In honor of Ada Lovelace's 200th birthday, LEGO has revealed a Lovelace-centric LEGO kit — complete with the Analytical Machine that helped make her named as the mother of computer programming as we know it.
The Victorian-inspired LEGO set has a steampunk aesthetic, complete with a miniature teddy bear with a furrowed brow, a glowering gargoyle, two scowling Lovelaces (one as a studious girl, the other as a grown up female scientist extraordinaire) and a bearded, complacent Charles Babbage, who was Lovelace's fellow scientist, mentor and colleague. The kit also comes with an Analytical Machine that isn't all for show, concealing a space for a Raspberry Pi microprocessor, which would allow the machine to actually do what it was designed to do: compute.
The set prototype is a part of the LEGO Ideas campaign, where users can submit or vote for themes and ideas they'd like to be turned into actual LEGO sets. Developed by LEGO designer and fan Stewart Lamb Cromar, the Ada Lovelace & Charles Babbage set, as it's official known, is currently up for the honor or becoming the next fully-realized kit, and is trying to round up as many supporters as it can to assemble a strong voting bloc.
Vote for 'Lovelace & Babbage' at LEGO Ideas https://t.co/zZMcblWcpY pic.twitter.com/RTjLgM78bA
— Matt Blum (@cerebus19) November 10, 2015
Here is the official description of the Ada Lovelace & Charles Babbage LEGO set:
"The monochromatic brick palette helps to evoke a Victorian atmosphere and the engine itself is decorated with cogs, chains and pistons for a steampunk aesthetic. There is also capacity for the model to house a mini-computer such as the Raspberry Pi v2.0 single-board computer (optional and not included).
Just in case the Lovelace and Babbage minifigures get a little tired from all their hard work, there is an afternoon tea party for them to enjoy (Victoria sponge included).
Help Ada Junior with her math homework in the miniature classroom, but just make sure the creepy bat doesn't steal her beloved teddy bear."
Using LEGO we can finally complete their marvelous vision for the Analytical Engine and build the world's first mechanical general-purpose computer!"
Check out photos of the steampunk-inspired Lovelace Lego set below.
Via: io9
