Best robots: educational and fun phone-connected toys
The Meebot is a robot aimed at kids. You can buy it from Apple stores for £109.95. It comes in kit form, which means you have to build it like LEGO. Except that instead of paper instructions you download the app which shows an animated 3D model of the build which you can turn and zoom in to – if only LEGO did this…
Once complete, which takes a couple of hours (quicker if your kids aren’t helping), you can connect to it via Bluetooth and start controlling it.
The pre-set moves are great: it can do the ‘crazy dance’ and even the ‘man flag’ where it balances on one arm.
The idea, of course, is that kids have a lot of fun building and playing with it, but then learn to program it to move themselves. They can do this using a graphical block interface, but can also see the code itself.
They can even dismantle the kit and build their own version of the robot, connecting the six servo motors in whatever combination they like.
Launching in August 2017, Lego Boost is a new range of robots which, instead of being based on the Technics bricks uses the standard bricks all kids (and adults) are familiar with.
Like Lego Creator sets, instructions are supplied for building various different models (one of which looks a lot like Johnny Five from Short Circuit) from the 843 pieces, and there are three ‘’Boost” bricks which make the robot move.
There are also tilt, distance and colour sensors, plus you can record your own voice so your creation can speak or squeal.
It will cost $160, which is likely to be around £130 in the UK.
Another robot available from the Apple store (£119.95) is the Sphero SPRK+. This is an evolution of the original Sphero, and is designed to be both fun to play with and also – as with other robots here – to inspire kids to learn to code.
At its simplest, you can use the Sphero app to control where the ball rolls just a like a remote-controlled car.
But you can also program it to travel a certain route and you can hold it and use as a controller for other apps and games.
Read our full Sphero SPRK+ review
Very similar, but arguably better for Star Wars fans is the Sphero BB-8 , pictured here, which is essentially a SPRK+ made to look like a BB-8, and it costs less at £99.99.
No robot roundup would be complete without LEGO Mindstorms. The latest kit is the EV3 which lets you build 17 different robots which can drive, shoot, slither, walk, slam, and spin.
Coding is the name of the game here, and you can install the EV3 Programmer app on your tablet to make your robot do your bidding. If you don’t have a tablet, the software is also available for Windows and Macs.
The phone and tablet app can of course also be used as a remote control for your robot and, because it’s made from Lego Technic bricks, you can rebuild it into whatever you like, and add your own bricks and pieces.
A faster version of the Sphero (and BB-8) is the Ollie. This is pretty much designed exclusively for fun rather than education, and instead of an internal mechanism driving a sphere, Ollie has two wheels.
These can turn in opposite directions for some great spinning and trick action, but when working together they can propel the robot up to around 15mph, which is plenty fast enough.
It’s tough enough to be launched into the air off ramps, and comes with rubber tyres for outdoor use (the plastic wheels are slippery, which is great fun on smooth surfaces such as wooden floors).
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