Amazon and the LEGO Group have announced the winners of the LEGO Mindstorms Voice Challenge and Jason Allemann @JK Brickworks has won the grand prize for his Game Station submission. For his efforts, he has won $20,000 in Amazon.com Gift Cards, $700 in LEGO models, and a trip for two to the LEGO Headquarters in Denmark .
5 other finalists also received $10,000 in Amazon.com Gift Cards and $700 in LEGO models for each of them. Read more in the press release below.
Amazon and the LEGO Group are thrilled to announce the winners of the $100,000 LEGO MINDSTORMS Voice Challenge: Powered by Alexa. For the past three months Alexa developers, LEGO MINDSTORMS enthusiasts, and creators around the world have been experimenting with connecting the robotic and coding powers of LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 to Alexa to unlock the future of voice-based experiences.
The creations highlight what is possible with LEGO MINDSTORMS and the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, which enables creators everywhere to build delightful, immersive voice-powered experiences that interact with Alexa. Contestants dedicated hours of their time to designing, building and coding their experiences using LEGO MINDSTORMS. From an Alexa-powered magic show and waffle-making robot, to a Sky Finder that joins forces with Alexa to reveal the locations of planets, stars and even galaxies; the submissions were fun, entertaining and inspiring. A panel from Amazon and the LEGO Group judged the submissions on the use of voice integration, innovation in the LEGO build and the development process. Together, the winning creations won prizes totaling $100,000 in value.
• Grand Prize – Game Station: Challenge yourself and your friends with interactive games powered by Alexa
• Finalist – Sky Finder: Explore space with this LEGO MINDSTORMS gadget and ask Alexa to show you the locations of planets, stars and even galaxies
• Finalist – Amazing Amazon Alexa’s Magic Show (feat. LEGO MINDSTORMS): Amazing Amazon Alexa teams up with the Legendary LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 to perform an amazing magic show
• Finalist – Paige Turner: An Alexa voice-controlled, LEGO MINDSTORMS robot that can read and turn pages of books for the visually impaired
• Finalist – LEGO MINDSTORMS Wafflebot with Amazon Alexa: You talk to a robot about waffles, then the robot MAKES YOU WAFFLES
• Finalist – LEGO MINDSTORMS Puppy Training using Alexa Voice Control: Get the ultimate puppy owner experience: build a LEGO MINDSTORMS puppy and teach the puppy the basic commands using Alexa
• Finalist – Smart Susan: Everybody loves a tea party but many can’t afford a butler so this entry into the 13 – 17 Year Old Creators category transformed the Lazy Susan into a Smart Susan
Commenting on the creations submitted, Tom Donaldson, Senior Vice President of the LEGO Creative Play Lab said: “We believe anything is possible when it comes to building with LEGO products and we challenge ourselves to inspire our creators in new ways every day. For the last 20 years LEGO MINDSTORMS has delivered powerful technology in an accessible way that helps people bring their builds and imaginations to life. We were excited to see how our community would take their LEGO MINDSTORMS creations one step further by integrating Amazon’s voice-powered technology and we certainly weren’t disappointed. The submissions showcase the amazing creativity of our LEGO MINDSTORM builders and demonstrate the sheer breadth of new experiences that can be built with our iconic products.”
As well as wining $20,000 in Amazon Gift Cards, LEGO models and a trip to LEGO Headquarters in Billund, Denmark, the Grand Prize winner’s creation will be displayed for LEGO fans to view at the annual LEGO World event in Copenhagen this February.
