Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the line of educational toys. The first retail version of Lego Mindstorms was released in 1998 and marketed commercially as the Robotics Invention System (RIS). The next version was released in 2006 as Lego Mindstorms NXT. The newest version, released in August 5, 2009, is known as Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0.
The hardware and software roots of the Mindstorms Robotics Invention System kit go back to the programmable brick created at the MIT Media Lab. This brick was programmed in Brick Logo. The first visual programming environment, called LEGOsheets,for this brick was created by the University of Colorado in 1994 and was based on AgentSheets.
