The Ultimate Gift Guide for your Robot Lover
My son has loved robots since I can remember. His love of robotics is well-known to those that know him. He has had a few robots over the years, and I wanted to share some of his favorite robot related toys with you. I have a gift guide for STEM gifts you may also want to check out.
Robots for Younger Kids
Robots can be really expensive and if you have kids with only a passing interest in robotics or a younger kid I don’t recommend spending the prices that come with the more advanced robots.
The solar powered robot was quick and easy to assemble, and my son needed very little help getting it to work. For the price we paid it offered some excitement. Our robot needed direct light. Even taking him outside into the sun and a hot summer day wasn’t quite enough. He had to have a light shining close and directly on him. Ours worked best with our desk lamp, so that we could adjust the light to be pointing directly at his solar panel.
The Lego Creater Robo Explorer is a fun set. It is a Lego set, which we always love. There is no animation with this set, so it is limited to the imagination of the creator. My son loved that it had a light brick, because those are always fun and not in every set we get. The weekend he got this robot we were without power, so he was stoked that his Lego robot could light his way.
The tin can robot is a hoot. My son got this robot put together and working in no time. It isn’t as flashy as some, but for the price and the ease of use this one is a great deal. It was an excellent way to see how the robot works and what causes the different parts to move.
More Advanced Robots
These more advanced robots are great for older kids and those that are a little more interested in going further with robotics. They are generally more expensive, but will do more and teach more than the less advanced ones.
Thames and Kosmos anything is on my good list. I love the many different things that can be built and all the science that can be learned with a Thames and Kosmos kit. We have had a few different kits and I have been impressed with each one. The Thames and Kosmos remote controlled machine is high on my list. You can follow the directions and build a remote controlled machine or you can personalize it and build something completely different. There is a wide range of what you can do with Thames and Kosmos kits.
Lego Mindstorm: We don’t have this robot just yet, but it is on our list of robots we want to add to our collection one day. My son has played with this robot at a science fair in the past and I was pretty impressed with all that the children were able to get them to do. We have seen these robots being used by high school level robotics teams.
The Arduino robot car we had a blast with. My son was able to build him and had a great time doing it. We did sit with him throughout the building process to be sure everything was being done correctly and to help occassionally. He was able to do most of the work on his own, but did need a little help here and there. Once the robot is built you don’t just start pushing buttons to get him to work.
You will have to program him and learn to write the code for all the instructions for the robot. If you aren’t familiar with Arduino or code language, there may be a bit of a learning curve. This is a great robot for those kids that are older and serious about building them. Not for anyone looking to put it together and have it fully functional in 30 minutes.
Dash by Wonder Works is my favorite. My son really wanted his app-driven robot, so he had to work for it. Spending this amount of money on a robot for a six year old was a bit scary, but it has been a great addition to our robot family. We have had Dash for 2 years now and he has been well cared for and still works as good as the day we purcahsed him. There are 4 apps that you can use to play with. Some will set you on challenges and teach you so much more about the robot. Some are great for teaching beginning coding, and some are a little more advanced. The apps can be used on the iPhone, but we enjoy it much more on our iPad as having a larger screen really does make it easier.
It is easy enough for my 4 year old to have fun with, but challenging enough that my 8 year old is still challenged. (actually mom is challenged with some of it, but we do eventually get Dash to do what the app is asking.)
We have the launcher to use with Dash and while the robot works just fine without it, it is a bit more fun when you can launch a ball and throw it at your mom when she isn’t looking. We did a post about Dash that you can check out here.
The bottom of Dash
Books and Movies
Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot series by Dad Pilkey (author of Dog Man) was a huge hit one summer. My son was almost constant with his nose in a book to get the next adventure solved. The books were out of this world (Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. The Uranium Unicorns from Uranus).
House of Robots series by James Patterson was a great couple of books. Poor Sammy is just a kid trying to fit in, but his mom is always working on making robots. You just can’t blend in with the crowd when you live in a house full of robots. My son didn’t feel one ounce of pity for Sammy, but I think he had a bit of envy.
The Wild Robot book my son received as a gift. The next morning I got up and he was up early reading. He was pretty excited about the book, and what robot loving kid wouldn’t be!
Robots, the movie! We have had this movie for many years and it is likely the cause of our robot obsession. If not the root cause, we can most certainly blame it for keeping the love alive. Watching as Rodney maneuvers his way through the world of inventing and “making it” is entertaining for kids and moms.
Big Hero 6! Robots really can save the world, at least Disney is on board with this idea as well. There are some sad parts to the movie early on, and I don’t want to totally ruin the movie for you… but it is Disney so we all know the hero wins in the end. It will leave you crying, laughing, and saying “are you satisfied with your care”.
Robots on the Wish List
The Mindstorm as I mentioned earlier is on our wish list. We do hope to purchase this one in the coming years as he gets older and we are sure he can use it.
We are huge lovers of all Lego toys and sets. So when we saw this toy available on Amazon we all got really excited about it. Lego Boost looks like a lot of fun and Lego has never let us down, so I am betting this one will be rolling the floor at our house before long.
There are so many robotic arms and we haven’t made a purchase yet, but it is always a toy we keep in the back of our mind when it is time to shop for our robot loving kid.
My son has a deep love for the Nao robot and would spend all day watching Youtube videos of the humanoid robot if I would allow it. My (8 year old son) is also increasingly motivated to find a job so that he can purchase the $1000 robot, so if you know anyone that is looking for someone to build really awesome Lego inventions let me know.
I would love to hear more about Robotic products we have yet to try. If you have any recommendations for a robot loving kid I would love them. If you are looking for more ideas for a stem gift check out this post.
