Lego Mindstorms NXT for Students' Research Projects in Control Field*

Abstract Nowadays scientific community faces challenging problem on how to make science popular among young people and attract students' attention to applied and fundamental research. In this article we share our personal experience of organization of the student research and development laboratory in the field of automatic control for robotics. Paper describes how Lego Mindstorms NXT technology can be used to engage students in the research process. Examples of students' research projects embodying results obtained by elder colleagues at the Control Systems and Informatics Department of St. Petersburg National Research University ITMO are described here.