(WXYZ) — Across the nation, kids and adults of all ages marked National Lego Day on Jan. 28. Lego enthusiasts have one more reason for many to snap together bright-colored bricks, but here in Michigan, a local kid has taken the fun year-round activity and given it a new twist.
12-year-old Emma Virginia Lockstein has built a 6-inch-tall robot using Legos. It works like a forklift but looks cooler.
"It just comes naturally to me," says the Lego enthusiast.
Emma has been playing with Legos since the age of three, and since then she has never looked at another toy.
"You can create anything you want with them," said Lockstein.
For Emma’s dad, Timothy, it’s always a proud moment to see her little girl create big things.
"Ever since she was a little girl, she would play with puzzles; I think she was two years old, she would do a 500-piece puzzle. Put it together, she really has that technical mindset," says Emma's father.
Emma’s parents enrolled her at the Robot Garage, a family-owned business that specializes in LEGO robotics and game design, to keep the spark alive.
"You know we’ve all played with Legos, as kids, and we’ve built houses, and forts, airplanes, and everything, but Emma has taken it to the next level with Robot Garage and building Robots," says Timothy James Lockstein.
The founder of the facility, Jonathan Jacob, says Legos are the perfect toy for kids, as it gives them the ability to think outside the box.
"We give them a challenge, and then we let them come up with the design they want, and then we help them realize that design, and I think that’s great because the kid feels empowered," said the founder of The Robot Garage.
But at the Robot Garage, they also get to take it a step further.
"All of our lego builds that we do have some motion capacity," said Jacob.
At the Robot Garage, every day is Lego day, as it gets young engineers excited about being creative and building whatever their little hearts desire.
"You can do whatever you want. You just have to put your mind to it," said Emma Virginia Lockstein.
