Lego is releasing its third iteration of the popular Mindstorms robotic construction platform, called Mindstorms EV3.  If you don’t know what Mindstorms is…well it’s more than I can get into in a simple blog post here.  It’s basically a fantastic way to teach kids about robotics.

Read this article at GeekDad for a rundown on what’s new in EV3.  Pretty much what you expect…newer, better, with smartphone integration.  While this latest release is targeted towards educational users, I expect this to appear on many kids’ Christmas lists later this year (and probably on some parents’ lists, too…).

Mindstorms EV3 should be shipping in the second half of this year.