Called the “DaVincis of LEGOS,” Mario and Giulio Ferrari are world-renowned experts in the field of LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics.

Mario Ferrari received his first LEGO box around 1964, when he was four. LEGO was his favorite toy for many years, until he thought he was too old to play with it. In 1998, the LEGO MINDSTORMS RIS set gave him reason to again have LEGO become his main addiction. Mario believes LEGO is the closest thing to the perfect toy. He is Managing Director at EDIS, a leader in finishing and packaging solutions and promotional packaging. The advent of the MINDSTORMS product line represented for him the perfect opportunity to combine his interest in IT and robotics with his passion for LEGO bricks, which started during his early childhood. Mario has been a very active member of the online MINDSTORMS community from the beginning and has pushed LEGO robotics to its limits. Mario holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Turin and has always nourished a strong interest for physics, mathematics, and computer science. He is fluent in many programming languages, and his background includes positions as an IT manager and as a project supervisor. Mario estimates he owns more than 60,000 LEGO pieces. Mario works in Modena, Italy, where he lives with his wife, Anna, and his children, Sebastiano and Camilla.

Giulio Ferrari is Sales Manager at EDIS, a company that specializes in premiums and promotional packaging. He studied economics and engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He is fond of computer programming and mathematical sciences, as well as puzzles and games in general. He has a collection of 1,500 dice of all kinds and shapes. Giulio coauthored the bestselling Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-928994-67-9) with his brother Mario and Ralph Hempel. The book has quickly become a fundamental reference and source of ideas for many LEGO robotics fans. He is also a contributor to Programming LEGO MINDSTORMS with Java (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-928994-55-5) and LEGO MINDSTORMS Masterpieces (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-931836-75-2). Giulio has been playing with LEGO bricks since he was very young, and his passion for robotics started in 1998, with the arrival of the MINDSTORMS series. From that moment on, he held an important place in the creation of the Italian LEGO community, ItLUG, now one of the most important LEGO user groups worldwide. He works in Modena, where he lives with his girlfriend, Claire, and his son, Zeno.