My son is obsessed with Lego Mindstorms! We would like to get him something comparable for Christmas but a little less money (approx. $50 and under) He’s 9 years old, loves to build things and take them apart, he’s educated himself on how the Mindstorms parts work just from the website and reading about the different parts, especially the sensors. He’s very inquisitive. Any suggestions?
He is 9 years old. He loves building lego kits (following instructions), being able to program a robot and how sensors work. He likes the idea of robots being almost human with thinking (programmed). I have checked all the kits but can’t decide which would be best for these things. I’ve thought of the Robotics and Things Robotix Robot Inventor’s Workshop - 99102, Elenco Robot Kit Set, Owi Binary Player Robot Kit, Tamiya Sound Activated Walking Robot, Ibotz Hydrazoid Robot Kit, and the Owi Rockit Robot Kit. Your input is appreciated.
Hello Zurg, welcome to the RobotShop community!
Certainly we agree that LEGO Mindstorms is great. We can not however offer a comparable product in the 50$ price range (The Mindstorms is 350$). In the modular robotics, there would be the VEXplorer in the 100$ range. Beyond that we do offer robot kits in your price range, check out the beginnerand intermediate robot kit sections.
We might be able to suggest other kits or kits in specific if you want
How old is your son and which aspects of robotics is he specifically interested in?
All the kits you mention are excellent for learning about robotics. In this case, sensors and mechanical assembly are common to them. They however lack any real programmability. The Owi Binary player is closest to a programmable kit but uses cardboard wheels to control the behavior instead of actual program code. You will also notice that most of these beginner kits concentrate on one specific sensor technology.
Infrared and light sensors probably offer the most flexibility since this technology can be used for communication and obstacle avoidance, among other uses, which are quite important in robotics.
The Elenco Robot Kit Set offers 3 different robot designs with 3 different uses for infrared/light sensor technology and may your best bet.