My boys are big robotics fans. And while the older kids have been connecting bots to their Raspberry Pi and even building things from scratch, the younger kids need a bit of direction yet. We were offered the chance to review a sample of the Infra Robot Kit that is part of the Funtastic Robots line from The Young Scientists Club. This kit is priced at a reasonable $29.99 and comes with everything you need to create a robot, learn about basic robotic themes, and do experiments, too.
I was expecting that I needed to supervise the building of the kit, as many of the home robot kits we've tried have had confusing directions. I should have known better, however. This kit was like many of the products we've reviewed from The Young Scientists Club, in that they had very clear instructions. With 2 batteries from our home stash and a simple screwdriver, the kids were off and running without any help from me.
The boys worked together on this. They realized that directions were necessary, that you need to be patient, and that it helps if you know the next steps before you work. Once they had the robot together (which was a simple process), they were ready to try it out!
We used a television remote to make it go. (Any remote using IR tech will work.) We were able to use the included directions to try out various simple experiments to learn how far the IR will work, what qualifies a "robot", and other basic robotics concepts.
This was a really cool and easy way to get the boys talking about robots. They now have a simple toy to play with at home, and we are considering buying the other robots in the series!
Watch the video of the moving robot here:
Infra was just one of the four robots available. Kids can also choose Hurdle (a robot that senses obstacles), Sunny (a light-sensing robot) and Metali (a metal-detecting robot.) You can get any of them through the Young Scientists Club website. They would make a great fun summer science project or even a birthday gift!
*Sample received to review. Opinions are my own.
I was expecting that I needed to supervise the building of the kit, as many of the home robot kits we've tried have had confusing directions. I should have known better, however. This kit was like many of the products we've reviewed from The Young Scientists Club, in that they had very clear instructions. With 2 batteries from our home stash and a simple screwdriver, the kids were off and running without any help from me.
The boys worked together on this. They realized that directions were necessary, that you need to be patient, and that it helps if you know the next steps before you work. Once they had the robot together (which was a simple process), they were ready to try it out!
We used a television remote to make it go. (Any remote using IR tech will work.) We were able to use the included directions to try out various simple experiments to learn how far the IR will work, what qualifies a "robot", and other basic robotics concepts.
This was a really cool and easy way to get the boys talking about robots. They now have a simple toy to play with at home, and we are considering buying the other robots in the series!
Watch the video of the moving robot here:
Infra was just one of the four robots available. Kids can also choose Hurdle (a robot that senses obstacles), Sunny (a light-sensing robot) and Metali (a metal-detecting robot.) You can get any of them through the Young Scientists Club website. They would make a great fun summer science project or even a birthday gift!
*Sample received to review. Opinions are my own.
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