This year at CES, Lego is bridging the gap with Boost, a basic robotics- and programming-oriented kit that’s supposed to be more playful than didactic.

The students at the Andrew Hamilton School participated in their first LEGO League competition as part of the K-8 school's unique robotics and digital literacy programming.

The intent is to familiarize adults with concepts in programming and encourage them to work with kids in a Lego robotics competition.

Outfitted with motors and a tiny computer, the Lego robot moved of its own accord across the tabletop.

The third generation of Lego's best-selling programmable robotics platform is here, and features more sensors, motors, and flexibility than ever. Plus mobile apps.

YMCA After-School participatnts took part in a 10-week Lego robotics program spearheaded by Lafayette College student Katie Geraghty.

Sixteen Belmonte fifth-graders in the afterschool robotics program created LEGO robots and are in the process of figuring out how to program them to complete up to 17 different tasks.

The Lego WeDo system also has available software to program the robots, an activity pack to guide learning and an excellent guide for teachers to facilitate teaching.

Lego Mindstorms says the robots' modular designs can enable a youngster to build and program a robot in as little as 20 minutes.

Finally, Lego was looking for people who could hack Mindstorms and help the company create a third-party programming environment.

Thomas Alva has developed Edison, a palm-sized, bright orange, programmable robot compatible with Lego bricks that is intended as an affordable introduction to programming and robotics for youngsters.