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You assert that none of the Lego robots at the World Conference on Computers in Education in Copenhagen "succeeded" in ousting all seven figures from the circle on a whiteboard table ("Roboflop", THES , August 17).

As a co-designer of one of the robots, I can assure you that this is not true - ours did succeed. Indeed, two others were also successful, one of which is pictured, left. This attempt was a rather unimaginative way to achieve the task, though it did show ingenuity.

Our solution, however, involved a greater application of systems thinking, software development and construction.

This illustrates the ability of "toys" to enhance learning on a variety of fronts.

Alex Reid
University of Western Australia