts.

However, studless construction also introduces disadvantages. Studless construction is not immediately intuitive, requiring the builder to think five or six steps ahead. While studded construction follows the classic bottom-to-top building pattern, studless construction requires building inside-to-outside. There is also the issue of inertia: studded construction has been around for much longer, and has a much stronger tradition, than studless construction.

As of 2006, Lego has begun to re-incorporate studded bricks back into the Technic line, which can be seen in sets such as 8421, The Mobile Crane.

Read more at Wikipedia.org