This article was taken from the July 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

When he was working towards a masters degree at Cambridge, Daniel Strange had to spend hours dipping bits of metal into mineral and protein solutions to create a bone-like material. It was important work that could lead to advances in medical implants, but it was mind-numbingly boring. So he automated the process by turning to an unlikely source. "Lego has the whole package," says Strange, now a PhD student studying biomedical engineering under the supervision of Cambridge's Michelle Oyen. "It's got all the electronics, components, gears and motors that you need to build a prototype.

And if a ten-year-old can use it, I hoped that I could."


Using a Lego Mindstorms NXT kit, Strange, 25, built and programmed a crane that moves in a set path, raising and lowering the sample between beakers containing solutions. The lab now has two of them working round the clock. "They're a bit wobbly but they do the job precisely," Strange says. The kit retails for around £300; a similar scientific instrument would cost thousands. "We use the kits for a bunch of projects. It's a very flexible platform."

The Lego cranes have already featured in the journal Acta Biomaterialia in a paper on the bone-like material they help produce. "We're trying to mimic the composition of bones. Our robots make that easier."