ksr5377 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 She liked the huge one by Mecanno, but that's $300. There are some neat looking $20 ones, but I'm not sure they are worth it. I would prefer for it to need built, so not something like the Mip. DH thinks it would be neat to do Lego Robotics at some point, so if there's any Lego product that fits the bill, that would be great. We're looking to spend around $75, but can go a bit higher if it's perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 OWI makes a lot of good beginner robot kits. Elenco has a few as well. There's another company that has several, but the name is escaping me now. I'll come back and add it if it comes to me! Prices start around $15 for the simplest kits. At his age, he will need help from his dad to put it together, but it is great to see those wheels start turning and he will have a lot of fun playing with them! Many of the beginner robots are unitaskers - they follow a line (color sensor), change direction when they bump into things (touch sensors) for example. This is more than enough to get him started. With the line followers, you can get butcher paper out and draw paths for it, you can make obstacle courses for the ones with touch sensors. My son had one that could climb a string - it was very busy with twine strung between chairs ("Leave the Christmas tree out of it, son!"). I suggest that you wait for LEGO Mindstorms until he is quite a bit older - middle school is a good time to start that. Not only is there building involved, but programming, too. I think if kids start this too early, they become frustrated and are less likely to stick with it. LEGO Education now has WeDo Robots for younger ages and I haven't looked closely at those - the OWI kits and others may do the same things for a smaller outlay of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 Thank you! I have seen some of the OWI and Elenco sets but I didn't want to buy junk, and their prices are pretty low. It's nice to hear from someone that's tried them out. Since this is our first foray into robots I would like to keep the price lower, or buy 2 or 3 simple ones, to see if it's something that will stick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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